Here's the argument from media expert Turow (Annenberg School of
Communications/Univ. of Penn.): The current price of targeting
advertising to highly defined market segments is dividing the
country into increasingly insular groups of people who care only
about others like themselves. Turow (Playing Doctor: Television,
Storytelling and Medical Power, 1989) shows how advertising has
evolved from a force "making a homogenous people out of a nation of
immigrants," as one ad-agency president claimed in the 1920s, to an
industry concerned only with making the most money in the most
cost-effective manner - by targeting those most likely to purchase
the product or service in question. Advertising in the 1950s and
early '60s could be generalized as a broad-based pitch to the
American people via dominant network television, major radio
stations, and mainstream magazines. Since then, cable television
has separated the TV audience into specialized viewing segments.
Magazines preceded cable television in this regard. Mass-market
media are now most useful in promoting products with wide appeal,
such as fast food, soft drinks, and sneakers. Another, rather
perverse use of mass marketing was employed recently by the
Lamborghini automobile company. They advertised in
large-circulation US magazines to let the majority of Americans
know that their car was prohibitively expensive. This exclusivity
would make the car more desirable to the 100 US buyers the company
hoped ultimately to reach. Stories such as these keep one
entertained throughout this brief, informative book. But Turow,
after carefully setting up the facts in his case against the ad
industry, never delivers the final blow. He suggests that in many
instances advertisers were reacting to societal changes, not
necessarily creating them. And he isn't convincing on the gravity
of the implied loss of national community resulting from the lack
of a shared ad culture. Will society really be worse off if we
can't all sing the Oscar Mayer wiener song together? An intriguing
book if you ignore its dramatic, somewhat unsubstantiated premise.
(Kirkus Reviews)
This book is about the way the advertising industry has been
fragmenting America and what that may mean for the media and
society. The advertiser's aim has been to package individuals, or
groups of people, in ways that make them useful targets. But the ad
industry's vision of America is one of a fractured population of
self-indulgent, suspicious individuals who reach out only to people
like themselves, and the ads it creates both reflect and promote
this view. Combining shrewd analysis of contemporary practices with
a historical perspective, Turow traces the momentous shift that
began in the mid-1970s when advertisers rejected mass marketing in
favor of ever more aggressive target marketing. It is a strategy
that includes all marketing vehicles, from cable TV to catalogs,
direct mail to radio, newspapers to supermarket promotions. Turow
shows how advertisers exploit differences between consumers based
on income, age, gender, race, marital status, ethnicity, and
lifestyles. With increased technology, advertising can easily enter
individuals' private spaces - their homes, cars, and offices - with
news, entertainment, and commercial messages aimed specifically at
them. As the major support system of American media, the ad
industry has encouraged market segmentation and the creation of
customized media. Ultimately, Turow predicts this trend will cause
an erosion of tolerance and cooperation within U.S. society.
General
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