MATTHIAS
I have always had a slight fascination toward advertisements, advertisements that were on billboards while driving down a highway or on a poster in a shopping mall in particular. I had never put much thought as to why, how and what made it, and had always pushed it aside without ever trying to answer those questions. I just tend to try and understand and enjoy the form of creativity that stood in front of me. This documentary by Doug Pray has definitely answered some of those questions. Art & Copy in my opinion was an amazing expression of creativity produced by some of the most creative people on Earth. This documentary has definitely given me a great insight on the history of the Advertisement Industry in the States and when the industry was at its peak. It has thought me that there is so much more behind the industry than what I had initially figured, that it was not all about introducing a new product; moreover, it was a platform for creativity to overflow and to unleash its true power to be able to connect with people and to take control of their minds for them to gain great interest in a product. It was about creating that bond or that relationship with the people in order to catch their attention.
The short film had also mentioned that back in the days, creativity was nothing more than unimportant and that it was about the suited-up men, the accountants, the business class that were the ones that were highly respected in society and should be given more attention to. This really impacted me, mainly because of how true it is. It wasn’t until both creativity and business were put together by Bernbach that the advertising industry sprung to life and till this current age, this industry still remains one of the biggest profit-making giants in the world of business. This has thought me that art and creativity was given to all of us the moment we were born, to go hand in hand with everything else around us. I definitely think that this industry is a really fun one, particularly because I thrive for creativity and this industry has it involved.
I really enjoyed the different interviews they had with the different big time advertisers, and some of the things a few of them had mentioned really caught my attention. “Great advertising makes food taste better, it makes cars run better. It changes the perception of everything.” That statement by George Lois was really inspirational because of the truth behind it. Lois’ quote has really instilled that good advertising has the power to really twist and change ones view and perception of a product. Who knew a few short simple words creatively put together with a picture of a product can have such a big impact on how others perceive the product in a positive manner. I also really liked what Jeff Manning stated that “Great advertising almost always starts with something true.” A great example to back his statement was the “Got Milk?” campaign. It was criticised for its wrong usage of grammar, being too plain and boring. But what the campaign was able to portray and why it was so successful was that it was able to connect with reality and the common problems consumers face with milk and how the campaign was based on a true fact; that many people face the common problem of running out of milk, and this campaign was sort of a short and simple reminder to them. It relates to the lives of everyday people and that was what made his statement really powerful.
This documentary has definitely enlightened me about the future prospects of the field of advertising. As I had mentioned earlier, I never really was interested on the behind the scenes of the ads being portrayed but I was more to just enjoying the ads but now that I’ve watched this documentary, it has definitely given me a brief and interesting overview of the industry behind those great ads and it has created in me a small interest to want to try it out as a career in the future. The different statements and ads in the documentary played a big part in planting that seed of interest within my mind as I really want to exercise my creativity more; but after looking back at it, advertising is not an easy job. It is a long and difficult process, especially in the current age. This career involves a lot of thinking and has a very high standard of work which can be extremely stressful, not to mention the people in the workplace also have to face a lot of rejection. There are also many big advertising firms out there that do not always revolve around producing the truth but they tend to twist and bend their statements in their ads to its fullest to grab and twist the perceptions of the public in a deceitful manner and to some extent, advertisements nowadays have just taken that step to just shove their ads into your face whether or not you’re interested.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of a society without advertisements would be people on social media not having to face annoying pop up ads, especially on YouTube and Facebook. There wouldn’t be “mood killers” when watching your favourite TV series when the series goes to an ad when it reaches the climax of the storyline. This would seem like a gift of Heaven to us; but truth be told, eventually we will all miss these ads. Not the annoying ones that pop up in your face but the ones that was really able to express creativity, the ones that had a great impact and actually spoke to us, the ones that stimulated us to want to try out something new. So in my opinion; society without advertisements would seem great, but only to a certain extent or a period of time until we realise the thing we once perceived as pollution; when it is gone, will eventually be the death of creativity in this business revolving world we live in today.