Advertisements: Pros and Cons
Advertising has the power to share messages, appeal to consumers, and most importantly for companies, sell their products. There are both good and bad types of advertising. Good advertising includes ethos, pathos, and logos to connect their product with values that align with societal values.
The Levi’s ad “We are all Workers” in Sarah Banet-Weiser’s article focuses on the rebuilding of the town Braddock, Pennsylvania with music and images that reflect a historical narrative of American pioneers building America. This ad focuses on primarily men building the town, a common American narrative that it is a man’s job to fix the economy and the nation that we live in (Banet-Weiser 91). It is as if only a man would be able to fix the economic crisis that has ruined businesses and infrastructure. In relation to logos, these ads utilize the message they are able to tell with their product. This advertisement is about much more than a pair of jeans. Banet-Weiser argues that although there are contradictions with how the ad focuses on masculinity and selective history to sell their product it is also “this kind of disconnect or contradiction that makes the ad campaigns so successful in an emotional or affective register” (101). The logos in this ad was successful because it related the brand to the current economic crisis that people were experiencing. In a sense, the Levi’s ad was used to empower men and make it their responsibility to fix the world we live, when women are just as capable. Another example of logos from a female perspective was the Always campaign “Like A Girl.” It involved interviews with women and men of all ages to enact what doing something like a girl meant. This campaign shows that women are just as capable and have the ability to perform to the highest of their abilities. This includes being able to build something, fix the economy, and change the American pioneer narrative that only men are cut out for the job.
An attempt at good advertising was Nike’s Pro Hijab product. They were creating a product that made Muslim women athletes a possibility (Bahrainwala 2). Nike created this product to enable participation from Muslim women in sports but other companies that had created Hijabs prior to Nike were part of those Muslim communities and knew the various types and coverage needed by these women. Nike was just creating their version of the Hijab to create inclusivity. This was an opportunity for Nike to show that they were a global company that could provide for athletes around the world and make a profit from it. Nike didn’t create anything new because these sport Hijabs had already existed in the Western world (12). This advertising campaign for the Pro Hijab product looks and sounds a lot like making profit off of a product that is centered around whiteness and has no connection to actual Muslim women designers or Muslim women or athletes working in Nike (13). They were a little blind to think that creating this product would automatically make it the ethically correct thing to do for a part of the athletic population. Although they didn’t use whiteness as an advertising factor visually. Some other advertisers have been blind enough to do so like Nivea, the skincare brand. Nivea created a campaign for one of their products with the specific wording “white is purity” on the cover. Although their context may have been meant to be taken differently, the literal wording implies that to be white or light skinned is the highest form one can be. This excludes a majority of the world’s population, especially when this ad was promoted to people in the Middle East.
Although, some ads think that their messages are clear and will be interpreted in a certain context it is important to know that a specific group of people is not left out from the ad using logos. Efforts in creating an ad must be with the right intentions and support from certain communities and not be used to commodify a product or demographic.
