Monday, January 28, 2013

Response to No Logo Reading

I honestly cannot imagine a life without logos. Our lives in the 21st century are so different then those of our great grandparents and even parents. We live in a world that forces us to view advertisements and company logos on a hour to hour minute to minute basis. Artists and "ad jammers" started the ad rebellion over 20 years ago and the level of advertisements have drastically increased since then. The article talks about bashing/jamming/altering a billboard. How many printed/painted billboards exist these days. In a lot of cities and highly trafficked areas, the billboards are now electronic. You cannot go up and draw a mustache, or stitches over a mouth if the screen is going to change five minutes later.

The article brings up many good points about how advertisements and companies give false perceptions of their products affects on the public. Tobacco and Alcohol ads are geared toward children. Yes that is a story I have heard over and over again. Camel used cartoons which clearly is appealing to young children. Think about today though. How many "adult" television shows are cartoons? Also what channels are they on. There are adult cartoons ranging from South Park to The Simpsons. These shows are clearly not for children. Furthermore, they play on the channels children watch. After ten at night Cartoon Network turns into adult swim and nickelodeon turns into nick at night. I remember being horrified when I walked into my sisters bed room at night and she was watching The Simpsons. Her explanation was that she knew she could watch channel 54 and that was on 54 so it was ok. Certain criteria and styles of art appeal to different groups of people and companies use this to their advantage. The article talks about hoe in poverty stricken and poor areas there was a higher frequency of tobacco and alcohol ads. What was on these ads was a false reality. There were images of people having fun drinking on yachts and a glorified existence with products tat are bad for you.

The article brings up another good point, that technology is so advanced these days that jammers can alter an ad and make it look completely real. Not only can they recreate the whole logo, they can reprint the whole ad over again with minor alterations that can change the whole meaning. It is no longer "somebody coming at it with a spray-paint can". Also, the prevalence of logos. The article talks about Nike and Starbucks specifically and the over use of their logos. Their brands are so set in stone and household known that it is obnoxious. If there is a swoosh anywhere no matter the size color or orientation, the normal person will recognize it. This reminds me of my family member Jee. She is from south Korea and married into my family. We were talking about how her culture celebrates christmas and if they had santa. She told us that the santa they know and recognize is the Coca-Cola santa and that santa is red and white due to Coke's huge branding and logo of santa.

The global community that is not christian or even santa believers all know the look of santa from a coke can. Also, Coca-Cola has changed the endangerment of Polar Bears ever since the marketing of the cute white bears on their products years ago. When a company spends so much time and money on branding, they are only setting themselves up for hackers. I created an ad myself years ago that was a spoof off coke. Many other people have also. Coke can be found on shirts, bags, lipstick and more. Ofcourse there is also spoofs much like the ones that article talked about with Absolut vodka or Tide or Kraft. People change the words up slightly but keep the font style and look of the logo the same. Certain logos are instantly recognizable. There are even apps now that test your ability to recognize the most common logos.

Many companies spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to create a logo that sticks and a brand that is recognizable. SMCM is working with a branding company now trying to improve our brand so more people want to come here. The name of the school is up for discussion as well as the logo used on many documents, clothing and accessories.

Our world and lives are immersed in corporations, logos, brands and advertisements. I do not think it will ever go away, it will only get worse. In turn the jammers, spoofs and knock offs will only get worse and more frequent. With the invention of TiVo people can fast forward through ads shows now have logos within their shows as well as advertisements the actors endorse. I say take this advertisement immersed life and just flow with it. History is always changing and repeating itself. Rebellions will always happen but in the end consumers will still buy the products and endorse the companies.


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