I recently came across an article published on 23 Brainsauce titled Un-political Hilariously True Vintage Ads <, contains what is quite simply staggering pre-1970 collects advertising. Nowadays it is hard to imagine how some of which never made the cut, but the truth, there was a time when overt racism, pushing drugs for children and misogyny is patently ground nuts and bolts of the advertising agency.
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How times and attitudes have changed … or are they? On the face of it we live in (PC) politically correct society, but unfortunately sexism, racism, class divides, religious prejudice, etc. are still prevalent in every corner of the world. Donald Trump has recently been brought into the spotlight of political correctness. He has railed Digital Marketing Company Bath about the politics of truth many times, and seemed to enjoy expressing himself in a way that is far away from the PC. When dealing with Fox host Megyn Kelly after he called some women “dogs” and “fat pig”, Trump replied, “I think the big problem in this country is being politically correct … We need to stop being so politically correct in this country.”
So what exactly political correctness? Writer Barton Swaim, writing for The Washington Post, offers an interesting definition, which does a good job balancing the positive with the negative:
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“Political Truth … involving a ban on expressions and general habits on the grounds that a person in a pluralistic society we may be offended by them. This reduces political life to an array of signs and symbols that are considered good or bad according to their tendency either to include or exclude disadvantaged or marginalized people of life together. “
“PC born of generous impulse, perhaps – well that and the right to avoid giving offense, when you can. But it has long been a cancer and threats. This obliges us to think constantly about several topics – topics should be primarily concerned with racial and sexual identity, but other types of identity as well -. Even as it makes it impossible for us to talk openly and honestly about the same topic “
Of course, the PC culture has become a source of jokes and innuendo over the years, and historically productive in the ad. But right or wrong, advertisers are now facing far more problems than they ever did in the ’70s, for example, and subjects such as alcohol, sex, religion and politics should be treated with extreme sensitivity to avoid the wrath of the Advertising Standards Authority received more than 37,000 complaints last year and banned or forced change of nearly 3,500 advertising. Interestingly, it takes only one valid complaint to open an investigation.
Advertising Moneysupermarket.com, for example, has topped the charts for complaints in the last two years. These eye-catching ad features a man walking down the street and dancing while wearing denim shorts and high-heeled shoes, but people found a violation in the sexual nature of the content, and ads in the series. ASA, while acknowledging that some viewers may have found the ad is not fun, do not judge them to be offensive and in violation of its Code. And of course for others, advertising funny and promoting positive messages of diversity … and there is the point.
What is and what is not offensive will always be subjective. Above all, the advertisement is a commercial game, usually designed to evoke a kind of emotive responses that connect the individual with ads promoting products or services. While it would be unusual for a brand to try and intentionally offend a customer or prospective Digital Marketing Companies Bath customer, being a ‘vanilla’ is rarely a good cause; for the ad to be strong and influential, it is necessary to make the audience sit up and take note. Sometimes it can be tricky to be creative and to achieve this, without offending some people.
