This is not a personal finance article, really, but it is an issue that has me on the fence. It has to do with graffiti and street advertising.
I guess in the end it could affect the personal finance realm, but that would be a stretch I don’t feel like outlining. It would probably follow along the lines of street advertising infesting our cities, bombarding us with messages that make us want to buy things we don’t need, and then actually influencing us to buy those things. Seems like an equation for debt.
But that isn’t really my issue with street advertisements. My issue is that they are ugly, plain and simple.
The Evolution of Advertising?
Has anyone here noticed the increasing prevalence in “free-form” or amateur videography? It seems to be becoming the norm as part of the YouTube effect. Soon million dollar Apple commercials will be filmed using nothing but a Sony DV camcorder… because unless the video is shaky it’s not to be trusted!
In fact, you can see that in the MLM videos that are trying to convince people to give up their hard earned money for disappointment. I posted on in the article How Are People Tricked by These MLM/Ponzi Schemes?. It seems that the masterminds behind this scheme in particular, and many more schemes out there, have decided that the best return comes from these “viral” videos.
Another thing I have noticed particularly in my city, which I hate, is the incorporation of advertisements in street art. I hate hate hate hate hate hate it. A lot of street art is a pretty beautiful, vibrant, cultural thing. You know, like a documentation of race riots, war protests, achievements like the moon landing, and a plethora of other events. And then in comes some marketing executive who thinks it would be a great way to speak to the people. A mural of the moon landing is as impressive as an American Eagle ad, right?
Street Advertising
I think my main gripe is that if it is done in the form of art it is “graffiti” but if it is done as a form of branding with the intent to sell a product it is “advertising” and perfectly legit.
Example #1: Hummer H2.
Really, Hummer? I can see it now. The city, in an effort to clean up, decides to paint over a mural that documents some of the race riots from just 50 years ago. They paint over the mural of a fireman hosing down a group of black protesters. A few months later Hummer proposes to the city that they would pay a fee to paint an advertisement on the same wall. The city gladly accepts because it will show how alive and vibrant the city is! We purchase cars!
We lost: culture.
We gained: a sorry excuse for an advertisement.
The city gained: some extra cash.
Who wins in the end? Hummer.
Example #2: An American City, or any large city for that matter.
Ughhhh. It just looks so horrible. I would rather have some cool art, at least it shows some depth to our culture. Instead when we walk down the street we are bombarded with advertisements for restaurants, beverages of both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic variety, media companies, technology companies, etc. Our skyline is ruined by this crap, yet once again no one looks at it as “graffiti.” Well, I do…
When does it stop?
How far do you think this will go? Will we soon write articles “How to earn an extra $3,000 per year!” that include advice such as:
- Get a tattoo of a corporate logo,
- Sell ad space on your car hood,
- Sell banner space on the side of your house,
- Hyphenate your last name with a company name,
- Put a patch for a company on your wedding dress,
- Play a 30 second clip for an advertiser before your company conference call,
- etc.
I am really stuck on this.
I understand the necessity of advertising to bring things to people for free, like this blog, online newspapers, and many other services. But I don’t like when the lines start getting blended and advertising starts to try and create its own culture and mix it in with actual culture. I think its deceitful. The two examples I posted are not even gross examples of this blurring, but it still irks me. If you look hard enough you will find instances where the lines are even more blurred.
Reader Input
Am I alone here, or does anyone else understand my rant?
If anyone has any good stories of street art or if you just want to tell me that I am too sensitive, post a comment!
I'm MLR. After graduating from college debt free, I decided to write a blog encouraging people to adapt responsible and sensible personal finance rules.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am |
I’m a little late to the party on this one…just read your blog for the first time today. I completely agree with your comments here about advertising and street art and about the ugliness of it all too. Advertising is being insinuated into our lives in a lot of ways now, not the least of which is through popular culture. It’s because there is no longer any one sure way to reach the majority of the public. Our attention is too fragmented and the advertising dollar that used to be a good investment now no longer returns the desired result. How do you reach people who can DVR their favorite shows and skip the ads, or only buy the music they want on iTunes, or for that matter only read blogs on the subjects they are interested in? Graffiti marketing is one way, and it annoys me that graffiti artists get in trouble for doing it but an ad agency can paint a building with an ugly ad designed to part the consumer from their money with the approval of the powers that be. There are other less obvious advertising pitches like the Sony Ericsson one where “actors” asked people to take their pictures with their phone cameras as a way to make people aware of those phones and how cool/easy/etc they were to use.
If only we put so much effort into promoting education, art, and common sense!
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April 19th, 2009 at 4:57 pm |
@ Paula –
Not late at all! Glad you stopped by and hope to see you around :)
I agree with what you are saying about our fragmented attention and advertising dollars not having the same return on investment as they once had… but how do they quantify the street ads? I guess the same problem exists with most advertising… but at least with traditional ads you have some idea about how many people see the ads and what not.
I read about some graffiti artists a few years ago that were starting to paint over ads with just white paint to make it a blank canvas. They said they were just cleaning up the city (kind of like how we paint over street art :P). Can’t find the article now.
Didn’t hear about the Sony one with the phone cameras. Interesting and subtle… I don’t think I would catch onto it unless the people were overly excited about their “awesome camera.. I mean phone.”
Again, thanks for stopping by and I am glad this strikes someone elses nerve!
MLR
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January 27th, 2010 at 3:07 pm |
I don’t care what most people think, street art and graffitti definitely make a city look better. If it would stay as art instead of gang tags we’d live in a near perfect world :)Does anyone know if there is a schedule of when Obey prints are going on sale?
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