The Impact of Advertising on Graffiti
In an era defined by hyper reality, branded lifesylfe, and instant gratification. Effect noun Is graffiti a direct result of advertising? To evaluate how the advertising industry has played a role in the inception of street art sub culture, we must compare each institution’s role in society, the techniques employed (use of propaganda) by each, and how past artistic movements have been influenced by forces that propel them into. Commercial consumer advertising is propelled by immediate financial profit and mediated by boardrooms and stockholders.
It aims at exposing that product in an appealing way, and doing it so as many people are aware of that product. Graffiti is a tool used by individuals with their own agenda, one however that doesn’t include profit as its foremost target. The main agenda of a graffiti artist is exposure by means of guerrilla tactics. To understand how advertising has contributed to the establishment of graffiti subculture, the roles each has in society must be examined. Advertising has come a long way from the archaic methods of attraction. Long gone are the times of fact-based advertising.
Instead we have moved on to the aesthetisation of commodities, and consequently a world in which the promise made by the seller of love, eternal youth and a perfect body turns people into obsessive-compulsive consumers with a proclivity for instant gratification and a 5-second attention p. The advertising industry sells a way of life, not a product; in fact the ad itself becomes the object of aesthetisation. Over time advertisements have become much more than just ads, they incorporate art of all kinds to appeal to all tastes, using strong cultural signifiers that evoke certain emotions in the viewer.
They are like an exact science; they employ psychologists, behaviorists, and all kinds of experts from different fields to pinpoint the moment when a mind will be ready to respond to all these messages. Graffiti becomes a visual manifestation of man’s desire to leave his mark on the world, something that is the hallmark of advertising practice, while visually (logos, signs, brands), advertising has provided the ‘raw materials’ as it were, with which writers become known. Advertising and a world over-saturated with popular culture imagery.
