Got good ideas?
If you read the lectures, crime relates strongly to mobility, mobility to loss of trust. Ideas, norms can be too mobile also- too conveniently discarded--when inconvenient. I suggest that the loss of faith in human integrity is powerfully related to advertising. "There is mysterious music in democracy, when people decide to believe in themselves." ---Bill Greider, The Nation.
However, TV advertising in large markets is carefully researched and tested and is thus customised for the particular audience. The existence of that audience is not the fault of a particular ad. It is the cumulative effect over a number of years in which envelope-pushing is tried, outdone and finally becomes 'normal' through prolonged exposure. But it is never ads alone that change a culture, they reflect other changes in society.
Take the development of the female 'bathing costume' over 100 years, from all-over cover to bikini (after the atoll), to topless to thong and beyond. Is this fashionistas pushing the envelope, or have there been deep changes in attitudes to sexuality within the whole network culture?
Whilst I gave up making TV ads around 20 years ago, (mostly because I found I was wasting life time on such futilities as spending a whole afternoon arguing about the colour of an unimportant dress), I think that there is no simple cause and effect with advertising. It is both a symptom and a precursor. You can't be me, I'm taken
I have no good ideas here: how do you outlaw ads that subtly suggest you're a bad parent for not buying a "safer" car?
