Advertising’s Man of the Year, 2008

It should not pass without notice that Barack Obama has been named Advertising Age’s Marketer of the Year for 2008, beating out Apple and Nike. His was a dynamic campaign which promoted mass participation (many small donations) even as it was mostly funded by fat cats — over $34 million from from the finance sector alone. His twin logos, “Hope” and “Change” were blank slates on which devoted followers could write their own script. And they we did.

Clever. Very clever.

In the meantime, Obama has embarked on a course traveled by Clinton in the 1990’s – heavy dominance by financial insiders and war hawks. No change, little hope.

The primary task of advertising is to bamboozle consumers, overwhelming their senses with useless and often prurient information, luring them into making irrational choices. Advertising stands capitalism on its head, negating the notion of informed choice. Obama’s choice by Ad Age is more than informative. It’s illustrative of business dominance of society. The heavy-handed thuggery of the Bush Administration had driven 75% of the population to cry out for change. Democratic leadership noted this public sentiment, and gave them what business wanted them to have – an advertising icon.

But no change. That is not allowed.