Timothy de Waal Malefyt - Advertising and Anthropology

First published 2012 by Berg Publishers

Published 2020 by Routledge

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Timothy de Waal Malefyt and Robert J. Morais 2012

Timothy de Waal Malefyt and Robert J. Morais have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Malefyt, Timothy de Waal.

Advertising and anthropology: ethnographic practice and cultural perspectives/Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Robert J. Morais. English edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8578-5202-1 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-8578-5201-4 (cloth)

1. AdvertisingSocial aspects. 2. Anthropology.

3. Marketing research. I. Morais, Robert J. II. Title.

HF5821.M26 2012

659.1042dc23

2012005581

Typeset by Apex CoVantage, LLC, Madison, WI, USA.

ISBN 13: 978-0-85785-201-4 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-85785-202-1 (pbk)

We wish to acknowledge our colleagues and clients who have educated and inspired us throughout our business careers. Many of them agreed to be observed and interviewed; their actions and input informed the essays in this book. In particular, Timothy Malefyt thanks Maryann McCabe as a constant source of illumination who initially introduced him to marketing research at Holen North America (with Steve Barnett, Rita Denny, John Lowe, Vic Russell, and Ilsa Schumacher). Malefyt also thanks Brian Moeran for his constant camaraderie, scholarship, and keen insights; Bo T. Christensen for creative comments; Ciara OConnell from Campbell Soup Company for her discussion at the 2009 American Anthropological Association Meeting; and William O. Beeman as an inspirer and fellow artist. Malefyt acknowledges, from BBDO, Martyn Straw, Tracy Lovatt, and Sheron Davis, and at Underdog Films, Elaine Epstein. Malefyt also thanks his wife, Monica Pons, and family for bearing through it all, and Louise Lohr Malefyt as a source of inspiration and encouragement. Robert Morais appreciates the sharp eye and mind of his wife, Jane Morais, along with her encouragement, and the profound influence of his children, Daniel and Betsy, on his worldview. We also want to mention the kind staff of the Park Caf in New York, who permitted us to linger over lunchtime Greek salads while we discussed the content and structure of this book.

We want to express our thanks to the reviewers of our book proposal and the draft manuscript for their suggestions. We are especially grateful to many staff at Berg and their partners who helped bring this book to publication: Kathryn Earle, Anna Wright, Noa Vazquez, Ian Buck, Sophie Hodgson, Tiffany Misko, Adam Yeldham, and Michael Solomons.

Occasionally, we identify the brands we have worked on and clients we have served; in several instances, we elect to describe our examples more broadly in categorical terms. Our decisions were based on whether there was a need to preserve client confidentiality.

Some of the essays that appear in Advertising and Anthropology were adapted from work previously published or presented at conferences. All of the following works were revised significantly before appearing in this collection.

Once upon a time, advertising was an insignificant trade. For the most part, ordinary people either were unconscious of or ignored advertising because it played no part in their everyday lives. The explosive growth of the advertising industry that accompanied the equally marked development of capitalism during the twentieth century, however, did two things in particular. On the one hand, it made people aware of the numerous new products that were coming onto the market while reminding them of the continued existence of old ones. On the other, it led to cries of Foul! Advertisements made us buy things that we didnt want or need. They not only persuaded; they also insinuated in all sorts of waysthat we had bad breath, that our clothes werent clean enough, that we had BO. Advertising promised to help us re-attain that state of grace from which, perforce, we had first been removed in disgrace.

Although social criticisms of advertising have been around more or less since the day the industry came into being, less attention has been paid to how people in the industry go about their jobs, what it is they do, or try to do, why they do so, and who precisely is responsible for which part of all the work that goes into the creation of an advertising campaign. This is what Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural Perspectives is all about.

For many decades, the scholarly study of advertising was confined, so far as I am aware, to one authoritative business history: Ralph Howers masterly and detailed archival account of the rise and expansion of the U.S. advertising agency, N. J. Ayer & Sons, from 1869 to the date of the books publication, 1939. There was not much of scholarly significance before the appearance, in 1951, of