Of I Love New York - Movie Review Example

Film review Art & copy Introduction Released in 2009 and directed by Doug Pray, Art and Copy is a documentary film that follows the works of some of the most iconic advertisers in the United States. In doing this, the film systematically portrays the position and role of advertisement in the society. Advertisements are indeed essential features of the society. While advertisers strive to make people buy their ideas, brilliant advertisers systematically influence cultural changes depending on the content they develop. The film discusses the works of such iconic advertisers as Hal Riney, Mary Wells Lawrence and George Lois among many others. The advertisers developed some of the most creative and influential works for leading corporations and politicians. The ability of the advertisers to influence the purchasing and voting decisions of their target audiences shows the importance of advertisement in influencing cultural change as the discussion below portrays. Advertisements have an effective way of influencing cultural change in the society. Advertisers are people who live in the society. As such, they spend their time studying the social and cultural developments in the society. They use their findings systematically in advancing the profitability of their products and services. In doing this, they succeed in changing or even creating new cultural features. Developed by Steve Karmen in 1977, “I love New York” is a perfect example of an advertisement that changed the culture of New York. New York is the economic capital of the United States. The leadership of the city wanted to promote tourism in the city thus initiating the development of the advert. The advert remains popular to this day with celebrities and political leaders among other influential people taking advancing the message. The advertiser developed a work that would appeal to the emotions of the people. New Yorkers fell in love with the advert because of their natural feel of patriotism. Visitors to the city loved the adverts to since it proved that they visited the city. The success of effective advertising as Karmen proved in this context is to make an emotional appeal to the target audience. An advert that appeals to the emotions of the people systematically influences a culture change (Fox, 1984). As people began adopting the message, the number of tourists began increasing with most people adorning both t-shirts and caps with the “I love New York” message. Tourism thus became a cultural practice in New York as both locals and visitors began visiting various places within the city. Additionally, caps and t-shirts became common attires as people began appreciating the call for them to embrace tourism. In order for an advertisement to influence the culture of a population, the advertiser must employ strategic features in order to enhance the success of the advert. Steve Karmen portrayed this in his advert. Besides developing a message with emotional appeal, he uses appropriate media to communicate the message. He used radio, television and billboard among other platforms. He even created his own platform as people began adorning caps and t-shirts with the writings. He further sought the approval of the most influential people in the society. He used celebrities and political leadership of the city to sell the idea. This way, the rest of the population embraced the message and headed the call. Advertisers measure the success of an advert by measuring the increase in the sale of the product they are promoting. Additionally, they measure the popularity of the message in their respective adverts. Both methods show the influence that a successful advertisement has on the culture. Another effective advert that influenced the culture of the American people was the “where is the beef?” phrase. Wendy’s an American fast food chain developed the advert in an attempt to distinguish the quality of its products sold by the company from those of such companies as McDonalds, which are its main competitors. In the advert, Clara Peller, a famous actress in the country, receives a humbugger from a fictional Wendy’s competitor. While the hamburger is large, the actress does not find any beef in the sandwich thus the question. The advert influenced a cultural change as American people adopted the use of the phrase in their social conversations to question the substance of an idea, product or event. Such was an immense success in changing a culture of an entire population. The phrase was unique and addressed the most important aspect of the product. As is the case with any other similarly successful advert, the developer of the phrase ensured that he appealed to the emotions of his audiences by questioning the most essential part of a hamburger. Such a charismatic use of words coupled with the effective use of the media in ensuring the message reaches its target audience were essential in influencing a cultural change. Culture is an essential aspect of human life. It influences attire, cuisine and even language among other fundamental features of social coherence. Culture is dynamic and people always change their practices to reflect the ideal pattern. “Where is the beef?” became an ideal phrase thereby endearing to the people who readily adopted it as one of the street slangs used in both formal and informal settings. The use of celebrities coupled with the subsequent extensive media coverage helped make the advert popular thereby influencing its adoption for use in social circles. More importantly is the fact that the advert helped grow Wendy’s market share. Most consumers visited the fast food chain to have a feel of the advert. As the popularity of the food chain increased, so did the hamburger eating culture that is a stereotypical attachment with every American. This shows the adverts role in advancing the hamburger eating culture in the country. Campaign advertising is yet another vibrant aspect of advertising. Campaign advertising refers to advertising campaigns that seek to influence political discourses and the voters to vote in a particular way. Advertisers view the politicians as product that they must sell to a target audience. As such, they develop effective campaign messages that will help win the candidates the favor they require from the electorate. Campaign advertising is a common form of advertising especially during campaign periods when politicians scramble for the attention of the electorate. Just as is the case with other adverts, campaign adverts also seek to appeal to the emotions of the electorate who in this context is the target audience. Advertisers develop strategic messages by portraying the candidates as the ideal candidates since they envision prosperous future for the society. Successful campaign adverts influence perceptions thereby winning immense publicity and admiration for the candidate. The two should always translate in an increase of the votes that the candidates get. The advertisers develop the emotional appeal by capturing the social problems the electorate face. They therefore position the candidate as the most idea since he or she promises to tackle the problems thereby changing the society and improving the living standards in the society. Additionally, the advertisers use appropriate media in order to reach a large target audience group. This enhances the success of the adverts since the messages influence the behaviors and beliefs of a large number of people. This translates in a massive increase in the voter turnout. In retrospect, campaigns are vital everyday feature in the society. The advertisements influence cultural change since the advertisers strive to increase the popularity of their products and services. In doing this, the advertisers develop memorable messages that the audience are likely to use in their social groupings. The increasing popularity of successful adverts translates to a cultural change in the society, as is the case with the above examples among other most successful adverts in the United States. Both campaign adverts and adverts for other products and services all seek to a change the attitudes of their target audiences thereby making them behave favorably. By changing behavior, advertisements systematically change the cultural practices in the society. References Fox, S. R. (1984). The mirror makers: A history of American advertising and its creators. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Pray, D. (2009). Art & copy. New York: Paramount Pictures. Film. Read More