Wherever you go you are surrounded by advertising… on the bus, in the stores, on television, radio and billboards along the streets or large signs, “Vote For Me” of people wanting your vote in elections.
So what is the connection between art and advertising? It is the creator. Advertising is the keen observer of society. Advertising has had a long, vivid history and what we see of it today is the outgrowth of the Victorian age. The Industrial Revolution gave us the sewing machine (1846) then the adding machine (1872) and a steel making process, all of which worked to make life simpler. Railroads linked towns and cities and made products affordable. Then the telephone, electric light bulbs and phonograph all led to a more leisurely life and endorsements began with Coco-Cola. Advertising this drink in 1903 by creating a calendar to advertise drink and entertainment. Bottling and railroads allowed shoppers to begin shopping in stores lined with packaged products. Shoppers need an education in what to buy so, in stepped advertising. Magazines learned how to wrap products into buying “dreams to desire.”
Over the years, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s the advertisers were well aware that women made up most of the buying public. After the 1950s the youth market was tapped and in the 1960s women turned to glamour. Beauty was perceived and today many pages in magazines have products for women to enhance their beauty. By the 1970s social change for women began and demands for family and career were pronounced. In the 1980s beauty and success widened to include variation in age, ethnicity and accomplishment. People portrayed as having successful careers pitched upscale products and the “youthful market” was the target audience. Levi’s jeans began printing ads in women’s magazines in 1995 with pictures of people of all ages wearing jeans and in different situations. Advertising images transmitted ideas that became society’s cultural currency and sometimes values.
The question is? Can we exist without advertising or must we be educated to know about all of the latest trends for living. What do you think? Is advertising important to you?
For more information contact Jaylene Armstrong, retired art educator from Madison Wisconsin, at 661-255-3050.