Beginning in the 1600s, advertisement claimed its major role in the business and marketing fields. Barely over 400 years later, the use of advertisement is still a strong factor in promotion and entertainment purposes. More than 100 million people watched dozens of ads on the industry’s biggest night – the Super Bowl.
With the strong presence of advertising in the world, comes the strong debate of advertisement’s procedures. Does advertising shape or mirror society? Are you a shapist or a mirrorist?
Mirrorists argue that advertising mirrors the views and trends of pop culture and societal actions, while shapists say advertisement help creates the views, trends and actions.
Personally, I am a shapist. I firmly believe that through the use of hashtags, images, music, slogans and catchphrases, advertising creates trends. For instance, if you caught my name at the top of this page, you might guess that I am a victim of State Farm’s hilarious but outdated, and actually quite annoying “Jake From State Farm” ads. It’s humiliating to wear khakis out of the house nowadays.
My idea that advertisements shape society, however, would not be possible without the act of mirrorism. Without mirrorists’ views of advertisement replicating the norms of society, advertising could still be limited to simply using posters to influence people to migrate to America.
Call me a liberal shapist or a conservative mirrorist or maybe a mixed-beliefs, somewhere in between, right-down-the-line “shaporist.” The fact that it cost $4.5 million for airtime during Super Bowl XLIV for a 30-second ad would not be a statistic if it wasn’t for both the idea of advertising shaping and mirroring society.
The early advertising acts of P.T. Barnum and his deceptive ways, such as referring to his three-ring circus as the “greatest show on earth – which is still a common phrase today, favor the shapists’ arguments of advertisement’s affect on society.
However, when radios became popular in the United States, advertising started surfing on the radio waves. And when televisions began appearing in every U.S. home, advertisement followed accordingly – proving mirrorists’ theory that advertisement would not be such a strong presence without its willingness to mirror the ways of society.
Whether you’re a shapist or a mirrorist, there’s a fact that you cannot deny – advertising has power. The power to sell, to make people laugh, to bring tears to eyes and in some cases to strike a sense of patriotism in every American, like Budweiser’s 9/11 advertisement in 2002.
With that power comes responsibility. With that responsibility comes another debatable question: can a person of faith justify the use of sex in advertisement? Personally, I think not. While sex is not something for the public to be ashamed of, it’s meant to be between a man and a woman, not over 100 million people who may or may not be interested in buying a website domain on Super Bowl Sunday – I’m looking at you, GoDaddy.com.
In my mind, sex does not sell. I don’t use Old Spice products because it makes me feel like a hunk in towel. I use them because they make my armpits smell nice. I wouldn’t want my girlfriend or wife buying clothing from Victoria’s Secret so she could feel better about the way she looks, I would want her to look and feel comfortable with her happy with her body type. I don’t want to download Game of War just because a lot of Kate Upton appears on my phone every time I miss a question on Trivia Crack.
And I most definitely do not race to the nearest American Eagle store so I can picture myself as a ripped model on the side of a shopping bag that’s most likely going to end up in the trash later. I buy my clothes at Target because they are more comfortable and a little more stylish than what American Eagle offered me in seventh grade.
In conclusion, I’m a shapist who believes that advertising has a strong power to mold society and its views, and I’m a conservative who would rather not see half-naked men and women in a burger commercial while I’m trying to watch “Scandal” on Thursday nights.
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