Not Cool

All of this talk about the impropriety of the advertising business makes me want to stay far, far away from its seductive prestige, money, and fancy offices. All that we have hashed out in regards to cause-related advertising is that it is socially "questionable" at best. Where does that leave the rest of advertising? Like Stef said in a previous post "designers are being hired", and in some cases it is to do the dirty work. Why has it become our job to stretch the small deeds of companies into saintly acts? Can we give this job back to Public Relations people? Is design advantageous because it allows companies to present a message into the public domain from a neutral entity? Like we talked about with our assignments on Wed. it's the ambiguity of the designer's voice/identity that allows us to believe the American Heart Association put their seal on the Cherrios box, and that it was CARE recognizing Starbucks, and not Starbucks boasting its deeds in Natasha's work. Whether it's a harmless fib or an out right lie to embrace such ambiguity I'm not sure. But, I'm pretty sure I don't want to walk that line with the goal of boosting profits in mind... maybe if I can be convinced that it will truly benefit the cause it would be a different story.