Society today is rife with adverts everywhere you look. Arguably we have become driven by adverts and cannot imagine our lives without them. You see them everywhere: on your phone, on the television, on social media, the news etc. YouTube even have the ads that you aren't able to skip before you watch a video. Has advertising gone to far? Are we bombarded them nowadays? Are they all the same, with no artistic differentiation?
It can be said that most adverts nowadays are homogenous. You’ve seen it before: an isolated medicine cabinet, filled with a range of beautifully packaged products, photographed head-on in front of a flat backdrop. The lighting is bold and bright, as if the whole shelving unit is illuminated from behind by a fluorescent lightbox. Or alternatively, we can take the COVID-19 adverts as an example of this. The adverts typically consist of the the same tropes in response to the pandemic. These adverts usually consist of the recitation of phrases like “times like these,” “more than ever,” “home,” “family,” and “here for you.” These adverts are riddled with clichés such as, “we’ve always been there for you,” “we may be apart, but we can stay connected,” “we’ll get through this together." There isn't anything wrong with adverts like these, but it means that our media is unoriginal, static.
There are exceptions, however. A lot of adverts out there have artistic qualities that set them apart from the rest.
Nowadays, alternative advertising is driving not only a new perspective, but also key challenges for marketers. There is growing evidence that creativity has become extremely constricted over time. Studies suggest that the creativity in adverts could be a solution to consumers’ negative perceptions and avoidance of them caused by traditional media.
Research suggests that only 16% of advertising is both recalled and correctly attributed to the brand, suggesting 84% of ad spend could be going to waste; additionally, on average adverts have around 5 seconds to grab a viewers attention: this is why creativity is essential to making our adverts more effective and significant.
We’re bombarded by advertising every time we open a browser or pick up a tablet, so creative ads which can cut through this constant onslaught of the same homogenized content are essential for success.
I would agree that adverts have invaded our lives and often leave us feeling like there is no way to escape them. However, among the millions of boring, mundane adverts, there are some adverts that demonstrate creativity and originality.
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