The Politics in Advertising

Today in class we had an interesting discussion on advertising in the United States. The thing that stuck out to me was the topic of sponsorships. In my marketing class, we talked a good deal about sponsorships and how they work. I thought it was interesting to hear the other side of them; the political side. I never thought about how deliberate certain sponsorships are. The basic strategy being sponsoring a person or event that is widely known to get the company name out. The strategy we discussed today was company imaging and reputation. Monsonto, an agricultural company, sponsors PBS for the reputation. Their controversial suing of small farmers gave them a bad image, however, by sponsoring a non-profit station, they were able to shine a good light on themselves.
Referring back to the articles we read, one author stated that advertising was art. I agree with this statement because advertising is something to master and get better at. It is something that not everyone can succeed at. It is also a very powerful way of gaining support of your idea or company. Today, advertising has become even more artistic and complex. Many companies spend millions of dollars to perfect their logo. This small piece of art can ultimately get you a customer or lose one. For example, in the LA Times article states "the  Coke label appeared to activate a memory region called the hippocampus, along with structures in the mid brain known to compare the likelihood of rewards." A thing as simple as a piece of art on your product can change the way people react to your product.

Do you think advertising has become an art? If so, what does this say about our society?