Semiotics of the Unwelcome
Author Walter Kirn shared his thoughts on ubiquitous advertising in a must-read piece published in yesterday’s New York Times magazine. His account articulates the result of a dangerous practice in the marketing and communications industry that has been lately labeled as 360o marketing, in which brands surround people with messages across a variety of media channels. The more the merrier.
The problem with this kind of marketing is that, as Kirn suggests, it reflects a myopic vision of communications in which all impressions are created equal. The truth might be closer to the opposite, in these days every brand message must consider its context, which by the way, is not exclusively defined by the medium as it probably was a couple of decades ago.
The UK-based Centre for Integrated Marketing used an enlightening phrase (in some paper that I don’t remember now) to summarize the issue: “Unwelcome means not working.” It doesn’t matter how clever the ad is, the message won’t be properly digested if the person at the other end feels invaded. The intended meaning will be lost and replaced by negative feelings in most cases. At the end all impressions are not equal, some are extremely positive and create long-lasting relationships, some might be neutral and go unnoticed, and some are just unwelcome and extract life out of your brand.
Here are some examples provided by Time Magazine’s 2006 Person of the year and Advertising Age’s 2006 Agency of the Year.
