Words, the Anti-Picture

William Leach explores at great length the power of the image as a form of highly positive and responsive advertising, even on a subliminal level. He quotes a billposter advertiser, “it is hard to get mental activity with cold type. You feel a picture.” (43) What struck me in his discussion is his lack of acknowledgment for the opposite end of the spectrum; the power of words for that which you don’t want to advertise.

Confused? You should be. Read on.

I suppose it wasn’t as important back in the early 1900’s when advertising was really starting to pick up, but today there are countless regulations that tell companies that they need to inform the customer of the risk associated with their products. I think of A Christmas Story (1983), which has begun to replace It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) as the most-watched Christmas classic of all time. A highly consumerist tale, this heart-warming story of a child wanting nothing for Christmas but a Red Rider Action Range something something air rifle with a scope and a compass on the stock shows 1940’s advertising at its most powerful level. The movie opens with Ralphie staring into a well-designed Higbee's store window with his friends and ogling the well-lit mass of glittering products and images, all calling out to them ‘ask for me for Christmas!’ Despite all the fun that’s shown to Ralphie in owning and shooting a bee bee gun, it seems purely up to the responsible adults to block the child’s wish with “you’ll shoot your eye out”, as the advertisements do nothing of the sort.

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=3541

But would it matter if they did? Look at modern advertising. Leach quotes John Wanamaker in stating that “pictures are lesson books for the uneducated” (44) and it reminds me of one of the plots in the satire Thank You For Smoking (2005), where a Vermont senator tries to get a bill passed to put a skull and cross bones poison label put on cigarettes. A Mexican man supports the charge that such pictures are necessary, explaining that Surgeon General Warnings, because they are text, mean that cigarette companies want immigrants who cannot read English ‘to die’.

It’s funny, but brings up an interesting point. Why is it that whenever a product or company has to describe the problems with something, they always use words instead of images? Why are all the disgusting artificial ingredients in a microwave dinner listed in small font on the back while the cover has a glorious image of a Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner? Why do commercials for prescription drugs show a smiling man having a wonderful time while a small-voiced, fast-talking woman lists off in rapid fire that side effects may include ‘migraines, constipation, nausea, blood clots, artificial insemination, conjunctivitis, mood swings etc.

Now try to imagine that same commercial where the happy man, instead, is shown experiencing those aforementioned side effects, and the fast-talker lists off the ways it could benefit you. That would never happen. Why? The answer is obvious; by law, these ‘problems’ have to be there, but the prominence of them does not. So of course, if you’re trying to sell your product, it only makes sense to use pictures for the positive and memorable material, and words for what you’d like to be forgotten.