I am finishing up at the Portfolio Center in advertising and hoping to get a job. The competition's been fierce at school I hear it's real rough out there to get hired at all. I'm really up against it, and I'm bracing myself to go out there and dive in to doing it. And yet I wonder. I have these nagging little doubts. What am I getting myself into? Am I giving in to the Man? Is this my calling? WIll my impact on the world be positive, negative, or neutral by doing this thing?
I want to know how other students and people in the field feel. Are you totally down with the whole thing? Do you have to rationalize to yourself about it? I mean really. Have you decided to rule out thinking about it all? Well?
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Here's what a writer told me recently at an Atlanta Ad Club meeting: The only way you're not selling out is if you aren't paid anything whatsever for your work and write only for yourself. Of
course, writing ads just for you isn't quite mainstream advertising, it's what agencies submit to the awards shows. But a lot of that never runs and never sees the light of day.
As far as the supposed damage done by advertising: almost every industry is somehow damaging.
Minimum-wage factory workers in Detroit are contributing to global warming.
Analysts in the financial sector help spur job cuts when they downgrade stocks and put pressure on CEO's to keep profits high.
The programmers of Microsoft's easily hackable software are indirectly responsible for thousands of cases of identity theft.
I went over this conflict in my head all through last quarter. I talked to a few teachers, students, and other friends about it and Mimi Bean said something interesting that stuck with me. She said that bad ads lie. Bad ads are the ones that have a negative effect and if you lie to yourself, then you sell out. I'm sticking with advertising to possibly make change. There's so much bullshit out there in advertising. Let's try to cut it down. The only way to sell out is to just do it for the money and not put your heart into it.
Oh yeah, and don't exploit people. Base your work on real people and talk to them instead of going on generalizations. Bad ads and "marketing" are based on stereotypes and those are, yet, more lies.
These comments are very cool. I have not really thought about it in the way that Mimi suggested. Putting you heart into it and doing anything well does have a authenticity and is a type of self actualization.
I see ads as entertainment. I think if they are really funny or make people think in a new creative way they have done some good. I know Craig has said something like that in the past. In that light they are just like making a film, or TV show with the hopes of being profitable.
I personally never want to work on alcohol ads, or tobacco. If I can steer clear of these, I think I would be cool. Red meat, fast food, I can do. Could I do petro-chemical? Woah. That's tough. Maybe? Could you Dante? Craig I know you would.
So far, I've watched about 45 minutes of AMC's new series, MAD MEN, set on Madison Ave during the early 60's.
On the show, main character throws a report about the dangers of smoking into the trash.
Unfotunately, the first episode has been boring as shit.
After reading
Confessions of An Economic Hitman...
Kinda.
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