'THE CHILDREN OF NARX AND COCA-COLA': ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL CREATIVITY Mattfiew Soar B.Sc. (Hons), The Nottingham Trent University, 1988 THESIS SUBA41?TED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the School of Communication O Matthew Soar 1996 SIMON HUSER UNIVEmITTY July 1996 All rights re~e~ed.This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. 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It is understood that copying or publication of this work for fmmcial gain shall not be dowed without my written permission. f itfe of ThesislProjectlExtended Essay The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola': Advertising and Commercial Creativity author^ (Signature) Matthew Soar (name) APPROVAL NAME: Mzitthew fMm) Soar DEGREE: MA TITLE: 'The Children of Marx and Coca-Cola': Advertising and Commercial Creativity EXAMfNf NG COIMMXTTEE: CHAIR: Prof. Robert Anderson Prof. Stephen Kline Senior Supervi School of d!ha E$L ati~tSFU Prof. Martin %a Superviso;sap. School of mmunication, SFtl Assist. Prof. Gail Faurschou Supervisor, SchooI of Communication, SFU Prof. Richard W.Pollay External Examiner Faculty of Commerce & Business Administration University of British Columbia Date: W-LL 14% ii Abstract -r nis tnesis is a*mutadvertising. More specificaiiy, it is concerned with advertising rather than advertisements; with process rather than content. The central claim is that, in order to fully understand the social and cultural significance of advertising as a major cultural institution, we must take into consideration the role of the advertising process and, in particular, the contribution of advertising creatives to that process. The major routines of the culture of consumption have long since abandoned a strictly rational approach as their primary mode of address. Furthermore, they are increasingly reliant on the specialist expertise of 'cultural' workers, who inevitably draw on their own experience as consumers - and who possess the skills to design commercial communications which appeal through emotional and empathetic resonance. Analysis centres on an investigation of the nature of commercial creativity, recognized in a particularly influential stratum of occupations which includes advertising, film, and the media more generally. In addition, contemporary culture is treated as a circuit in which meanings and values are transferred and transformed as they are carried by advertising messages from production, to consumption, and back again. An emergent theme is the stress and anxiety associated with the role of creative intermediaries, and indeed the business as a whole, ccnceived as an exercise in the management of uncertainty. Cinema, a medium in which creative constraints are much less marked, has served as a forum far the expression of some common frustrations habitually experienced by aI1 commercial creatives. A number of fWare examined in detail with this assertion in mind. The most pressing conclusion is that those in advertising and other creative occupations (such as screen-writing, graphic design, fashion, and style journalism) must be assessed collectively as an esoteric yet highly influential group of workers with much in common - and much to tell us about the production and continual reproduction of contemporary cultural values. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to J.T., (and B.R., if he's reading). Thanks dso to M.S.K. for encouragement. Acknowledgments I'd like to thank Steve mine for believing I had something useful to say. I also accept full responsibility for the way in which I've attempted to say it. Table of Contents .. Approval ....................................................................................................... II ... Abstract ...................................................................................................... UI Dedication .................................................................................................... iv Acknovrledgments ............................................................................................v Introduction: My Brief Career: A prehistory by way of an introduction ...............................1 1. The Fetishism of Advertising .......................................................................... 13 Introduction ........................................................................................ 13 Critical Departures ................................................................................. 15 Culturalist Responses ............................................................................. 24 Towards a Remedy ............................................................................... -30 2. Advertising Production and Private Knowledges: The 'No-Collar' Worker ..................... 37 Introduction ....................................................................................... -37 Section One: Sociological Perspectives ......................................................... 38 Section Two: Professional Perspectives - A Case Study ..................................... 53 Conclusions ....................................................................................... -65 3. The Film Text: Advertising Production as Public Knowledge ..................................... 69 Introduction ....................................................................................... -69 Films about Advertising 1947-1992: A case study ........................................... -76 i) Gray Flannel F'ic: The post-war advertising industry in the movies .......... 77 ii) The New Consumer Society on Celluloid .......................................... 87 iii) Creative Angst Hits The Big Screen .............................................. -95 Further Discussion: How (and why) Bagley got ahead in advertising ..................... 102 Conchsions ...................................................................................... -106 4. Defetishizing Advertising: Creativity and the Circuit Reconsidered ..............................112 Introduction: The Short Circuit ................................................................. I12 Switching Circuits: Towards Social Change .................................................. 115 Concluding Arguments: Towards a Critical Theory of Commercial Creativity ........... 126 Further Research ................................................................................. 137 Appendix I: The Short Circuit ........................................................................... 142 Appendix 2: Englrsh-language Films about Advertising: A chronology ............................ 143 Appendix 3: English-language Films about Advertising: By sub-genre ............................ 145 Bibliography ............................................................................................... 147 vii Introduction My Brief Career: A prehisQoryby way of an introduction As a teenager, reading both Karl Marx and 'Honey' magazine, I couldn't reconcile what I knew with what Ifelt. This is the root of ideology, I believe. I knew I was being 'exploited',but it uma fact that I was attracted. Judith Williamson Decoding Advertisements (1978: 9). The original motivation for this thesis stems from my personal experience in the advertising business. The choices I made getting into it - and my subsequent reasons for leaving - should, I hope, provide some indication as to the nature of the arguments presented in the following pages. That the drive to produce this work should derive from expressly personal experience is not unusual; indeed, it appears to be an unavoidable consequence of attempting to critique a phenomenon which affects all of us in our daily lives. The literature I have encountered often makes