IDENTITY AND ADVERTISING
By Eva Lawrence
Identity – it’s so hot right now! No, but really, it’s huge, especially in the teen years as you develop a sense of who you are, what is important and where you belong.
But what is identity?
Identity is what makes you the fabulous unique person that you are! It’s the combination of lots of influences like: cultural and national identity, friends and whanau, values and religion, discrimination and stereotyping; gender and sexual preference and the influences of society, the media and advertising.
Most of these influences make sense, but one that we don’t often think about is how the media and advertising influence ‘global youth culture’.
Branded Identity
While situations for young people around the world are very different, there is one dominant youth culture. That culture is created, presented and sold to us every day. It’s the one you see in ads, music clips and in heaps of images.
This is a culture presented by marketers. It is inaccurate, it is often negative and it keeps changing. You need to keep your finger on the pulse, keep doing new things and buying new things to keep up with it.
Ponder these stats:
US teens spend US$100B a year, and their parents spend another US$50B a year on them.
The average young person in Aotearoa New Zealand sees 20,000 TV ads a year!
That means youth markets are worth big bucks and companies need to be able to see to you. But that’s hard! You are so damn cool and what is cool changes all the time.
An effective technique used by advertisers is to combine products with image so you are not just buying a drink or phone, you’re buying an identity.
“Boost understands that brands are an integral part of today’s youth identity. Boost customers purchase more than pay-as-you-go mobile phones and services; they buy an experience. Everything we do is purposeful, meaningful and consistent with the aspirations of young people.” – from Boost Mobile site:
Brands are mentioned by artists in heaps of songs – to show wealth or poverty or just to express the things that are part of people’s everyday reality or desires.
According to US company American Brandstand there has been a rise in the mention of not only clothing labels but cars, soft drinks and weapons.
The winner of most brand-dropping in 2004 was Kayne West, who mentioned 19 brands in his 4 singles of 2004. He beat 2003 winner 50 CENT.
Record labels often charge to have brands appear in Music Clips but up ‘til now artists haven’t been paid when they mention a product in the lyrics of their songs. That has changed though.
In 2005, McDonalds offered to pay MCs between US$1-$5 each time a song which mentions Big Macs is on the radio!
Seagrams Gin got put into 5 raps in 2004 the same way. This included Petey Pablo’s “Freek-a-leek” with the lyrics: “Now I got to give a shout out to Seagram’s Gin/Cause I’m drinkin’ it and they payin’ me for it.”
So, what impact does it have?
Scary but true: brands and advertising help to define us. While it’s not the only thing that affects us, it does affect us all.
Advertising is based on the desire to be something you are not and something that is probably not real. These false images can cause:
- Low self esteem
- Eating disorders
- Extreme stereotypes
- Confused images of people in different countries
- Spending cash you just don’t have!
- Being defined by someone else!
What Can I do?
We have a responsibility to look critically and redefine ourselves.
You don’t have to reject everything that is cool and buy everything from the op-shop to fight against this influence.
You can start by being aware: of what is being pushed and of your own consumption. See the image of youth that is being packaged and sold to you and choose for yourself how you define your identity: individually, as a community and globally…
Find out more:
Adbusters
Media Watch
Merchants of Cool (online doco)
No Logo – Naomi Klein
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers – Alissa Quart
This article was originally published in Jet Magazine’s World View column and is published here with their permission.
