I have read a book which is worth to read, called "The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR". It isn't same with the other academic books, the way authors write is witty and interesting, it makes me feel like reading a story rather than academic article. This is the confession I wanted to make before starting this post, I strongly recommend you to have a look at least.
Concerning about the "No Pain, No Gain" working philosophy of advertisers today, I have a thought toward this issue after reading the book. The reason of utilizing this propaganda because advertising is died, and this approach brings this dead advertising come back to life.
It is just simple as the common sense of physiological reaction. Lets imagine that someone keep slapping your face lightly, you might feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but you would get used to the strength slowly. This is the situation of advertising today, compared to the status of advertising after World War II, advertising is no longer fresh and exciting. From here we know that the volume of advertising message is inversely proposition against the effectiveness of advertising. For example, the television commercial we could see before watching our selected video in youtube, we always tend to press 'skip' in order to tune out the advertising. Undoubtedly, it shows that advertising has lost its functional purpose, and thus become an art form.
What is an art? This question is very subjective indeed. Art can be defined as the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, sculpture, and dance. These branches have a similarity which is they have no functional purpose in market field nowadays, same as what advertising does. This is the reason why we always try to avoid advertising in our daily life, this communication technique loses its functional purpose, hence it turns into art form. Marshall Mcluhan said 'Advertising is the greatest art form of 20th century.
As a design student, I always have a question when I get involved in this field, "Is the purpose of advertising winning award?" This book give me an answer, "Yes, it is" Advertising agency wins an award, does not mean it can increase the sale of brand. Advertising has no connection to sales. In fact, advertising icon seldom causes brand to become famous, but famous brand causes advertising icon to become famous.
Back to the physiological reaction, this is what the generic role of advertising nowadays. "No Pain, No Gain" propaganda, however, takes a great part in this aspect, or I should call it as 'risen up' advertising. It gives a PUNCH to people for conveying the advertising message. In term of creativity value, it is fresh and original method because nobody has done before that. This punch would be very painful, but I am not sure about the 'gain' advertisement makers look for.
Resources:
Ries, A. & Ries, L. (2002) The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR. United States: HarperCollins. pp. 1-79.
Monday, 6 January 2014
Why is Propaganda so Influential?
In this post, I would study on the influence of propaganda, and its reason. Before saying 'No Pain, No Gain' is a propaganda, I come out with a question: Instead of defining it as a motto, why do I define it as a propaganda? Okay,you might doubt that I have a wrong thought or direction in this case. But, what I would like to say is this sport motto is not only restricted to sport, but also in various field.
In my own experience, I have been an athlete, I know what 'No Pain, No Gain' really stand for, push yourself to the limit, even more go beyond yourself for gaining an achievement in tournament. This is my own understanding, I believe all the great athletes keep on this sport motto during their match or training, it helps them to reach the highest level.
In addition, I have learned English by holding with this motto, the result is, it doesn't seem useful. I can feel the 'pain' during the learning phase, but I don't really gain from there. Today, I, as a design student, I have been told that designers do not have adequate sleep most of the time. It makes me have different kind of mindset toward 'no pain, no gain' again, designer must be lack of sleep, and keep rushing work, then only can reach the wonderland. Frankly, I don't really agree with that, I know that the volume of assignment is 'much', but designers do not need to sacrifice health for paying off.
Anyway, in short, the main point I would like to bring out is "no pain, no gain" is no longer a motto only, it becomes a propaganda which is enough to affect people in different stages. However, why is it so powerful and influential? This is worth to discuss about. Recently, I have found out a theory which I think is strong enough to convince me, the term is called 'Stickiness'.
This term 'stickiness' is presented by Malcolm Gladwell in his book called "The Tipping Point", designers utilize this theory for product, advertising, and tagline.
I choose the character of minion in the movie 'Despicable Me" to be my case study. The McDonald minion toys bandwagon was insane at one time. So, why is minion so attractive? Firstly, the invention of the language, the lyrics 'ba-ba-ba-na-na-na....' brainwashes me. The illegible language does help to simplify the story of the movie, even though audiences don't really understand what they speak. Secondly, the stupid and crazy action of minions, this is the most impressive point to adult perhaps. The reason is because it reflects the inner childhood of adult that could not be shown out in the reality. It also reflects the humanity of minion through the moral value of story. Therefore, the mixture of virtual and reality is successfully associate with people. To sum up , in the design of minion character, it includes the notions of pithy, emotion, and storytelling.
At last, I would say that 'no pain, no gain' propaganda includes the key of credibility, specific, and pithy. It is credibility because athlete proves it; It is specific because movie using the true story as the storyline; It is pithy because it is using only four simple words to illustrate a deep concept.
http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/socialsciences/fr/theTippingPoint.htm
http://malcolmgladwelltippingpoint.wikispaces.com/The+Stickiness+Factor
In my own experience, I have been an athlete, I know what 'No Pain, No Gain' really stand for, push yourself to the limit, even more go beyond yourself for gaining an achievement in tournament. This is my own understanding, I believe all the great athletes keep on this sport motto during their match or training, it helps them to reach the highest level.
In addition, I have learned English by holding with this motto, the result is, it doesn't seem useful. I can feel the 'pain' during the learning phase, but I don't really gain from there. Today, I, as a design student, I have been told that designers do not have adequate sleep most of the time. It makes me have different kind of mindset toward 'no pain, no gain' again, designer must be lack of sleep, and keep rushing work, then only can reach the wonderland. Frankly, I don't really agree with that, I know that the volume of assignment is 'much', but designers do not need to sacrifice health for paying off.
Anyway, in short, the main point I would like to bring out is "no pain, no gain" is no longer a motto only, it becomes a propaganda which is enough to affect people in different stages. However, why is it so powerful and influential? This is worth to discuss about. Recently, I have found out a theory which I think is strong enough to convince me, the term is called 'Stickiness'.
This term 'stickiness' is presented by Malcolm Gladwell in his book called "The Tipping Point", designers utilize this theory for product, advertising, and tagline.
For example, THIS!
There has six variations which are the key to create sticky concept:
- Pithy
- Surprise
- Specific
- Credibility
- Emotion
- Storytelling
I choose the character of minion in the movie 'Despicable Me" to be my case study. The McDonald minion toys bandwagon was insane at one time. So, why is minion so attractive? Firstly, the invention of the language, the lyrics 'ba-ba-ba-na-na-na....' brainwashes me. The illegible language does help to simplify the story of the movie, even though audiences don't really understand what they speak. Secondly, the stupid and crazy action of minions, this is the most impressive point to adult perhaps. The reason is because it reflects the inner childhood of adult that could not be shown out in the reality. It also reflects the humanity of minion through the moral value of story. Therefore, the mixture of virtual and reality is successfully associate with people. To sum up , in the design of minion character, it includes the notions of pithy, emotion, and storytelling.
At last, I would say that 'no pain, no gain' propaganda includes the key of credibility, specific, and pithy. It is credibility because athlete proves it; It is specific because movie using the true story as the storyline; It is pithy because it is using only four simple words to illustrate a deep concept.
Resources:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/despicable-me-2-minions-5-579907http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/socialsciences/fr/theTippingPoint.htm
http://malcolmgladwelltippingpoint.wikispaces.com/The+Stickiness+Factor
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)