The language of Advertising: Who Needs the Truth?

In order to “get the message out,” advertisers have evolved tactics that no longer rely on the message, at all. Images, feelings and memories are the tools of non-verbal communication, even when verbs and nouns stand in their place.
Consider the Budweiser commercials of several years ago. “Wassup.”
Wassup? Is it a word? Is it a complete question? Is it anything other than a blast of emotion from one friend to another? The advertisements worked. That word (or lack thereof) has become entrenched in our vocabulary, as much as “tweet” has replaced a bird sound with a way of talking.
The days of using sex to sell everything from cars to cleaners have not died. They simply have been inflated, distorted, elaborated and refined. The messages may be more subtle or subverted, in order to assuage and avoid the vitriol of women’s groups, but they still carry the same undertones.
The days of explaining the merits have, though, expired. Except, of course, for the requisite disclaimers and riders that accompany every advertisement for drugs and health remedies. If you need to fix something that “got broke” in your body, be prepared to endure a dozen other ailments to cure the minor one for which you are seeking relief! These ads, of course, no longer are ads. They are information pieces.
Whatever happened to the Marlborough man? Well, first, Tom Sellick aged! Then, of course, cigarette advertising became taboo. No sponsorships allowed, no focusing on minors, no smoking in “G-rated” movies, no feel-good packaging.
Then there is alcohol advertising. Hidden away after peak viewing hours (unless it doesn’t actually promote drinking, of course), booze promotions have been relegated to the unacknowledged uncle status.
If cigarettes, alcohol and pharmaceuticals can be so heavily censored, then why am I still subjected to the nuances of influence-peddling , without shame or regard to relevance?
The answer is simple. Subtle, non-verbal advertising works. Since advertising sells products, and products generate jobs & taxes, we simply cannot shut down every deviant attempt at picking our pockets. So advertisers are allowed latitude to be creative.
Personally, I am grateful. I am tired of listening to truth and honesty in advertising. I prefer to have my emotions ripped like an old shirt, images that disrupt my calm thrown at me for eight minutes of every half hour, and old memories evoked by some non-verbal cue. If I wanted honesty, would I be drooling at the thought of 12 months of election drivel in the soon-to-launch rush for the 2012 White House?
Bring it on! I can hardly wait to hear how we are going to be abused, raped, and robbed by those Democrats. Or is it Republicans? Or is it both? Forget the message. Forget the truth. Get that message out!