As related in the news report below, fast food peddlers are using sex to peddle fast food. Can you imagine? There's trouble right here in River City.
Elsewhere I posted a frivolous reply to an outraged comment on this subject; the post didn't survive long and was deleted--probably in a huff. For some reason unclear to me some people take this matter very seriously. Why?
All advertising is by definition vulgar. Its purpose is to excite appetites by any means necessary. Consider the issue using the medieval Seven Deadly Sins to give context. The complaint is that advertisers appeal to Lust and that this appeal is out of bounds. Why? What moralist complains when advertisers appeal to Pride by way of vanity? Or to Gluttony as they urge us to cram our gullets with sugary treats or 3000-calorie meals? Could advertising even exist without appeals to Envy and to Greed--to want more of what some else has? What would religious advertising be without appeals to Anger disguised as holy outrage against the outcast group of the moment? Where would the hospitality and entertainment industries be without appeals to Sloth?
Of course, my point is that advertising is inherently and incorrigibly detestable simply because the sole purpose of advertising is to get money from you by appealing to any and all of your base desires. Its purpose is vulgar, and it accomplishes that purpose by employing vulgar means. How could it do otherwise? What's the point of bellyaching about one facet of advertising vulgarity when the entire endeavor assumes vulgarity as a given, requires it, and couldn't exist without it?
View an ABC report on this non-issue here
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2 comments:
No huff. Just didn't want it on my blog.
I have no beef with advertising in general. I don't pay much attention to commercials, unless they're funny. Most are stupid and useless. I can't think of many products (if any) that I've gone out and bought because of a commercial.
My beef is that I'm sick to death of sex being used to sell stuff. Sex is a beautiful, enjoyable and very PRIVATE event. Hollywood and TV execs don't agree. "Family" restaurants like Burger King have no business trying to sell a sandwich with sex, which is why I wrote my letter. I am only one person, but like you, I too have a "brilliant opinion" that matters.
~M.
I'm not disputing you having an opinion on this subject. I'm just wondering why it's a surprise or an annoyance to find that an inherently vulgar endeavor (advertising) employs vulgar means (appealing to base appetites). Why do appeals to sex irk you enough to write a letter of complaint but appeals to pride, vanity, greed, and envy don't?
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