Tuesday, February 18

Writer's Reveal - Advertising

Last time we met for Writer's Reveal it looked as if it would be no more. Our fearless leader at the time Emily M, had decided that blogging was no longer something she could squeeze into her action packed life. Thankfully though a fellow Emily offered to step in and take the reins to keep the little group together. Yay!!!
I am not sure how this dude fits in with the post but I
needed a picture and he sure is cute

After a bit of in house discussion we decided to make a few minor changes, the first of which being the day on which it was held. Due to my hosting of Thankful Thursday each week (which you should totally come and join in by the way), Thursday was not all that great for me. Thankfully, everyone else was happy with a change and Tuesday soon became the new day. Which works particularly well for me as it means I can do the old double whammy and join it in with IBOT over at Essentially Jess.

The other change put in place was rather than we give each other topics each month it was decided that we all try writing on the same topic and take turns each month in selecting the prompt. Since Emily had became our new driving force, she chose the first topic.

And what a great prompt she chose.

So on that note I guess I had best get on with the task at hand.

Advertising

 Advertising has always been of interest to me. My first jobs were all sales based and by the time I had my second go at studying at university I had ditched the arty farty degree and was heading down the sure fire line to success of a business degree majoring in marketing. 

Though as it turned out I still wasn't quite ready to be the student I needed to be to actually study enough to get the degree done. The marketing side of the degree was great I loved learning about consumer behaviour and how to get inside the customer's head to ensure that sale. The accounting side of the business degree however, beyond boring and uninteresting. Needless to say I am still without a degree.

Sigh. 

Needless also to say I am stumped at what to write. 

I had planned on rehashing a speech I wrote twenty years ago because my hazy memory thought it was related to advertising. After spending an hour tearing the house apart trying to find it last night I suddenly remembered that the title was actually English - Dead or Alive? And quite possibly had little to nothing to do with advertising. 

Double sigh. 

In my defense though it was an award winning speech and saw me crowned the Plain English Speaker for the state that year. Go me. 

So back to the here and now and writing about advertising. 

One would think it would have been simple enough given how much advertising is implanted into our daily lives. Every where we turn these days some form of advertising is being shoved down our throats. In both sublte and non subtle ways. Reality television shows have taken brand placement advertising to whole new levels leaving the consumer unsure of what it authentic or not. 

Meanwhile poor old little bloggers trying to cash in on the opportunity to advertise through sponsored posts are hauled over the coals for not being transparent enough in declaring whether they make money or not from mentioning a product.Tis a tough life sometimes in the fickle land of advertising. 

For me though my biggest issue with advertising is the falseness it portrays. Take Coke ads for example. If you are in a Coke ad your life is miracously transformed into one of fun and excitement. The reality of drinking it though is your end up obese and toothless. Which is possibly why I never made it to being a cut throat high flying advertising executive. The lies and misinformation was too much for this ethical peace loving hippy to endure. 

So what's your take on advertising? Love it or loathe it?

Make sure you head on over to my Writers Reveal buddies below and see what they think as well 

Melissa Writes
Have a laugh on me


 photo fwbksignature_zps702ebc7d.jpg

11 comments:

  1. i think its about knowing it is advertising and enjoying the fun they can have with it. there are some very clever and creative people out there. It really is a reality we need to teach our kids how to interact and make decisions about advertising they see too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't believe the hype! To be honest I can't see you in advertising, I like you just the way you are!

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is a place for advertising - publications need to make money and products need to promote themselves. In general, advertisers and publications need to evolve with the new media out there, and the fact that consumers are becoming savvy to their tricks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know what, sometimes advertising is what makes the very boring cut throat commercial world fun - who hasn't loved flicking through a magazine of gorgeous ads? or wanted a Carlton Draught after a thousand men chant and walk across a field? like all things, you just need to keep your perspective in check xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha, I have a bachelor of business majoring in marketing! I loved marketing, but not so much the advertising part of it. I preferred the consumer behaviour part and getting inside peoples brains. Lots of people think marketing = advertising, but its only one part. Its the four P's - product, price, place (distribution) and promotion. Ok, enough of the university lecture... moving on.

    I am trying to monetise my blog, but I am too ethical to hard sell people into advertising (despite the degree) so I haven't really made much money off it! I'm hoping I will soon though because I really don't want to go back to work once my maternity leave is over :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. A necessary evil! But there are some very clever campaigns out there that do make the world interesting. It's the smoke and mirrors advertising that riles me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. There are some very clever tv ads out there at the moment and I quite like watching the ads. The creativity of some people blows my mind.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Advertising - a necessary evil. What gets me cross is some of the rude tasteless and just plain disgusting ads that crop up from time to time on TV. I'm sure the ad agencies are going with any publicity is good publicity but it really irks me ...

    ReplyDelete
  9. for me this was a tough topic. I hate advertising. I hate it being thrust upon me and I hate having to DO advertising. It kind of sucks though, as a writer and author, because how else am I supposed to let others know about my writing? It's a quandary I have no answers for.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great post! I don't have enough personal experience in advertising or marketing yet to know how I'd feel about it firsthand. However, I do agree with you about the falseness of advertising. I could never get into that business either; I think I'm just too honest for work like that!

    ReplyDelete
  11. At uni I studied advertising codes, communication etc so whenever I see an advert I try to de-code it which my hubby hates! Which is also another reason why I hardly ever see ads because I only watch ABC or SBS xx

    ReplyDelete

Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses to you, thanks for stopping by, it really means a lot, you taking the time so say hi. I try as much as I can to write a reply but if for some chance I don't get to it please know that I always read them.