December 30, 2013

Advertising Needs Troublemakers


My mother once explained her attraction to my father to me. She said that among the young men in her crowd he was "the best of the not-very-good dancers." In that spirit, we continue saluting the best of the not-very-good Ad Contrarian posts from 2013. Here's one from October.

The advertising industry has become too respectable, too congenial, and too polite.

We are in desperate need of troublemakers. We need shit-disturbers. We need hell-raisers.

We need the kind of quarrelsome, pugnacious, opinionated people that make the arts vibrant and interesting.

There's way too much consensus. Way too much cordiality. Way too little controversy in advertising.

Attending an advertising conference these days is like going to an insurance seminar. It is full of bland, head-nodding jargon-monkeys who are very keen on swallowing whole the conventional blather of smug "experts."

Nobody seems inclined to challenge the wearisome assertions of modern-day wizards, no matter how many times they've been wrong.

It's all backwards. Rebelliousness is supposed to be a characteristic of youth. But the only people I hear wailing about the insufferable tedium of ad-think these days are old fools like me.

It ain't supposed to be this way. We need people who aren't afraid to get up on stage at the next "big data" conference and pull their pants down.

We need people who aren't afraid to break a layout over a client's head.

We need people who give a shit.

You know what you call people who give a shit?

Troublemakers.

2 comments:

Allen Roberts said...

Love it!!
Wish I could write like that.
happy new year, and keep being a troublemaker

Sean Peake said...

Just riffin'

Here's to the lazy ones. The conformists. The crowd. The bland. The round pegs in round holes. The ones who play it safe. They are fond of rules and respect the status quo. They quote the Change Agents, thought leaders, and paradigm-shifting TED talkers. Because it makes them feel smart. About the only thing they don't feel is uncomfortable. Because they don't want confrontation. They don't want to be THAT person. And while some may see them as leaders, I see cowards. Because the people who are crazy enough to think impotence can change the world are the ones who hold it back.