I sometimes feel that advertising is an insult to my intelligence. Usually I feel that way about tooth paste and beer commercials, but lately I’m feeling that way about photo products. There was a time very early in my photo career when I was impressed to the point of swoon by the photo rock stars. One of the ways vendors lure you into their trade show booths is with a speaker (not a megaphone, but a person speaking). Photo celebrity, rockstar photography speakers. I have found in the past that these mini lectures are worthwhile ways to rest your feet and get some information, but I want to know more than WHO is speaking. It is getting harder to find out what the speakers are going to be talking about, and a clever title won’t do it for me. If you want me to come to hear the rockstar speak, tell me what they are going to talk about! I won’t show up to a lecture for an autograph, I want what’s in their heads.
I see the same problem in print ads. A photo of a photo celebrity doesn’t tell me anything, except that they are probably getting the product for free now, and that just tells me that they like free stuff. I want to know if it works. Does the product work? Will it increase my margin/exposure/brand? I don’t care who uses it, just like I never cared what brand watch ANY athlete wore, or what kind of leather pants were wrapped around Axl Rose. At least give me a great quote from the rock star about WHAT it did for them, HOW it changed their life, and WHY they can’t live without it.
You can’t blame the rockstars. They are photographers who are good at what they do. The marketing departments and our celebrity culture has allowed this to happen.
Sure we get to party at a convention, but we also go there to convene. To share knowledge.
Give me substance, the glitter will just wash off and stay in the drain of my Vegas hotel room.
-Carli
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3 Comments at "Photo Ads and the Cult of Personality"
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Carli, I’ve got to say you agree with me on this issue. My question for you is, why do pathetic advertising attempts even warrant your getting upset at them? Personally, they’re beneath my attention, which is better diverted to people who know what they’re doing.
There’s one I’ll answer. I normally happily ignore them, but it’s getting harder. In the fevered runup to WPPI I was checking out booth speakers and frequently foun lists of “names” without being able to find out what their topic was. I wasn’t going to get autographs, I wanted education. I recongnized the names, but I couldn’t pick their work out of a line up, so what good is that list of names to me? It made me think that perhaps the show was all for the photo groupie and not for the true pro, and it turns out I was a not far off.
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