So what are your thoughts on advertising in general?
For me, if a tube of toothpaste or can of beans wants to remind me that it is okay to be myself, I have no problems with that.
I’m resigned to advertising as a part of a modern corporate economy, but personally I think it undermines the capacity for free thought but trying to manipulate individual behaviour and standardise human thoughts and feelings so they behave in a predictable way.
Whilst one product in isolation doesn’t mean much, the accumulation of psychological manipulation for sales techniques means we accept a much greater degree of control over our thoughts and feelings than we might otherwise be comfortable with. As each product and company competes for our attention, we all have less space for quiet reflection to get to know and be ourselves. The white noise of mass media drowns out the space to have genuinely original and independent thought. The pressure to sell easily translates in to a pressure to conform. (The social and psychological processes at work are now pretty blatant online).
The only silver lining was that advertising focused on economic goals (“buy this product”). It didn’t step in to the realm of being explicitly political propaganda. A broad separation between economics and politics keeps wider society free. Markets give us the space to make voluntary exchanges whilst the government uses the law to force people to behave one way or another. When “everything” becomes politicised, it begins to justify using state power to make political judgements. This is not a straight forward process, but the chipping away at the boundaries adds up in the end.
I find that using a cereal box as a propaganda/marketing tool for any political agenda is therefore pretty alarming (even if I support the cause), particularly if it becomes normal for inanimate household objects to be advertised based on their willingness to make political statements or support particular causes.
Although I appreciate the good intentions at work here, this is a very sharp departure from the standard capitalist economic practice where companies are doing things-explicitly- for the profit motive. I am very left-wing but for once, I’m going to agree with Milton Friedman and say I’d prefer companies stick to making money rather than use ideas of “corporate social responsibility” to disguise it. If a company makes a good product, the market should reward that and that principle is what helps the economy behave in a rational, utilitarian and efficient way.
