Advertising and Consumerism
Advertising and Consumerism
According to the dictionary, ‘advertising’ means “publicize for the purpose of selling or causing one to want.” In a more casual language, it just means making a product popular or promoting it. In contemporary times it is one of the most if not the most important aspect of business management. With the rise of information technology and consumerism, advertising has changed from its traditional sense, to something much more complicated and challenging. That said if done right, it can be the single biggest driving force which sells a product.
Although many advertisements today are very effective but the ones that stands out for me are done by Apple Inc. The company kicked off its advertising campaign with the legendary 1984 Macintosh TV advertisement, which was both critically and popularly acclaimed. The TV commercial aired during Super Bowl compared the personal computer industry in that era to the world order in George Orwell’s book 1984. While the current industry leader IBM was portrayed as the big brother Apple depicted itself as the rebel. “The 1984 Super Bowl spot, with its dystopian noir and portrayal of Big Blue as Big Brother, is arguably the most celebrated commercial ever made.” (Gassée). The company continued to impersonate itself as the unorthodox one with the Think Different campaign.
In the more modern times Apple changed from being the rebel company to the industry leader. This has in some sense changed some of its marketing strategy, the underlying fundamentals and vision has remained the same. The focus of the advertisement is still the products and its features. For instance the latest iPhone commercials illustrate the better display, camera and exceptional build quality of the device. Although some other mobile phone companies do that as well but what makes Apple’s advertisement stand apart from the rest is the adornment yet chastity of them. While other companies try to sell their products by popularizing their
According to the dictionary, ‘advertising’ means “publicize for the purpose of selling or causing one to want.” In a more casual language, it just means making a product popular or promoting it. In contemporary times it is one of the most if not the most important aspect of business management. With the rise of information technology and consumerism, advertising has changed from its traditional sense, to something much more complicated and challenging. That said if done right, it can be the single biggest driving force which sells a product.
Although many advertisements today are very effective but the ones that stands out for me are done by Apple Inc. The company kicked off its advertising campaign with the legendary 1984 Macintosh TV advertisement, which was both critically and popularly acclaimed. The TV commercial aired during Super Bowl compared the personal computer industry in that era to the world order in George Orwell’s book 1984. While the current industry leader IBM was portrayed as the big brother Apple depicted itself as the rebel. “The 1984 Super Bowl spot, with its dystopian noir and portrayal of Big Blue as Big Brother, is arguably the most celebrated commercial ever made.” (Gassée). The company continued to impersonate itself as the unorthodox one with the Think Different campaign.
In the more modern times Apple changed from being the rebel company to the industry leader. This has in some sense changed some of its marketing strategy, the underlying fundamentals and vision has remained the same. The focus of the advertisement is still the products and its features. For instance the latest iPhone commercials illustrate the better display, camera and exceptional build quality of the device. Although some other mobile phone companies do that as well but what makes Apple’s advertisement stand apart from the rest is the adornment yet chastity of them. While other companies try to sell their products by popularizing their
Cited: * Gassee, Jean-Louis. "Apple Ads That Only Samsung Could Love." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/sep/10/monday-note-apple-samsung>.