"Love was created by guys like me...to sell nylons."

I won’t lie. I am every advertising executive’s dream. It only takes the newest indie song, a set of masterful screenshots, and some clever dialogue and I’m buying an iPhone. Ads have made me cry, they’ve made me laugh and some have had catch phrases that I frequently quote in day-to-day conversation (Ikea’s infamous “start the car” commercial, anyone?). Good, strategic advertising is an art form. There is no denying that tomorrow morning many of us will be on Youtube watching all the commercials from last night’s Super Bowl that were not played in Canada. Yet, stepping away from these overt examples of marketing, I think it is important to discuss how advertising can penetrate our lives so deeply.

In class, a few individuals presented the argument “this would not work on me” when talking about the effects of advertising. While I completely understand their perspective (a sports ad would not have me pulling out my credit card as fast as a lipstick commercial would), I think advertising plays a huge role in subtly generating and reinforcing standards by which we live our lives. Marketing uses many mythic structures to perpetuate common standards regarding success, sports, family life, etc, the list goes on. The ideas implicit in ads, create seeds of desire and bring us further into a culture of consumption.

The title of this blog post comes from one of Don Draper’s most infamous speeches. I think it truly demonstrates how the inner workings of marketing campaigns are far more complex than what is shown to us. This is a great illustration of how advertisers latch onto emotions and concepts that are common to all of us and assign a specific image that tempts us to spend. Evaluating this from the perspectives related to the study of pop culture and religion, would leave many suspicious and concerned.   

Religion and faith are something profound and personal to each individual. I do not feel comfortable knowing that marketing executives toy with these chords in order to increase their quarterly profits. This is one aspect of pop culture that has the potential to exploit Christian narratives and teaching mechanisms to increase monetary gain.  I believe that in the study of religion and popular culture, advertising can be viewed with great suspicion especially since the temptation created through marketing is in great conflict with Christianity.