If there is an object you have ever desired in your life, rest assured that someone in the advertising industry made money convincing you of exactly that.
advertising
Posted inNews
Cheeky Ad Campaign Protests Airlines’ Role in Climate Change
Some 500 satirical guerilla billboard ads posted across Europe featured texts such as “#SayYesToTheEndOfTheWorld” and “Low Fares to Plastic island.”
Posted inArt
How Softcore Porn Penetrated Mainstream Media
The exhibition Porno Chic to Sex Positivity at the Museum of Sex traces how once-verboten depictions of sex became gradually acceptable in pop culture.
Posted inFilm
From Catchy Commercials to Hollywood Think Tanks, the Evolution of Military Recruitment Ads
As long as wars have been fought, wars have needed to be sold. And just like with weapons, the US armed forces have long been on the cutting edge of propaganda.
Posted inArt
Satirical Corporate Website Brands Ecofascism
Samuel Marion’s satirical corporate website shows how the far right might leverage environmentalism to justify white supremacist agendas.
Posted inArt
How Early US Propaganda Grew Out of a Society of Illustrators
If contemporary echoes of fascism have brought the 1930s and ‘40s troublingly to mind, it’s worth recalling that modern propaganda became a global enterprise during the First World War.
Posted inBooks
E. McKnight Kauffer, a Commercial Artist With Ideals
For nearly 20 years between the two world wars, E. McKnight Kauffer, an American, was the most celebrated graphic designer in England.
Posted inArt
‘The New Normal’ of Awful COVID-Themed Commercials
These days, brands love to pretend to care about us. During a pandemic, that’s gotten really weird.
Posted inIn Brief
Disturbing Ads Warn of Uptick in Domestic Violence During the World Cup
The violence associated with professional sports doesn’t limit itself to the playing field, as a new campaign by the UK’s National Domestic Violence Hotline makes clear in a new series of ads.
Posted inArt
The Long and Toxic History of Exoticism in Tobacco Advertising
An exhibition at the Wolfsonian-FIU tracks romantic and racist stereotypes of native cultures in European tobacco advertising from the 1880s to the 1940s.
Posted inNews
In Long Overdue but Welcome Step, Britain Will Eliminate Ads that Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes
The Advertising Standards Authority in Great Britain is calling for the creation of new standards when it comes to ads that feature harmful gender stereotypes.
Posted inIn Brief
Pepsi’s Tasteless Protest Commercial Gets Memed
Pepsi’s recent and risible “protest” ad has birthed memes that liken it to everything from Tiananmen Square’s “Tank Man” to Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother.”