Which Came First, the Ads or the Cultural Change?

Are we changing the culture or is the culture changing us? Recently my enlightened brother sent me a collection of ads from our childhood, (thanks Bill) how absurd, how stupid, how PRESENT in everything we saw or read back then. If you watch Mad Men, you have a good idea how these insane ideas were created, approved and given a run-of-media. 

Can you imagine the outrage if a company ran something like this today? Women bloggers such as Yvonne DiVita would be all over it and the company would have to overcome years, maybe decades of the moment's bad judgment. That's the power of checks and balances in today's wired world. 

If it was still a man's world per se, would we see the things that women value coming to market today? To phrase it another way, will the world become more sustainable because a company decided it was the moral thing to do or because it's the economic thing to do? My money's on the latter.

The ads of the 50s and 60s happened because the values of those creating, approving and running the ads put them there. The ads you see today are being created, approved and run by a different gender to please a very different audience - the female consumer. Consequently, feminine values are beginning to permeate the social system. 

With the help of millions of bloggers, 50 years from now our grandchildren will see ads that are equally absurd - ads that promote bottled water, non-organic food and products that pollute the water and damage third-world societies. 

No company wants to be on the wrong side of culture, it's the fastest way to lose marketshare. 

P.S. in the NY Times on  4.11.10  Nike is beginning to see the push back when it continues to back faulted star athletes. Women and men aren't buying the message or the product... and worse (for Nike), they are willing to write why in a public forum that will be searchable for years. 

 

Comments

[Vdebolt]

"50 years from now our grandchildren will see ads that are equally absurd - ads that promote bottled water, non-organic food and products that pollute the water and damage third-world societies."

That is so right. Thank you for being on the front lines pointing out the problems right now!

[InWomenWeTrust]

Thanks Virginia - the front lines mean nothing unless there are armies behind them, thank YOU for taking part.