“The work of an advertising agency is warmly and immediately human. It deals with human needs, wants, dreams, and hopes.” Leo Burnett—the infamous advertising executive who created icons such as Tony the Tiger—said these words and it remains holistically true that advertising is a richly human and cultural enterprise. In the realm of culture, its key channels operate within print, digital, and social media bureaucracy. One might say that advertising is the animal that disseminates culture broadly to the public through brand promotion, which is why it can’t be separated from cultural policy.

How does advertising and the creative communications it produces engage with culture? First, advertising is driven by culture and the evolving values within cultural infrastructure—most notably with the people they serve. Populations and their diverse demographics are critical to advertising ethics as well as reaching a global consumer base. Inclusivity is one of the many ethical and cultural tenets that can be seen in brands such as Rihanna’s Fenty Cosmetics, which released forty shades of foundation and has been a marketing focal point for the line’s cultural value. Advertising is also overseen by federal, state, and local cultural agencies through regulation compliance and serving local clientele graphic design and marketing services. The federal agencies are the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), and Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA)—two of which are contingent on an ad agency’s client roster. At the state level, engagement ensues with Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) where tourist boards or “Convention and Visitor Bureaus” that focus on economic development and tourism for their state might partner with an ad agency to roll out special offers, incentives, and/or highlight a premium attraction to drive people to vacation in their state. Locally, this industry is woven into the fabric of local institutions as the creative producers that promote culture such as movies, fashion brands, theater events, museum exhibitions, and libraries. 

This culturally driven industry is also subject to a set of regulatory standards and a few bans. Many of the regulatory standards are dictated by the FTC and SEC which states that advertisements should be truthful, evidence based, contain substantiated claims, display disclaimers clearly, and terms and conditions for “free” or buy-one-get-one (BOGO) products need to be prominent. Other regulatory bodies are the FDA which oversees prescription drug and biomedical advertising, Department of Transportation for airline advertising, and FAA for alcohol advertising. Contained within the lines of these regulations are also explicit bans on how and where cigarettes can be promoted. It was between 1968–1969 that the FTC made the recommendation and call that the marketing of cigarettes is to be banned from television and radio as well as social media today. Furthermore, this industry is enmeshed in the responsibility for acquiring specific licensing and permits for photography, logos, illustrations, and more. For example, photography use requires the purchase of a license for commercial use and at-times is permitted for a specific period due to trademarks, copyright law, and intellectual property. This also applies to illustrations developed by other creative producers that a graphic designer may desire to use in advertising materials. A simpler approach utilizes Public Domain or Creative Common licenses which are less expensive for photography in marketing materials or online use. Public Domain requires no license while Creative Common images have six different types of licensing such as free use but require attribution to the contributor or author of the image.

The combination of these elements creates a love-hate relationship for advertising and its attempts in humanizing creative communications, maintaining cultural relevance, and coloring within the lines of policy while delicately hoisting the sails to avoid overt, deceptive manipulation of public consumption. Careful planning and sensitivity on the high seas of culture are necessary to the process of advertising and its scopes.  It’s a vastly diverse crew on the ad agency’s ship which includes cultural infrastructure and federal, state, and local cultural agencies with its rules and regulations that define the lines it can operate within. Advertising as a creative producer possesses creative agency while being the ship that delivers arts and culture to distant shores alongside its policy partners.

Sources

Rosenstein, C. (2024). Understanding cultural policy: Government and the Arts and Culture in the United States. Routledge.

Kaplan, S. (2021, March 22). Highlighting Fenty Beauty’s diversity-based business model. Gender and the Economy. https://www.gendereconomy.org/fenty-beauty-diversity-based-business-model/  

King, G. C. (2024, August 13). Understanding copyright: How to safely incorporate internet images into your marketing. ReminderMedia. https://remindermedia.com/blog/understanding-copyright-internet-images-marketing/ 

Kurnit, R., & Taylor, H. (2019, April 11). Advertising & Marketing in the USA. Lexology. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9fd41625-bced-4bcb-9d3c-96dabf86b673#:~:text=the%20FTC%20Act%2C%20which%20prohibits,Reform%20and%20Consumer%20Protection%20Act 

Liu, H., & FTC, S. at the. (2024, May 23). Advertising and marketing basics. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/advertising-marketing-basics 

Liu, H., & FTC, S. at the. (2024a, April 2). Advertising and marketing on the internet: Rules of the road. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/advertising-marketing-internet-rules-road

Nelson, J. P. (n.d.). Advertising bans in the United States. Economic History Association. https://eh.net/encyclopedia/nelson-adbans/

Northwestern University. (2024, February 28). The power of culture and inclusion in marketing. NorthwesternSite. https://imcprofessional.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/the-power-of-culture-and-inclusion-in-marketing 

Startup 101. (2023, March 27). What licenses does an advertising agency need?. StartUp 101. https://startup101.com/what-licenses-does-an-advertising-agency-need/