Subvertising and advertising culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Subvertising and advertising culture - Essay ExampleSubvertising is a blend of two words stretch and advertising.It is about making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements,so as to make a statement. Subverts take the form of a new image of an actual image or icon generally, in a satirical manner. It is also a meme hack and a part of social hacking or culture press (Posner 1982). It mimics the look and feel of the targeted ad and the viewers suddenly realize they have been duped. Their primary goal is to damage political candidates and campaigns, corporations and other targets. Subverts create cognitive discrepancy by cutting through the hypeand glitz of mediated reality and, momentarily, reveals a deeper truth within. History In 1972, the logo of Richard Nixons reelection campaign posters were subvertised with two xs in Nixons name (as in the Exxon logo). It referred to the corporate ownership of the Republican party. In 1977, The Billboard Liberation Front, u sed this technique in San Francisco. After the U.S. presidential election of 2000, conjuration Kanis, a supporter of the Republicans, designed a saying Sore Loserman to mock Democratic party candidates Gore-Lieberman. However, the Supreme Court, halted the process. Over the years, no large organization or brand, has managed to escape the wrath of subvertising. Examples of such targets include Ford, Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, BMW, Visa, Nike, Marlboro, Smirnoff, Absolute Vodka, Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and a horde of the other best brands in the world. Even politicians and other celebrities like Richard Nixon, George Bush, John F Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Paris Hilton have not been spared. Subvertising vs advertising (Advertising is any paid) form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and go by an identified sponsor. (Subvertising refers to the) practice of making spoofs and parodies of corporate and political advertisements. The following table draw s up a comparison and a contrast of the two concepts. Advertising Subvertising Paid form Unpaid form Non-personal in disposition Non-personal in nature Promotes goods, services Depromotes goods, services Sponsor identified Unidentified Creative Destructive Promotes brand building Encourages brand killing Encourages consumption of goods and services Discourages consumption of goods and services Humorous Satiric Positive message Negative message Initiated by marketers Initiated by anti-consumerists Wide reach and long lasting cost Wide reach but short-lived appeal Benefits outweigh disadvantages Effects doubtful Positive publicity Negative publicity Subvertising - Strengths and weaknesses Subvertising does enjoy a master of ceremonies of advantages. They are 1. Attention grabbers 2. Highly creative 3. Positive intent 4. Can be used for good causes 5. Promotes sustainable consumption 6. Highly inexpensive 7. slow to create Subvertising is popular, essentially, due to its tremendous attention grabbing effect. It shocks the viewer into a moment of reflection and thought. Obviously, subverts are highly creative. Parody and spoofery does require a lot of brain racking and though the individual does not have to create the subvert from scratch, unless it is very creative, the spoof will miserably fail. Though the subvert is negative in nature and tone, the intent behind the act is, can be, lordly. The purpose is to make the viewer think about the negative aspects of advertising and create a positive influence. Though, most or almost all the time, Subverts are used for wrong purposes or causes, at times, good cause subvertising also exists. Subverts on smoking advertisements, promoting sustainable consumption, Greenpeace initiatives are a handful of cause-related subvertising examples. Advertising, essentially, encourages limitless consumption, for purposes of sales and revenue generation. Subvertising on the contrary forces us to think of sustainable consumption in harmony with nature. Since Subverts enquire only to mimic the advertisement and bring