The use of parodies in advertising industry

Extract

[...] The use of parodies in advertising industry Today's synthesis is going to focus on several documents, both textual and graphic, that we have seen in class. The underlining argument linking the five documents is the advertisement industry or, to be more specific, the way in which parodies can be made of advertisements, how said parodies can subsequently be exploited for commercial or informative purposes, and how these so-called 'spoofs" can help people to develop some levels of healthy skepticism towards advertisement of harmful products. [...]

[...] Lastly, the fifth document detaches itself partly from the topic of satire. Having been published in the influential "The New York Times" on the 27th April 2007, it is the most business-oriented of all the documents. In it, an introduction to the marketing and commercial strategy of Absolut Vodka is given. From this article we can truly understand that the parodies and caricatures we have seen in documents three and four really capture the essence of the brand, and are for this reason even more effective with the public. [...]

[...] This gives the issue debated in these documents an entirely different dimension, and allows us to reflect on the different kinds of equally legitimate invested interests, both political, economic and moral, that are at stake in this topic. III. Personal review Personally, I believe that the spoof ads are a form of creative expression, protected under free speech rights and therefore should not only be protected, but encouraged. I furthermore believe that the documents largely show how these forms of expression can be used for the benefit of society as a whole, such as by diminishing the impact nefarious advertisements can have on potential customers. [...]

[...] It focuses on some activists who dedicate their work to making parodies out of advertisements they deem unworthy or dangerous for the public. This has a threefold aim of entertaining the public of the advertisement, inform it of the dangers of the product and, most importantly, 'naming and shaming' the enterprises who advertise harmful products, specifically alcohol and tobacco, with the example of the "Absolut Vodka" being introduced as a regular target of their efforts. If confronted with document one, the focus appears here to be on the educative and formative aspects of spoofing, rather than economic consequences for enterprises. [...]

[...] Summary These documents present an eerie description of the advertising industry in our time and age. At the same time, they highlight the creativity of some individuals who choose to use the industry's tactics against them, by making fun or rather criticizing in a subtle way the world they depict. As the first document clearly states, companies have been trying to court these creative artists in order to hire them into an ever-growing industry. These efforts have not wholly been successful however: as is clearly seen in documents three and four, the will to decry the violations of some enterprises remains very prominent in the mind of these people, who define themselves as artists as much as activists. [...]