Do ad people need a Big Brother?

It’s true - besides farming, I have an incurable interest in advertising. Can't help it, it's a disease, but one that I gladly foster. :)

Recently, I started thinking about my role as a societal influencer. Granted, I do not do any work for any ginormous (it's a word! In the dictionary!) companies like P&G or Johnson & Johnson. But, as small as my part is, there are others who have a scary amount of influence. And I thought about how interesting it is to me that our role as advertisers puts us in a position of fairly substantial societal influence, and yet we aren’t required to carry any sort of professional license to do so. Just thinking about some of the characters I know in this business – even limiting it to Kansas City folk – wielding the power of media to influence the masses scares the livin’ bejeezus out of me. (Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?)

So, other than our Creative Directors, to whom are we specifically responsible? Sure, we have governing entities like the FTC and AAAA to make sure we’re following the hard and fast laws of advertising (they’re really more like guidelines, anyway, right?). But who’s keeping the books on our ethical responsibilities? Who’s making sure ‘Their ads made me do it’ isn’t going to be the next line of defense some serial killer uses in court? In truth, we all know of some ads that just make us want to die. But I’m not talking about ads that are merely craptastic. Those are easily dismissed. I’m talking about ads that make you think, ‘help’ you create an opinion about yourself, and practically force you to act on that opinion.

Wait, isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing? Isn’t that the very definition of a good ad? That’s exactly my point. Remember back in the day when kids were killing each other for their Air Jordan Nikes? How did that get started? I don’t know for certain, but if I had to guess, it would have something to do with the way they portrayed those shoes and that brand to the public. Granted, having people literally killing for your product is horrifying, but it’s also awfully high praise, don’t you think? Having brought up the Air Jordan scenario, some of you are thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have people dying for my product, or the product I advertise … But I bet it would be good publicity.’ How do I know that’s what’s going through some of your heads? Because I thought it too. And neither you nor I are required to have a license to influence society. But I promise I’ll use my powers only for good (the good of my clients, that is). Isn’t that enough?