A Word (and a Caution) about Advertising

One of the professors in the Advertising Department at The University of Texas at Austin recently sent out an email seeking to know who among their current students and alumni had advertising blogs. So, this entry is my attempt at doing my part to blog about advertising.

The following quote is by Heber J. Grant, seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from a talk he gave at the Church's General Conference in October of 1935. It illustrates the power of advertising to effect public opinion.

"Never in all my life have I thought and believed and been convinced that the Latter-day Saints need the Word of Wisdom [the Church's health code] so much as they need it today. Why? Because the whole United States has discarded prohibition. They have gone back to liquor. This they have done because the cry went out, 'There is more drunkenness, there is more drinking of whiskey under prohibition than there was before we had prohibition.' Pardon me, but all of the advertisements of that kind were pure, unadulterated falsehoods. . . . Millions upon millions of dollars of money were spent in propaganda, which was based on falsehoods, to bring back whiskey to the people. At a great national convention the people shouted, 'Hurrah! Hurrah! We want our beer; we want our beer; we want our beer!' And they got it." -- Heber J. Grant, October 1935 (Gospel Standards, 56-57)

As this year is another election year, we should be careful as to which advertising messages we give heed -- what are they really saying and what are the long-term effects of following their lead? Advertising seems most persuasive when it appeals to (wo)man's base desires -- money, sex, power, ease, etc. -- so, messages with these appeals are the ones we should be the most cautious about adopting. Consider the long-term effects of the repeal on prohibition -- premature death, unwanted pregnancy leading to abortion, broken homes, idleness, etc. -- and we might be filled with enough wisdom and perspective to see the long-term effects of our present choices and, thereby, choose wisely.