Advertising and Identity

Assuming that consumption plays some role in identity, critically evaluate the contention that, a powerful, popular advertisement is just as meaningful as any news story.

As stated by Will Rogers (1924) “One ad is worth more to a paper than forty editorials.” In today’s age, this has become a statement that masses of people now stand for. There is no doubt that advertisements are considered to be some of the most effective forms of marketing and communication. Adverts are regarded to be central strategic tools for any company to market and promote its products, as they have the power to communicate a certain kind of message to consumers, which any other text or news story may or may not have. Let us take a very simple example where you see a small advert with a catchy line for the brand Ralph Lauren, on your ‘facebook’ homepage. At first, you may not pay full attention to the advertisement and will possibly return to the more promising activity of browsing on facebook. However, next time while crossing a Ralph Lauren store, you might consider it reasonable to enter the store and have a look. Like in most cases, before you know it, you will be walking out with a few bags! The question: did the advertisement you saw have any role to play? The answer: yes. It planted a seed somewhere at the back of your mind. This, as I believe, is the powerful nature of advertising. It has learnt to play with and enter the human mind in subtle ways, further manipulating the choices and preferences of the consumer. This paper will further look to evaluate the effectiveness of these adverts, by focusing on the contention that consumption plays a role in identity.

In order to understand the link between consumption, identity, and advertising, it is important to gain a background on advertising perceptions and theories. On one hand many believe that advertising is a non-personal form of communication, that is, a one-way communication without personal contact and dialogue. However,

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