However on the more important point of advertising I had these thoughts.

The method of product placement in advertisement and the grandiose archetypal messages of happiness and fulfilment and so on are symptoms of economic competition.

Economic competition itself is a byproduct of product diversity.

Thus we have a genealogy here of product diversity – competition between producers – ever more grandiose adverts to promote their products.

This genealogic model actually can be appropriated to any number of disciplines (not merely product placement in consumer economies) and one can think of how a similar process occurs in nature and evolution (the ultimate marketplace!!)

Thus we could comment that competition and diversity can be a positive force for “good” sometimes – it can lead to “innovation.”

As Feyerabend was fond of reminding people, and as most postmodern philosophers contend though innovative development does not necessarily equate with moral progress.

So in the case of psuedo-religious and crypto-salvific product placement in adverts such as those mentioned (and numerous other examples) it is more often than not irreveocably linked to corporate greed. Wherein “progress” is defined not by some external reference such as the common good but by how quickly and how substantially the pockets of their investors and shareholders can be lined!!

But with regards competative diversity and innovation – advertising in its broadest sense is not objectively bad.

Life imitates art…

AC1