Anna Zurek

10/2/13
Part 1
DwotR on Buying and Nothingness by Andrew Sullivan

SUMMARY:
The article is focused on the art of advertising, its relations with the means through which it is
being propagated (mass media) and its evolution within the past few decades. Sullivan tries to
explain the ways in which advertising affects individual people as well as the popular culture. By
presenting us with opposing views on this subject he tries to paint a multi-dimensional and
unbiased picture of this complex phenomenon.

DEFINED CONCEPTS:
Q

Mood advertising: Instead of providing a proper description of the product, this kind of
advertisement is structured to create associations between the merchandise and certain values or
otherwise desired concepts like class, myth, fantasy, or beauty.

Values and lifestyles advertising technique (V.A.L.S): Assumes that people can be classified
based on their personal and socioeconomic identities (ex. the survivors, achievers, integrated
etc.). Then it directs each advertisement at people who fit certain identity type rather than a
certain social class. It also plays on peoples dreams and hopes for a better future. It uses flattery.

OUTLINE:
Advertising as a part of our culture is so prevalent that soon we will be unable to
distinguish the two as two different things. (Sullivan)

It happens because the number of the advertisements has been growing rapidly in the last
few decades and the speed at which it was growing was also increasing. According to
Sullivan, in 1989 an average consumer was exposed to some 50 to 100 sources of
advertising between getting out of bed in the morning and finishing the newspapers at work
an hour or so later, assuming that the television wasnt on.
Given the facts that this data is from more than 20 years ago, that the amount of
advertising was continuously increasing over the past decades, and the technological
boom we experienced (which created the new kinds of mass media advertising that
were not known at the time Sullivans article was written), we can only imagine the
current number of advertisements were exposed to on daily basis. No, it is scary to

even attempt to imagine that. In the light of Sullivans article the syllabus claim that we
swim in the (sea of) mass media gains a whole new and terrifying meaning.

I happens also because the ways of advertising changed. Due to the fact that mood
advertising is the main form of advertisement these days, we can find fewer and fewer
concrete, reliable information in the ads. Moreover, the advertising took over the media and
changed their purpose Magazines came to exist not simply by advertising, but for
advertising. In the newspapers today theres often more advertisement than actual content.

Yet another reason why culture and advertising mix so much is because of the slow, but
inexorable abandonment of class based marketing the marketing has become more
sublime. Its no longer focused solely on the socioeconomic class, it rather appeals to our
individuality things we value, our attitudes and lifestyle.

Could it be that by appealing to our individuality the advertisers want us to feel

special, to trick us into thinking that it is our idea own that we need certain products
to express ourselves?
To be able to thoroughly analyze advertising and its effects on the culture we must
objectively consider both its negative and positive attributes.

In Sullivans words, It should be possible to construct a theory of style and advertising that
can admit its importance and yet distinguish between higher and lower forms of pap. To see
the possibilities in style for human autonomy, to see the benignity of much of advertisings
penetration of our lives, does not necessitate a complete suspension of critical judgment. We
should be able to perceive where style diverts and where it corrupts, when it sustains and
stimulates other media and when it perverts them.
It is easy to see just the negative influence of advertisement in the mass media like the
overwhelming growth of consumerism (turning the nation of citizens into a nation of
consumers Century of the Self Documentary). However, to fully understand the
mass media/advertising we must look at the full spectrum of their influence, which also
means acknowledging their positive features. Only then we can see how complicated
are the effects the mass media have on our culture.
I think this goes well with the purpose of this class. By really understanding the
phenomenon of advertising or the mass media in general, we can be more aware of our
choices and not be depraved of them. By seeing how the mass media is all about the
freedom and submission, and we can be finally free to decide whether or not we will want
to submit to it.