Advertising

No, I most certainly do not think advertising people are wonderful. I think they are horrible, and the worst menace to mankind, next to war; perhaps ahead of war. They stand for the material viewpoint, for the importance of possessions, of desire, of envy, of greed. And war comes from these things.
— Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953)

Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
— Fight Club (novel) 1996, (film) 1999

See — Desire, Propaganda, Eddie Bernays, Mad Men, Frank Lutz

Truth IN Advertising (TINA)
TINA Wall Of Shame

Propaganda | Wikipedia

Forms of Consumer Capitalist Propaganda —
   Advertising | Wikipedia
   Marketing | Wikipedia
   Public Relations | Wikipedia

Digging Up Ads From WWII—When They Pushed Products No One Could Buy
— During World War II, companies stayed in the public eye by advertising products—often with the government's help—that weren't available to civilians.

The money behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Kill Your (Gas Pump) TV
— extremely annoying video ads now assault consumers at gas pumps!
How to Mute Those Annoying Gas Station Video Ads | YouTube
— push buttons to right of screen until sound mutes, starting with 2nd button from top; what kind of maniac creates such demonic inventions???

Scenic America
— “the only national nonprofit that helps citizens safeguard the scenic qualities of America’s roadways, countryside, towns, and cities.”

Merchants of Doubt

See — Merchants of Doubt

Greenwashing

Greenwashing | Wikipedia

Why do we continue to believe companies that greenwash?
— “a classic example of greenwashing — when you’re led to believe that some product or service is much better for the Earth than it actually is!”

Leading News Outlets Are Doing the Fossil Industry’s Greenwashing — Amy Westervelt
Seven of the world’s “most trusted” media companies produce and promote content touting the key talking points of oil and gas.
— “Reuters is one of at least seven major news outlets that creates and publishes misleading promotional content for fossil fuel companies, according to a report released today. Known as advertorials or native Advertising, the sponsored material is created to look like a publication’s authentic editorial work, lending a veneer of journalistic credibility to the fossil fuel industry’s key climate talking points. ...
All of the media companies reviewed — Bloomberg, The Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Politico, Reuters, and the Washington Post — consistently top lists of “most trusted” news outlets. They also all have internal brand studios that create advertising content for major oil and gas companies, furnishing the industry with an air of legitimacy as it pushes misleading climate claims to trusting readers. In addition to producing podcasts, newsletters, and videos, some of these outlets allow fossil fuel companies to sponsor their events. Reuters goes even further, creating custom summits for the industry explicitly designed to remove the “pain points” holding back faster production of oil and gas.”

Wieden Kennedy

Wieden+Kennedy | Wikipedia
Wieden + Kennedy

WK12 | Twitter
An experiment disguised as a school disguised as an agency.

W+K 12 | Facebook
W+K12 | Facebook group

Archie
Andrew Dickson

To The Graduating Class of W+K 12. Thank You.
Tom Spanbauer's commencement address to the graduating class of Wieden+Kennedy 12.

Telling Stories

Pip Decks
Yet another manipulative tactic (YAMT)

Dadism: “Are you telling me a 'story' (lie)?”

Spoof Ads

Spoof Ads | Adbusters

See — Culture Jamming

Classical Connection

Advertising traffics in the classics, by referencing Greek and Roman myths in order to associate divine attributes of the gods to consumer products. The western classical connection also exists in architecture, where Western European barbarian civilization of Germanic tribes built on the ruins of Roman civilization, and imitated classical Roman civilization in order to coopt its attributes.

Neoclassical architecture | Wikipedia
Greek Revival architecture | Wikipedia
Romanesque Revival architecture | Wikipedia

Greek mythology in popular culture | Wikipedia
Why Greek Mythology is Still Relevant in Business and Art
— “When you look closely at many of the Greek myths, you also see their intent on setting values through storytelling...they open a window into the timeless desire that humans have to explain the world around them and the one inside of them”

The Greek Gods of Advertising
Greek Myths in Advertising
20 Brands Logos and Their Surprising Mythological Stories
Companies Inspired by Greek Mythology Logos Today
Greek Mythology in Advertising
Greek Allusions in Everyday Life
20 Best Greek Mythology Commercials with Gods
The Gods Must Be Brands: How Unique Brands and Logos Draw Their Names from Greek Mythology
— “The brand gains credibility by connecting the virtues of the product or service with the mythological character, a name that further calls up a full heritage. Indeed, there is often a complex, full-fledged strategy behind which attributes marketers want to be associated with their unique brand.”

Advertising in all its forms — ubiquitous Consumer Propaganda of Western Consumer Capitalism —