A few folks are talking about advertising and buying this week on the blogs so I have some observations on this as well. About a year ago I visited the small Fairfax museum with my father who happens to be the only member of my family who shares my love for history. Every time he visits me we take advantage of the abundance of history in the area and visit a few things. Anyway, while in the museum my father pointed to an ad for some kind of 50s model car. He asked me “what is different about this ad compared to the ones you see today?” So, after a few seconds of inspection I realized what he was referring to. The ad from the 1950s was about the car. Car commercials today are not about the car. The 50s add had only a picture of the car, no people in the picture. It listed the engine specs, the interior room, and other car specific information.
Fast forward 50 years. What do car commercials today show. They show hip looking people driving fast. They show other people looking at the people in the car in an awe-struck way (you will notice this even with KIA commercials, not just Lexus or BMW!). They promote some kind of social independence with tag lines like “Take your own road.” They promote the idea that the car becomes a part of a person’s image and personality. They tell people that whether it is a 12,000$ economy car or an 80,000$ BMW the vehicle is an investment in their own social status and good for their sex appeal. They show NOTHING about the car.
What can be gathered from this change in marketing strategy over the last 50 years? Have corporations changed to adapt to a new society of materialism or was this trend always present and companies have just learned to exploit this human trait recently? Is attention specifically being drawn away from the product due to the competition of many comparable products? Has society simply become far more self-indulgent and lost sense of practicality when shopping for any given item?
So, exactly when did this change happen? Well, from what I can see it has been a gradual change. Check out this commercial from 1986 featuring James Garner. So, at that point there was celebrity appeal in advertising, but notice he was still talking about the car!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h3dtweyAwg&feature=related
Actually, I believe it was the introduction of Lexus that "changed" the face of automobile advertising by moving away from performance based work to image based. But it is important to remove the idea/definition of materialism from the act of advertising. Well it is the debate in consumer behavior/research - advertising or marketing has progressed through phases starting with production and now is about communicating value - but the elusive question is can you "sell" things that people do not "want"? Many a dissertation (in many disciplines) is built upon this question.
Posted by: Adrienne | 10/08/2009 at 06:08 AM
All will be revealed when we read IMAGINING CONSUMERS by the brilliant Regina Lee Blaszczyk!!
Posted by: Dianne Schmidley | 10/08/2009 at 10:03 AM
Years ago I test drove an Acura. The dealer told that the Acura only existed in the US because everyone thought Honda only built cheap cars. He said "This is built in a Honda factory, with a Honda engine and Honda chassis." So I went out and bought a Honda. 18 years later I still drive Honda's!
Posted by: Wayne Z. | 10/12/2009 at 05:56 PM
Yeah, well I am a Toyota fan. I think Toyota and Honda are the new Ford and GM. I like the Subaru line too, are they the new Chrysler?
Posted by: Dianne Schmidley | 10/13/2009 at 04:13 AM