On the 25th October, George Monbiot wrote an astoundingly vitriolic attack against the advertising industry, an industry that Eulogy! is proud to be well acquainted with. Our expertise within the marketing services sector brings us into contact with many agencies and brands who tirelessly work for their clients and companies as well as a plethora of charitable and worthwhile causes, which I’m pretty sure don’t burden us with debt, restrict our freedoms or do any number of things that Mr Monbiot’s article claim.
Of the clients I regularly work with, I see inspirational work that highlights plights and causes the world over. Just a snapshot of these include work with inner-city schoolchildren, leukaemia and cancer sufferers and budding athletes eager for their shot at glory. Advertising plays a huge part in communicating the message that these often ignored areas of society attempt to broadcast, and in doing so bring in attention, funding and advocates.
Just a look down the street in the past few weeks will have shown the sea of poppies that flooded our streets in support of those who give their lives for the UK, a campaign that receives huge support from the advertising industry in terms of creative production as well as advertising placement. Case in point: a slot during X-Factor worth £3m was given to them free of charge for this year’s appeal. A media infrastructure that allows companies to spread such important social messages should not be so readily dismissed.
Yes, Mr Monbiot may dislike many of the products, services and messages (he’d probably just seen another ‘Go Compare’ advert) that are communicated through billboards and TV ad breaks, but there are constantly ideas and reports covered by the mainstream newspapers that could be deemed equally influential, misleading and morally questionable, and so I feel his footing in the argument is far from sound. In the end, surely there are more important things to discuss and critique than the too often used scapegoat-for-society’s-ills that is advertising?
