It’s something we’re all accustomed to in this day and age and which we probably rarely give much thought about, unless it annoys us or grabs our attention. Advertising, and its evil twin sister/brother/father/whatever you want to call it marketing, is most definitely here to stay as capitalism continues its voracious global expansion. And while I tend to agree with theories and opinions that marketing and advertising are incredible wastes of money when you consider the sums poured into them in the last 20 odd years, fact is they serve a purpose in the world we live in. Whether or not you agree/like the purpose they serve is an entirely different barrel of fish.
When I lived in Europe I remember TV adverts were the things that irritated me the most - something I’m pretty much free of here, what with the fact that I don’t really watch TV anymore. The other thing that soon started to make me cringe and or despair was the increasing appearance of adverts on every available surface of everyday life. In London this took the form of adverts printed on the back of travelcards, bus tickets, people in the streets etc… Having studied marketing and advertising at uni, in one way I was interested by it, because it’s such a testament to the relentless push to shove consumerism in any way you can into every possible hook and crany of someone’s life, and in another I was also pretty pissed off - just because it’s annoying. I don’t need to be advertised to everywhere I look. I’m pretty selective in my consumerism, I knows what I wants and I goes and gets it, advertising rarely comes into it unless it’s talking to my inner geek/fan. It’s becoming difficult enough to browser the webanet with all the crap in it, I don’t need it in the real world as well.
Earlier on today I stumbled upon a really interesting article on the adbusters site, which details the plan of Sao Paulo’s current mayor to rid the town of all its outdoor advertising. Which when you take the time to think about it is pretty crazy/impressive/insert adjective here. As the article points out, this is the first non communist city to do so and while it might not be a bastion of capitalism, this move does have some interesting implications. Which got me thinking about Tokyo.
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