Marketing ​Is ​Culture Reflections on ‘Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture’ by Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant

O’Reilly and Tennant determine immediately that “we live in an age of persuasion, where people’s wants, wishes, whims, pleas, brands, offers, enticements, truths, petitions, and propaganda swirl in a ceaseless, growing multimedia firestorm of sales messages.”(1) These

sales messages add to the overall mass of information that one is subjected to each day, but these messages also ​add​ to the culture, if not create culture. This is a contrary view to that of O’Reilly and Tennant who ​seem ​to be hold a stance that it is in fact not adding to culture, but consuming our culture.

First, trying to separate marketing from culture in a way that can explain how it is consuming our culture is futile. Marketing has existed for easily 3000 years, from the time someone could articulate the benefits of one product over another using “public criers”. There is even indication that print advertisements existed during those times. (2) Marketing has persisted alongside culture for ages.

Advertising and marketing are ​part ​of culture. They are influential forces which not only are inspired by changes in society, but also reinforce and reflects those changes “Advertising is the great mirror of society”. (3) While unsavory for many to accept, marketing is information which imbues “cultural materials” into society (4) thereby becoming culture. As O’Reilly and Tennant state, when “marketing seeps into feature films, arts, popular music, and even literature, it changes the relationship between the arts and audiences.”(5)

Cultural Mediums and Advertising

However, this intermix of art and cultural information, and marketing, is nothing new for a 21st Century heavily influenced by the growth of branded and marketed entertainment via the internet. Cultural mediums have always been influenced by advertising and marketing, and in some cases owe their existence to them. Going back to the time of the first newspapers and magazines, marketing was often the saving grace of publications, providing the funding required to keep them in business.

Looking to the 20th Century we can see Warhol with Campbell Soup and Coke from the 60s and the influence marketing had on the development of pop art. The pop art movement added​ to the art world, it did not consume it, or eliminate new movements. Art, like marketing, is always evolving with changes in society. Even in the 80s Lucky Strikes became a constant for all of Stephen King’s characters that smoked. Theses examples may not have been marketing directly, or even on purpose, but they were no doubt influential in the relationship between the medium and the audience, creating associations that have become part of culture.

Radio, film and television entertainment, on the other hand, owe much of their existence

to marketing ventures. Sponsored content was a staple of radio and television, and companies

would solely sponsor entire shows, such as Ovaltine’s Little Orphan Annie (radio), and ​The Colgate Comedy Hour and Kraft Television Theatre (television)​. Even lesser known is the first product placement in films, dating back to the 1920s ­ a mere thirty years into the life of the art [6] medium. In fact, without advertising and marketing there would have been very little newspaper, magazine, radio, and television entertainment. Even today advertising and marketing are essential to the culture of entertainment; social media and the internet depend heavily on the industry for the ability to provide services and entertainment for free or at low cost. These mediums, like their predecessors, are integral to the evolution and development of culture. Further, marketing is essential to their livelihood, thereby helping maintain and influence culture.

Not only does advertising and marketing influence culture, but in some ways it theoretically inspires democracy, particularly via the internet. As O’Reilly and Tennant confirm, “[...] a great characteristic of the Internet [is] the fact that it levels the playing field. Everyone has access, [...] everyone can be heard.”(7) They cite YouTube as a prime example, a “great enabler [it is] the first hugely democratic mass medium, where any one person could speak to millions if [IF] her idea was big enough to resonate with the masses in cyberspace.”(8) Without marketing and advertising there is no way to maintain the platform without heavy usage fees paid for by the consumer, which would limit access severely, and therefore not be a catalyst to democracy. Additionally, the internet has reanimated branded advertising, imbuing society with opportunities to become part of marketing culture.

Branded Marketing and Culture

Perhaps the second most interesting concept of ​The Age of Persuasion​ is branded marketing, which has become a huge complex strategy. As earlier stated, the marriage of marketing and art is changing relationships between art and audience. What marketing is also doing is change relationships between brands and consumer, attempting to forge “genuine, long-term relationships” by seeking to “invest genuine personality in their brand [...] invest[ing]

time, [and] finding meaningful ways to engage customers”.(9) They breathe life into a brand, becoming what a consumer feels, forging emotional attachments. (10)

One way in which they breathe life into a brand is through stars or personalities who sometimes themselves are the brand (11) (Think Kim Kardashian) or become an icon. By using

films and their stars, musicians and their music to “influence fashions [and] drive sales” they

create demand and “persuade their audiences to accept their personal messages and viewpoints.”(12)

This branded and marketed entertainment personifies lifestyles, it is about creating a bonds with consumers (13) while “​being​ what people enjoy and ​still delivering branding​”. Therefore branded entertainment is about informing and influencing culture through embedded messages delivered by “trusted” messengers ­ it is about being the culture through icons and “allow[ing] customers to makes a statement about who they are”. (14)

Out of Touch?

O’Reilly and Tennant say that in “[...] the living, growing, all­ encompassing and relatively modern culture of persuasion” marketers are vying to “take up lodging in some corner of your mind”.(15) They seem oddly out of touch with the long cultural history of marketing, as well as the evolution of the acceptance of marketing in today's modern networked society, particularly among youth.

They claim that youth are “becoming increasingly immune to the conventional marketing messages” and that “they hunker down in front of their computers, putting up fences that most marketers haven’t yet learned to scale”.(16) However, there is indication that youth is accepting of target marketing methods because it leads to advertisements that are more tailored to them, and therefore more relevant and interesting. Some research indicates that trust and value based approaches work in marketing to youth.(17) Returning to the concepts of branded entertainment, we can understand one way in which marketers create trust among youth audiences.

According to O’Reilly and Tennant, “the larger the audience an advertiser strives to reach, the harder it becomes to forge meaningful relationships with each individual customer”(18) however, they seem to discount that through niche marketing and target marketing these relationships can be created, which implies an analogous relationship which would in turn create a more significant impact for the message at hand.

Due largely in part to the development of mobile technology the relationship between brand and consumers are evolving.(19) Another way marketers create trusting relationships with youth audience is through the creation of social media stars who have established relationships with their followers.(20) As O’Reilly and Tennant state, “the blunt realities of marketing to young people are causing vast changes in language and tone of advertising. As their attention shifts from mass media to smaller, online social networks, they’re sharing information and opinions about products, brands and fashions”.(21)

Conclusion

There are so many different topics in ​The Age of Persuasion, ​each of which could be granted an essay of its own. For instance, the influence of marketing and the internet on the consumer as a channel and the branded self (22); the power shift taking place between traditional media and new media (23); the empowerment of consumers in the new two ­way communication environment relationship with advertisers (24) and advertising as an art (25) ­all of these topics would be worthy of further research.

However, while plentiful in potential research topics, ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​ was far too broad and failed to accomplish what the title implies it

set out to do: explain how marketing ate our culture. What is ​did​ accomplish is providing a wealth of examples on how marketing and advertising has contributed to the growth of our

culture and will continue to do so as it regurgitates the messages of society.

Citations:

1 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. xiii

2 "Advertisement | Promotion." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed 2015.

3 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 162

4 ​Bartholomew, Mark. "Advertising and Social Identity." ​Buffalo Law Review​ 58 (2010): 931­76.

5 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 161

6 According to a lecture in Advertising and Society (Spring 2015) Red Crown gasoline was the first instance of product placement in the 1920 film ​The Garage

7 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 100

8 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 116

9 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 268.

10 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 187.

11 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 224.

12 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 149

13 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 221.

14 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 196.

15 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. xv, 118.

16 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 77.

17 Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015): 308­20.

18 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 117.

19 Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015): 308­20.

20 Sloane, Garett. "Meet the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of Mobile Marketing." AdWeek. September 14, 2014. Accessed 2015.

21 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 95.

22 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 108.

23 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 100­101.

24 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 104.

25 ​Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009. 35.

Bibliography:

"Advertisement | Promotion." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Accessed 2015. Bartholomew, Mark. "Advertising and Social Identity." ​Buffalo Law Review​ 58 (2010): 931­76.

Reilly, Terry Edward, and Mike Tennant. ​The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture​. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint. 2009.

Sloane, Garett. "Meet the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of Mobile Marketing." AdWeek. September 14, 2014. Accessed 2015.

Sultan, Fareena, Andrew J. Rohm, and Tao (Tony) Gao. "Factors Influencing Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Marketing: A Two­Country Study Of Youth Markets." ​Journal of Interactive Marketing​ 23 (2015)

Originally posted online June 2015 http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.com/2015/06/marketing-is-culture-reflections-on-age.html