The Mad Men We Love to Hate: Our changing relationship with advertising

In first of two debates with the Advertising Association exploring our changing relationship with advertising our expert panel, Nicola Mendelsohn, president, IPA, Lord Watson, chairman, Havas Media and journalist Sam Delaney consider how and why the world of Mad Men has been consigned to the history books. Is this the result of a more empowered public and shifting patterns of consumption in a fast-changing economic and communications landscape?

Listen to the full audio: http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/the-mad-men-we-love-t...

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• rsa
• debate
• discussion
• advertising association
• advertising
• ipa
• nicola mendelsohn
• sam delaney
• lord watson
• adverts
• mad men

[broadcaster1star]

no, yes, no, no and no.

First debate, I find too naive. It is a point of view that assumes complete honesty on the part of the advertiser-client-the seller/the corporation. It is too utopian and maybe too narrow of a view of the future of advertising that assumes the content will simply evolve and turn into a more responsible . No. This is the capitalist economy. No entity will by itself decide not to be selfish and aim to conserve the society-the ecology whatever...

[TheFerrymanSong]

Under-addressed/downplayed marketing towards children much?

[PolitcalIslam]

Social media "are," not is.

[VellianoRosso]

''You can fool some of the people all the time and these are the people you want to concentrate on.''~ G.W. Bush

[felpaluche]

Sometimes advertising makes them even more evil than they really are.

[MrIzzyDizzy]

advertising is often the major cost of a product -even more than production cost of the products - like coke/pepsi - ultimately its a waste of money adding nothing of value - brands status - blah phoofey - total waste -its a useles waste of human endeavor -and should be discouraged. anyone who asipres to it is wasting thier life and yours - one day well wont need it all - sickening and worthless and meaningless -waste of resource and peoples time

[finnbjerke]

This is Consumerisms prostitutes.... I respect sexworkers more than this bunch. Advertising makes us buy things which we don't need.

[MarkoKraguljac]

"We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like."

And advertising was/is instrumental in that process. May it die with a slow and painful death, or change beyond recognition.

Rare and sporadic bursts of honesty and creativity from this bunch of ambitious psychopath manipulators can never make up for all the garbage and bile they also created.

Advertising is a toxic patch on our minds in a system which lacks true answers.

Nicola and Sam - FAIL.

[sylve6]

advertising make us buy things which we don't need, just for profit and absolutely not necessary for good ore health in a mater of fact it often harms us

[L00kng]

Thank you, Matthew Taylor, for asking those hard questions. The two youngsters represent all that is evil and stupid in our similar cultures today. Only Lord Watson seems to be ready to wake up, even as the consumer is waking up. He alone on this panel is reading the handwriting on the wall:

TOMORROW'S CULTURE WILL BE AN AWAKE CULTURE! WAKE UP OR LOSE!

[L00kng]

The answers given to the hard questions put to these panelists towards the end exposed their selective awareness of the problem. The most unconscious people alive are advertisers. The only one willing to start coming clean was the old guy.

"...therefor the way you get to consumers needs to demonstrate that you actually do understand but not in an exploitative way but you understand because it is the pre-condition of communicating really where they're coming from..."

[ukchill1]

ps why do you have to be so fucking racist all the time