Advertising is a Hollywood romance
Fast cars, alcohol, and women. Creative Director Marc Fiedler has written a book about «Advertising and Happiness.» It’s full of clichés. How serious is the author? *Werbewoche* exchanged emails with Fiedler.
WW: Marc Fiedler, you've written a book about how to make consumers happy, and you're not just giving women a hard time. Who should read the book anyway? Or to put it another way: Who do you make happy besides yourself?
That's where we want to complete the list that is "doled out" to: the men. The book is not about me, but about my fellow advertising creatives, who come off very well with a wealth of examples. Furthermore, I do not claim that I make everyone happy, but that the emotional factor "Happiness" is important for successful advertising. Should I and my colleagues not appreciate our addressees, we would be out of place.
Exemplary advertising from the last 70 years is pictured, I agree. And the fact that it's not just the women who get something off is not lost on me:
Book, p. 45: "The creative director may be the boss, look the best, and get the highest fee, but there's still nothing wrong with the opinions of experts in copywriting, photography, typography, and illustration. Consultant? Planners? If they understood anything about happiness, they'd have the courage to have their own ideas and wouldn't just shoot statistics and target groups. That only hurts them."
But let's return to "Happiness". How does advertising make addressees happy?
Compared to the ads from the 1930s to 1960s, my little dig at women is more than harmless. As for consultants/planners: In the pre-digital era, they used to be called "cardboard carriers" in agencies. No creative person even touched those things with pointed fingers. I'm sure readers have a sense of humor. To your question: advertising per se does not make people happy. No one yells, "Hooray, a billboard." But the ideas, images, product worlds, the dreams and little fulfillments that are shown - those make people happy. Good advertising says, "It's okay, go ahead and buy it. You've earned it." Advertising is a Hollywood romance that makes you cry in the movie theater, you know it's just a movie, that the detergent ad family's home doesn't look like that. But that doesn't bother you, that's nice.
Of course, the old ads are well crafted, but on the other hand they are so stereotypical: the housewife's worries that her spouse might not like the coffee... Today's advertisers should think of more.
We can think of much more. The subjects are flat in clichés common at the time. Certainly creepy in parts, but when I see anti-flatulent yogurt or children's chocolate drops family fun commercials on TV today?! It's not that far off.
Digestive yogurt advertising makes my stomach turn, too. And yes, clichés are still being served up by the metre. But you do the same in your book. You overuse the stereotypical macho image:
P. 90: "He [the man] has fun, women and is a good craftsman." Drill, cars, motorcycles, something pretty for the wife - that's all a man needs.
P. 90: "The woman wants, the man knows that he is great".
Pg. 103: "Men Die, Women Have Permanent Suffering."
Why? Do you really believe that?
Some of the quotes are current advertising slogans, others are small provocations. Among others, I had as a consultant for the book a woman, herself the owner of an advertising agency. She confirmed one or the other image. As a man, I can tell you vicariously that men hardly have any say in purchasing decisions as soon as they live in a communal household. There it reduces to hobbies and possibly still the decision about the car. That the male testosterone level leads us to doubt ourselves less is a fact. But I don't claim that this is great.
When it comes to offering someone a product, it is easier to operate patterns that lead to rewarding oneself as a buyer. We can apply this in a gender-neutral way to a wide variety of groups, ages, backgrounds, hobbies, etc. Exemplarily, it is clearer as an author to stay on the beautiful topic of man/woman.
Let's leave it at that. You write, "Advertising is a Hollywood romance." Does good advertising celebrate the ideal world?
Definitely not just ideal world, but "overhyped world". Take food advertising, never does a hamburger look like it does on the poster. Nevertheless, the provider is very successful with the happy menus for children. Cars in advertising always drive on free roads, never look for a parking place, are still clean after a long distance. Everyone is so aware of reality that they would like to forget it for a short time.
Advertising embellishes. Is she allowed to lie?
When people tell each other stories, they are usually not accurate - but not lies either. The mountain wasn't that high, the storm wasn't that bad, the trip was really boring in parts. Advertising is not legally allowed to lie, nor should it. However, there is a clear difference between showing the pleasure of a product in an embellished way and inventing or falsifying facts about the product. I do not believe in seduction through advertising, but in promises and confirmation. That excludes lies.
Example please.
The TV commercial of Toffifee. Wholesome family, all are happy and together on a sofa. Nice husband who romps with children, great mother who comforts. You can buy a laugh, in the form of a pack of candy. Story, acting, styling and decor are too good to be true (promise), but when the single mom comes home from shopping, the only child will be happy. There's a smile for mom. (Confirmation: it's OK if you're dreaming).
What if the mother devours the pack alone - and is frustrated afterwards?
Hmm, that leads to a "serious" problem with the figure - and the chance of a new partner, a life as a family as in the advertisement. A vicious circle. But the lie in advertising would be yes, if claimed that this can not happen. The "Bacardi feeling" usually looks different than in the film. Creating beautiful product worlds is our job. But the best ones are usually the ones that are already in the customers' heads.
Is there more to "XXS condoms don't exist" than sensationalism, more than sex sells?
Whether you think of good sex when you think of XXS condoms, I don't know. For me, the title on the cover is more an admission that not every product can be sold with the happiness factor. Every theory has its limits, every product its fans with their preferences and desires.
When I read the title, I thought it was a call to be bold in advertising. Big throws the world needs or something....
This is a correct interpretation - not being intimidated by the small, but striving towards the great.
Last question: You sell your book as "The first non-fiction book with a happy ending". What is the happy ending?
The reassurance to us makers: "Gooosssfraba " (according to the book "a word Eskimos use to reassure their child, and during sex). We do not operate on the open heart. If the campaign goes wrong, we don't have to explain to a mother that her child is dead. We should be more daring in advertising. More big emotions, more exciting stories and excellently produced. Most of it makes you sad just by looking at it, it's boring and cheap. This is out of proportion to the media budgets, and in the end everyone is surprised when advertising doesn't work.
Isabel Imper
