Stop smoking peace pipes

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The starting point of this conversation is the simple observation that commerce and culture are increasingly interdependent and indissolubly intertwined. To quote Grant McCracken (anthropologist and author of several books on cultural anthropology): “It’s almost as if the brand can’t have a place in the present day marketplace unless it is worthy of a place in contem-porary culture. It can’t be commerce unless it’s culture”.

The ‘culture making’ power of brands and advertising in my view is not sufficiently recognised. The fact that we actually create ‘cultural capital’ is not at the centre of our conception of ourselves nor is it the articulated role we give to our brands.

Bad communication is in my opinion the single largest source of environmental pollution, to me it is cultural smoke. We just don’t see ourselves as environmentalists or ecologists, we don’t believe that our brands have a real role in people’s lives or that our adver-tising is more than just an act of appeasement, worthy of being stored, put up on walls, revisited like a good movie or music.

Our mental model of the world is of a blaze, perpetually distracted person, who is difficult to stimulate. Branding is like a little dance to catch their attention even if it’s only for a moment, the whole communications planning and touch point school of branding illustrates this anxiety. It’s no longer enough to make a good painting, or hang it in a great museum, we must actively gather people to go and look at it.

The implicit view is that ‘brands’ are interlopers and advertising is an attempt to give them legitimacy in society, that people have their impatient lives to lead and we must try and fit into it, the whole industry around consumer insight, the desire for people speak, and for representation to imitate their (popular) culture are peace offerings in exchange for a seat on the dining table, bedroom, bathroom, car, wallet, anywhere we can be fitted in.

Ever wondered why advertising is always good news? It’s like a smoke screen that we need to consume an otherwise unpalatable reality.

What if we take as our starting point the outrageous idea that we are already worthy, we exist because mankind needs us, we help give meaning and purpose to people lives, does it change anything?