Who are the Masterminds Behind these Messages?

By Jhansher Khan

As the second week comes to a close in Professor Strangelove’s CMN 2160 class, we have covered a lot of material, mainly two of the most influential thinkers known as Harold Innis and Marshal McLuhan. Although the background about them is fairly general for now, we are likely going to go further in depth with these theorists. I’m particularly interested in McLuhan’s idea of “mediums”, which I will cover in this blog entry. However, the major topic I am interested in and have been interested in for quite some time is “advertising” which ties in McLuhan’s idea of the “medium.” According to Dr.Strangelove McLuhan was not completely right in every aspect, but I just want to look at this one specific area for now and relate it to advertising. So lets begin!

Advertisements are memorable, that’s for sure. Whether its from television, the internet or posters on public property, there is no doubt that we are completely saturated in advertisements. Most of us choose to not pay attention to advertisements, but the fact is that we most likely have already stored a vivid mental image of the advertisement (whether it be a logo, specific colours that stands out) within the depths of our minds.

Advertisers must ensure that they pay attention to the current cultural standing in society by integrating cultural symbols for example. To be fully effective they must also pay attention to the constantly changing practices and technology. Communication of these various messages must be integrated as well, and the message that advertisers choose to portray must be effective and understandable.

However, can all this advertisement lead to a sort of Tyranny in society, whereas corporations gear us towards certain products and ideas? McLuhan advocated for the idea that, “the medium is the message,” but can this medium be overused and corrupted at any point? It is certain that this new medium of technology allows advertisers and corporations to reach out the general population. It is questionable if whether or not there is too much of an influence which drives us in directions that we would not originally intend to. Therefore, advertisements as “guides”, instructing us with it’s certain influences and the idea of conformity.

The general type of idea I’m trying to get at is that the only way corporations can communicate with us is through advertising as a sort of tool. So if this were to be laid out in a simple diagram:

Corporations————–> Advertisement——————> General Public

This is the most effective way of communicating in this manner and mediums are just mere tools to advertise since these mediums are used by the general public on a daily basis, so why not slip in advertisements here and there to get their attention when they least expect it?

These mediums in which messages are conveyed evolve constantly and are often replaced due to technological advancement. The Gutenburg Press developed in the 1500’s was the first innovation to convey messages to the general public. Over time however, newer mediums were introduced such as the radio, television and public poster advertisements. During the 1990’s, the internet was developed and still thrives as a medium that we all generally use. The internet now currently plays a large part of our lives, even University courses such as Dr.Strangelove’s class highly revolves the use of the internet. I would not be surprised if a new medium came into play in the next decade for example since new innovations are always taking effect.

I’ll put forth one major example of a corporation I’ve been more aware of recently. One of the largest fast food enterprises “MacDonalds,” which has practically expanded itself globally, took it’s franchise to whole new levels of advertising. By using the popular phrase, “I’m lovin’ it,” as well as the memorable character “Ronald MacDonald,” the mascot of the whole corporation, they have successfully executed their advertisement campaign and as a result it became one of the largest fast food chains in the world itself. (Probably is the biggest!) So what is MacDonald trying to convey to the public? That they are fast, cheap, efficient and that they serve to millions across the globe. So is it really the quality of food that drives people towards MacDonalds? I think not, since these foods are cheaply made and are very unhealthy as well. Anyways, the main reason why people choose to flock to MacDonalds is due to every advertisement possible on every “medium.” They usually heavily advertise their products as being cheap and affordable compared to other fast food industries. There may be other reasons I’m not mentioning here, but I really think that this is one of the main reasons.

I will probably contribute more ideas in later blogs, but for now this is my first one.

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