Back in the distant world of the 20th century, people knew that adverts warped what they wanted – and they didn’t much like it. Dylan sang about being conned into “thinking you’re the one/ That can do what’s never been done/That can win what’s never been won”; “brainwashing” was a common term.
You might get caught up in the frisson between the Gold Blend couple, but you’d know it was a weakness. TV ads were a guilty pleasure at the best, and more often the grating price of flicking away from the BBC. No longer. As we enter Christmas season, the 21st-century public eagerly await new inducements to part with their dough.
John Lewis’s #ManOnTheMoon seasonal ad topped the trending parade on Twitter, and became for much of the day the most-viewed item on the Guardian website. Pundits swapped notes on whether or not they had actually broken down in the face of a two-minute tale of a girl reaching out to a lonely old man while – in the background – Oasis pub-rock was somehow reworked into a dulcet tear-jerker.
The final postmodern twist was supplied by the salesmanship’s focus on the things that money can’t buy. All you need is love was the argument, buttressed by a tie-in with AgeUK, and there was no flashy merchandise. The only products seen – a bow and arrow, and a telescope – have been around for centuries. Imagine what their inventors would make of a world where postmaterialist yearnings are answered by commercials.
