COVER STORY The Trickster: myth and magic in great ads Peter Cooper and Simon Patterson, CRAM International, demonstrate that there is a potent archetype lurking in much great advertising HE TRICKSTER is one of the switch brands, buy on impulse and world’s great archetypes, present in change routines in the supermarket. T art, religion, politics, entertainment During this intermediate state, the mind and great advertising. Great advertising is open, creative and susceptible. employs the Trickster to entice, persuade The prince of Tricksters is Hermes, and seduce. We are all, in spite of our son of Zeus. As god of commerce and rational defences, subject to the Trickster. persuasion, he was the messenger of the It goes beyond the purely rational, to con- gods. He received a magic wand, the nect with our deeper emotional, social ‘caduceus’, that could inspire and and cultural selves. Here we review the dumbfound whomever it touched. As Trickster – ‘Delight Maker’ or ‘Divine Homer wrote of Hermes: ‘He mazes the Joker’ – and its special relevance to mod- eyes of those mortals he would maze, or ern advertising. And, not least, how wakes again the sleepers’ – not a far cry market research can grasp it. from great advertising. Symbolised by wings on feet and helmet, he became the Trickster origins god of movement. Not surprisingly, The Trickster archetype is that part of Hermes is the uncrowned prince of ourselves that secretly desires the fantas- modern advertising. tic, exaggeration, seduction and escape The Trickster archetype is at once from the mundanities of life. It is older moral and immoral, good and evil, and more primitive than modern logic, earthly and divine, outrageous and subtle, order and rationality, hovering on the magician, fool, clown, joker, jester, mischievous and primitive, infantile but borders of the personal and collective harlequin and enchanter. It occurs in all wise, deceptive but wondrous, self-cen- unconscious. In neuro-physical terms, it mythologies. In Greece and Rome, tred yet insightful. It combines these is buried deep in the brain’s limbic sys- Hermes/Mercury, god of commerce, conflicting impulses in ourselves and tem where primitive feelings lie, in profit and persuasion; in Hebraic our relationships with brands. This contrast to the rational workings of the culture, Jacob; in Norse myths, Loki, ubiquity accounts for its fascination and cerebral cortex. co-creator of the world; among the its power. The Trickster is the master of Ashanti of Ghana, Anansi, the spider- flux, perpetuating old illusions and trickster; in Japan, Susano, who plunged Trickster now creating new ones. It breaks taboos, the world into darkness by mistake; in In the modern world, the Trickster is stretches the mind and challenges the Polynesia, Maui, who captured the present in virtually every aspect of limits of belief.The Trickster represents sun to slow it down; among the human activity. It appears in film, video, the oppositions and contradictions of Indians of North America, ‘Wakdjunka’ cartoons, advertising – all forms of life; how we deceive ourselves that we – ‘the tricky one’. communication, including research are rational when we are not. Its myth All these myths have one thing in interviews. The filmic form and and magic are integral to human common: they teach what is outside the visual–verbal devices are important tools behviour. bounds of consciousness which research of the Trickster, now that the visual The role of the Trickster is well can often miss.The Trickster passes mes- image is such a dominant mode of documented in psychological and sages from our psychic selves, guiding communication and persuasion. A anthropological literature. Jung identified us, just as with modern advertising. It classic is ‘Batman’, where the Trickster is the Trickster – or ‘Divine Joker’ – as his appears particularly at moments of tran- both the Batman and the Joker. Bruce fourth archetype along with Mother, sition in the interplay between reality and Wayne, innocent and bemused, is Rebirth and Spirit.Trickster figures exist fantasy, during change and life-stage transformed into a super-hero, the in all cultures as shaman, sorcerer, crises.We see it at work when consumers positive Trickster, a black ‘bat’ with ➳ April 2001 Admap 29 © World Advertising Research Center 2001 COVER STORY amazing powers, charged with repelling graveyard of fallen famous brands and the forces of evil. Jack Nicholson, the the future will see more. white-faced, green-haired Joker, is the evil side of the Trickster. Trickster advertising Other characters play important parts We have noted the presence of the Trick- in Trickster stories, like Batman’s ster in many advertising studies. The ‘guardian angel’ (Alfred, the butler), a Trickster often takes on an animal form, fair damsel (Vicki Vale), the forces of as in ancient cultures. Our continued good (the Mayor and the Police fascination with the half-animal, half- Commissioner), and a chorus of evil human is clear in Disney characters, (the Joker’s henchmen). cartoons, and a multitude of anthropo- Many public figures are ‘tricksterish’: morphic Tricksters in advertising.These G In sport, Eric Cantona, Maradona, range from past advertising, like PG David Beckham, Muhammad Ali Tips’ chimps and Esso’s tiger, through G In music, David Bowie, Michael to more modern examples like Bud- Jackson, Madonna, Marilyn Manson. weiser frogs, Peperami, Boddington’s G In entertainment, Charlie Chaplin, cow, Motorola’s tortoise.The Trickster Mr Bean, Ali G, Chris Evans. exploits the primitive power of animals Theatre and film breed new Trickster within us.This was a favourite device of expressions, as do luxury, fashion and storytelling in native American cultures, the arts. Illusions are commonplace, where the Trickster was portrayed as distorting, confusing and pleasing to the coyote or raven, performing amazing senses. In science, too, the Trickster is at and extraordinary sexual feats. Else- work. Placebos are the Tricksters of Above: Hermes, ‘uncrowned prince of where it is monkey, hare, fox, spider, bat, medicine, creating effects well beyond advertising’ (Giambologna, 16th century) chameleon, fish, bird or dragon, again pharmaceutically active ingredients. with fantastical appearances and Politics abounds with Tricksters, G Heroes are often born from humble magical properties, or a human with supported by their shamans or ‘spin origins, show early signs of superhuman animal mask or clothes. Physiognomy doctors’. George W Bush, Tony Blair powers, rise rapidly to prominence and and phrenology are critical to the Trick- and William Hague all have tricksterish struggle triumphantly against evil. ster – the brand’s inner character is qualities compacted into their public G The hero invariably has a ‘guardian’ – expressed through outward appearances. image. ‘Tricksterishness’ is part of polit- the Trickster – who protects, guides and The Trickster regularly appears in ical charisma – we know they do not helps him perform tasks that cannot be quite mean what they say, but they done unaided – Merlin for Arthur, Alfred engage us none the less. for Batman, ‘Q’ for James Bond. ‘The Trickster creates The difference between the Trickster’s G With all this success, heroes become heroes and then causes role in the past and now is that the over-confident and fall from grace, Trickster was more overt, a way of betrayed by hubris and the people they their downfall’ understanding and learning about the came to save. world.Today, the Trickster helps us cope This parallels the life cycles of brands exaggerated human form, like Levi’s Flat with the pace of modern, digital, dehu- and advertising. Eric, PlayStation’s Alien, the Metz manised life. It makes contact with our G They often come from humble ‘Judder’, or super-human figures like real selves. It makes life ‘fun’. Since origins, show early promise and triumph Pirelli’s Carl Lewis.The brand takes on brands and advertising are the secular over competition, often with the aid of a their playful or serious image, suspending equivalent of religion, we need the Trickster ingredient or ‘USP’. disbelief. Nowadays, too, we see the Trickster to make sense of the complex, G They too over-reach themselves and Trickster bringing machines alive, as in time-driven world. are betrayed – frequently by their own Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the The Trickster creates heroes and then management, then by consumers. Builder. causes their downfall. Powerful tales – Marketing history is littered with Modern advertising incorporates the Hercules, Odysseus, King Arthur, Ziggy brands that were once hero Tricksters of Trickster’s oppositions or conflicts. In Stardust – describe the hero’s rise their time such as Rinso, Fry’s chocolate the ‘good’ role, the Trickster brand is and fall. and Austin cars. Each market has its own saviour and hero, as in household and personal care, or OTC medicines. In the their product area, successful Trickster Hawking ‘Specsavers’, Volvo ‘Babies’), ‘bad’ role, it represents the enemies – brands are almost ‘therapeutic’, recog- just as Hermes’ caduceus ‘mazes the dirt, sickness or sheer boredom. The nising popular hopes and fears. Focus eyes’ and ‘wakes again the sleepers’. Trickster recognises the complexities groups themselves have been satirised, as and dualities of modern life: we are in Rover’s ‘rejected by focus groups’ ad, Degrees of Tricksterism neither good nor bad, but both at the and in New Labour politics. Brands and ads vary in their degree of same time, composites of happy and The Trickster manipulates our minds ‘Tricksterishness’. Some ads offer little sad, hero and rogue. This increases in many ways, for example, by bringing beyond overt information.There is little credibility and empathy, e.g. Kronen- elements into the foreground, marking, of the Trickster in this – maybe a touch bourg ‘menage à trois’, the Mars ‘Man’ emphasising, stressing and contrasting, of exaggeration. At the other extreme, whose partner leaves him, and examples and creating new visual and linguistic the Trickster can make advertising like those in Oxo and Bisto advertising.