The Designer That I Am - Study Task 2: Triangulation

The First things First 1964 Manifesto begins by arguing that the creatives in the world have been brought up under the impression that advertising techniques are the most lucrative and effective means of using their talents. They argue that using these techniques along side talent contributes nothing to society "By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity".

I've decided to look at this Axe mens shower gel advert as it shows both the positives and negatives within advertising whilst questioning the socio-political factors that emerge. In the 2000's version of the First Things First manifesto they strongly argue that the designers behind the advertisements are completely responsible and even support the effect of the message on the masses. "Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact." (2000, First Things First) This quote implies that the audience is docile and unable to form their own views and opinions about products featured in adverts. To say that advertisements have such a strong grip on the general public to the extent that it changes the way they think and interact is ludicrous. Firstly, it is insulting to public as it is insinuating that the designers are above the masses. It implies they have an outside view, watching advertising destroy the world whilst not being affected by it themselves. Secondly it clearly isn't true, if adverts such as the one above were able to change the general public then Axe would have an 100% success rate and other products would cease to exist.

Although the majority of people don't take things at face value and know that the advert isn't going to come true if they use Axe, there is a certain level of innocence. People unconsciously buy into the life style and image sold in the advert with the hope that even a small element of their life will change. Advertisers rely on this innocence to be able to manipulate the viewers unconscious feelings. "We imagine that we engage directly with the content of the magazine, the Tv commercial, the pasta sauce, or perfume, but the content is always mediated by design and its design that helps direct how we perceive it and how it makes us feel." (First Things First - Revisited - Rick Poynor) It is true that we are aware of design and its supposed affects on us contrary to the 2000's First Things First. However as Rick Poynor argues we acknowledge the direct content of the advert but it is meditated to us through design. This design, on a deeper level, affects how we feel although this feeling may sway our purchasing decisions it certainly doesn't change the way we speak, interact and respond.

"If thinking individuals have a responsibility to withstand the proliferating technologies of persuasion, then the designer, as a skilled manipulator of those technologies, carries a double responsibility."