Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet in fiction files redux

Nov 07, 2009 Ben Loory rated it it was amazing

When I was in elementary school, and in the Gifted-and-Getting-Made-Fun-of-for-It Program, the best thing we ever did was study advertising. We had to bring in all the magazines we could find at home, and then go through them and examine all the ads. There were all these different types and approaches, and we had to say which was which and explain why. I remember my favorite was "cardstacking," which was when they added up all their brand's good points side-by-side with the competition's failure When I was in elementary school, and in the Gifted-and-Getting-Made-Fun-of-for-It Program, the best thing we ever did was study advertising. We had to bring in all the magazines we could find at home, and then go through them and examine all the ads. There were all these different types and approaches, and we had to say which was which and explain why. I remember my favorite was "cardstacking," which was when they added up all their brand's good points side-by-side with the competition's failure to match up... or maybe that was something else... I forget. (Also, I could never remember the difference between "testimonial" and "ordinary people" (apparently I was an idiot as well as Gifted).)

Anyway, the point is, I got totally obsessed with advertising, and that was all I thought of for a while. I'd read magazines for ads, watch TV for ads; I always like movie previews better than movies. My sister is the same way; we were both irrevocably warped ("educated" I suppose might also work). And yet, despite all of this, and up until quite recently, it had never really occurred to me that people actually make ads. They always just seem to come from on high. (Apparently that idiot problem stuck around.)

So anyway, this book was really fun. For me it was an investigation of a culture. I don't have TV so I haven't seen Mad Men, but this book made me want to check it out. (It takes a lot to make me think about getting a TV (TV is an evil hole that eats my life while I enjoy and hate every minute of it.)) I liked the portraits and the places and the descriptions of the work environments. In a way it was like reading science fiction. There was even something called "Subservient Chicken."

I think my favorite thing about the book, however, was simply the fact that it was funny. It's written in the kind of quick, sloganeering style you get in darker form in Chuck Palahniuk (or however the fuck you spell that). Everything moves fast, and everything is a saying, and almost all of the sayings are funny. Not laugh out loud funny (though some of them are), but sharp and ironic without ever being mean-spirited. Most of the time, really, it makes the whole thing sound like fun.

Even when it makes you think the whole world's about to die. ...more

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Jun 04, 2009 Patrick rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 25, 2009 Dan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: z-2009-reads, non-fiction

After just finishing Adland I was left hoping that there was more. It's not that it felt incomplete but because it was an enjoyable and enlightening read. Perhaps it was my total ignorance to the advertising industry but I thought it was a fascinating read. It wasn't a fluff piece nor was it polemical. I expected, foolishly the latter. This is a book I would recommend to just about anyone because of the humor and humility it takes to reflect on 20 years in such a challenging and often confoundin ...more

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Nov 25, 2009 Jim rated it liked it

interesting from insider in the advertising world but didn't get into how advertising interacts with culture or how it has evolved and why since the 1st sale or barter to current times ...more

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