Advertising. Is it taking over?

In this post I will be responding to the idea, posed by artist Banksy, that advertising has become frankly “too much”.

In 2018, we live in such an advanced world that advertising is everywhere we look. Whether that be on the side of busses, on television and radio, or on social media - our society is so saturated with advertisements for products, services and people. Social media is one of the biggest advertisers in the world with Instagram alone presents ads for hundreds of thousands of companies to hundreds of millions of users. It is by far the quickest means of advertising as with the click of a button, people such as celebrities and public figures, can advertise to millions.

However, is advertising taking over? And is there such thing as too much advertisement? I think, yes. Hardly anyone sits and voluntarily watches a whole YouTube ad before watching a video. Almost subconsciously we all press the “Skip” button. Furthermore, no one likes it when music on the radio or Spotify is interrupted by an ad telling us about what college to go to. This, in my opinion, reinforces the idea the advertising is indeed taking over our space and the line between business and leisure is rapidly blurring.

The sentence “slaves to branded culture” sounds overwhelming however, when you think about it, it’s quite true. We, as a society of consumers, often choose our products based on how often we see them advertised. If Coca-Cola produced a fantastic advert to be played throughout the Super Bowl, you can bet that sales of the drink will rise in comparison to rivals such as Pepsi. This is because we seem to care so much about how a product is presented to us.

Time Square (NYC) shows thousands of ads every day.

Time square in NYC, is a hub for all things advertising. Every day hundreds of companies advertise using bright colourful billboards. It has become a prestigious place for a company to be able to promote. And it is often considered an attraction that hundreds of thousands of people visit each day. Shouldn’t our cities be filled with art, real art, created by artists to brighten up spaces, as apposed to bold campaigns leading to millions of pounds in sales for large companies.

In conclusion, yes, I do believe that advertising has gone to far in some aspects. However, I do believe that advertising has some positive aspects and in such a competitive market, does require a lot of creativity.