Final Thoughts

To wrap up a wonderful semester, here is my final posting on my chosen topic on culture jamming.

Firstly, I just want to thank you Roumen for a great final semester at UWS (for the both of us!), and it has been a pleasure studying under your expertise for the past three years. I wish you all the best and hope we cross professional paths one day.

Now, to my post.

From my research, I trust that you all have learnt about, or even more about this subject.

I originally asked how advertisements work to ‘control’ how we position brands/products in our minds and how it helps in the search for perfection. I also asked the difference between North American and Australian consumer cultures, and the existence of culture jamming within them.

To tackle the first point, we’re surrounded by thousands of ads each day – some we realise, some we don’t – there is such a heavy emphasis on ads it’s insane with billions of dollars being spent each year. It’s with this constant feed of products of companies trying to sell a product; it’s features and benefits and how you as a consumer fit into this ideal. Ads hook us in, and its hard to find a way out since our humanistic ways naturally tell us to takes things in, rather than question the masses. Companies fight for all of our ‘mindshare’ – they want a slice of their product/brand to be a permanent mark on your brain. Once it’s there, it’s hard to remove or replace which is a shocking thing to picture. I am a victim of this so called ‘mind share’ with Apple/Mac just one of the examples I highlighted in my post.

This also brings up culture jams in general – they exist, but we don’t necessarily notice them straight away. Sure, they’re satirical and make us chuckle from time-to-time, but the messages embedded in the distorted ads are the elements we need to focus on as consumers. It informs us of the real issues, history and true nature of the company – it is these that will enlighten us to make better consumer decisions.

As for the difference between nations, I personally think it comes down to the amount and type of ads in the consumer market place, as well as culture, values and peers. North America appeared more ad saturated (with billions more spent on ads), however their culture seem more informed, yet acknowledge the art of culture jamming and excess consumer spending. By reading comments from North Americans – like Canadian Jamie’s High School celebrated “Buy Nothing Day” a few years back. This would have never crossed the ocean to Australia and be implemented in a secondary education. I don’t think that this means Australians’ are less informed, but rather haven’t experience such a heavy consumer driven culture that they feel the need to take strong social action. The advertising industries and consumer culture histories are quite different as noted in an earlier post – and this would explain the two unique approaches to this term that relate directly to the whole consumer experience, from start (1800’s) to end/present.

At the end of the day however, I know I’m more informed, are you?

Informed or idiot consumer?

One of the very first things I questioned about this topic is how strongly consumer driven American Society is, compared to Australian Society?. This is one of the reasons culture jamming appeals to me so much, as to my experience I believe both cultures are incredibly unique and react (or do not) in different ways. I find it fascinating how people from both countries position themselves and (depending on their own ignorance) how they see an advertisement.

In my first post, I stated American culture has a stronger desire to seek perfection, with brands and products having influence on what people construct as their identities. Note the word ‘stronger’. I do believe Australian Society still seeks the same perfection, but are a lot more aware of what advertisers throw their way. Perhaps this is due to less impact of ad space in consumer ‘mind share’. It could even be less frequency of the ad to an affected consumer, or something which I believe in as celebrity power where actors/musicians align their images to a particular brand product.

I thought it would be quite ironic displaying a culture jam highlighting idiocy

Leading Advertising expert, David Oglivy stated “the consumer is not an idiot. The consumer is you and me”. Well, Mr. Oglivy, I guess your statement can be somewhat true – consumers won’t purchase just anything without (usually) an informed decision. But I still think that there are a lot of consumers out there who only listen and purchase from what the masses do (i.e. copy a friend), instead of acquiring their own knowledge about a product/service. I don’t think there are a lot of people in the world, who have the time, or resources, to independently research about each individual product we are told to buy. Consumers only hear the messages (and product features and benefits) that advertisers are selling to them, so although consumers may not be a ‘complete idiot’, I still think they rely on fancy packaging and selling points, rather than knowing about where that product came from, or how it was made, god knows – even how many people died to make it! This was actually publicized recently after Apple INC CEO was made aware of ten suicides sparked by stressful working conditions at the company’s Chinese Factory, Foxconn (who manufacture Iphones and iPads) in lead up to the iPad launch. Do you think consumers of these products care or even acknowledge what went on behind the scenes in order for them to happily own one of these? Most likely not.

The advertising industry alone spends a US$400 billion on advertising each year in the world (with over US$200 billion in the USA alone). That is more than half of the world’s total! A clear indication how consumerism is pushed down the throats of society who are bombarded with messages they can’t help but take it in. It also explains a stronger desire to seek advertised perfection, as this ideal is constantly enticing them to reward their happiness with products.

Compare this to Australian figures recorded that traditional media advertising spending had fallen 10.5 per cent compared to a year earlier. I couldn’t find the exact spending figure, but this itself supports my idea/experience anyway, that Australian consumers may be more aware of advertising persuasion, as they have more space and time to read their environment and decide what and where they want to listen.

Of course how I decipher these hard figures is my interpretation but at the end of the day, it all draws down to the consumer, and how that product/brand fits into their needs and wants. It’s just a different pathway to how that consumer decides to purchase it. Be either they are an informed or idiot consumer. You be the judge.