Image and Advertising

Image and Advertising ©

By Michael Casey

Everybody is obsessed with advertising nowadays, and I don’t mean washing powders either, that’s where the term Soaps came from, as they sponsored shows so that people watched the show and bought their soap powder. What I’m talking about is image building, even when nothing as such is being sold. A soft focus advert on radio, where you cannot see the soft focus but you can hear it.

Michael Casey is the man you can rely on to fill the time in while you are waiting for your taxi, he’ll talk absolute drivel, total drivel, but so entertaining that you won’t notice that your taxi is 20 mins late. Then he’ll raise that barrier to make up 30 seconds while the driver speeds down the Cov Rd to take you to the restaurant that Michael has recommended. And yes I really did do that for 3 years when I was a concierge and 10 other roles at CPNEC Birmingham.

Companies want to create moods and images, the radio equivalent of the Hay Wain, so we all feel so happy and glow with the memory of Constable’s paintings, we all love an Old Master after all, then they tell us that Joe Bloggs unblocks sewers for the past 50 years. So we can trust Joe Bloggs for all are sewer and cesspit needs, and yes we’ll all come up smelling of roses. Such is the power of advertising and association.

Comedy is a great tool, but don’t tell Comedy to its face that it’s a great tool or it will be very very upset. A smile and a laugh sells more product, British advertising is famous for that. Radio adverts are far cheaper and catch a bigger audience, because radio is in the kitchen and in the bathroom and bedroom too, I think Radio is some kind of voyeur or Peeping Tom. And yes I’d love to get a chance to write adverts, the pay is great and I could earn enough for a new house, well in my dreams anyway.

Dreams are what adverts are selling, if you buy this new Brazilian Wax for Men, not only will you be all ship shape and Bristol Fashion down there but  you’ll also have a much better life, if you know what I mean, or so infers the advertising. On tv they could only show so much, but on radio it would be X rated without even showing anything. It’s all in the imagination you know, which is a bad lover’s best excuse, or so I’m told. If you dig out Around the Horne you will be in for a treat, trust me I’m a writer, and no it’s not a sex manual, it’s a BBC Radio Comedy Show.

Images are created and we are told how happy we will be if we just believe in the dream, if we are not part of this dream, then we are just boring losers. You really must try Cromfingle Cheddar from Italy and you too will be so sophisticated, on crackers or on toast, with it all dribbling down your fingers. Your cat will love you so much, your children will love you so much and your wife will have that come to bed look in her eyes permanently, all because you eat Cromfingle Cheddar from Italy.

It’s all a load of rubbish really, but I did buy 6 kilos, I ended up with really strange dreams, and a broken bed, the cat tried to mate with the local sheep dog, but that’s another tale.  

So you can see advertising is a modern Fairy Tale, but without it the wheels of commerce would not turn, were the Brothers Grimm really advertising copywriters?