As Interstate 95 North winds its way through and out of Philadelphia, billboards crop up along the roadside, each vying for the attentions of the cars beneath them. It's just like every other highway in the United States -- nothing seems out of the ordinary. But if you're watching, a large yellow board will climb into view.
"SIZE MATTERS" it says, covering almost the entirety of the board.
So much for subtlety.
Clearly, it's an advertisement for a cosmetic surgery agency. But you have to look very carefully to discover the name of the institution. And yes, size matters. It's a phrase that is pounded into society an infinite number of times a day. Bigger is better; the newest model isn't just luxury, it's necessity; and we're supposed to starve or shape ourselves into flawless, but impossible, physical form. That's what they imply, and what they expect America to believe. Of course size matters. But that particular billboard actually says it.
Everyday, the billboard tells the masses of cars and thousands of passengers that size matters. And presumably, they say it without any qualms about the effect of that sentence.
What does that mean? That advertising agencies have decided not to lie to us anymore? Doubtful.
It's probably more logical to think of the billboard as a sign that we, as a society, have simply become completely indoctrinated into the picture that Madison Avenue portrays. That we have become so programmed that some advertising agencies no longer feel the need to hide what they're doing. It tells us that the days of Darren Stevens' and Larry Tate's Bewitched advertising agency are over. That the wholesome goodness and honest testimonies of Campbell's Soup advertising campaigns are no longer necessary. If we'll believe it, than the advertising agencies might just as well say it.
If that's the case, than the advertising moguls are not only playing us for all we're worth; they're doing so completely unchecked. They're gambling the game of life for some big bucks at very little cost to themselves and without much retaliation. And we're the ones who are losing out.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not insinuating that they should be more stringent regulations on advertising. Legally, they're not doing anything wrong. As unsettling as the phrase is, freedom of speech grants them every right to say "size matters." As the public, we have every right to read it and the choice to believe it. To its credit, the billboard's astonishing phrase is quite a memorable advertising technique -- I'm sure I wasn't the only person to shudder as I read the sign.
But the phrase also pounces onto the public without any consideration whatsoever for the ad's effects. It has pounced seemingly without any substantial response or public opposition to that claim. It's hard to imagine that a statement so extreme couldn't have a significant response -- there's certainly little room for interpretation in that ad.
So what does this mean for us? Have we become so totally obsessed with the image we're receiving -- the image that we're told to become -- that we can't recognize a difficulty in this arrangement? If we're letting one sentence slip by un-noticed, than where does it end? Although it hardly seems likely, it's not impossible to think that once we have all bought the "right kind" of jeans or sneakers, we can all be taught to think the same way. It's propaganda no matter how you look at it. If effective, trendy fashion ads can lead to ads which inform us of correct and incorrect thoughts and extreme political ads. If we don't keep an eye on advertisements, we run the risk of letting them get beyond our power.
I sincerely doubt anything that extreme would happen, at least not in the foreseeable future. But it's our job to ensure that it won't happen.
When we see an ad our first thought should go to the motive behind the ad, not the product. Not that I'm endorsing cynicism either, just a little more skeptical thought. "Size matters" must have been considered to be effective, or it wouldn't have gone up. But we don't have to make it effective.
It's clearly in our power to ignore the ad, as I'm sure many did, as I, too, had intended. It might be more beneficial if we instead responded to the ad. If we combatted the ad or questioned it so much that it became ineffective. While there's a lot to be said for honesty, a phrase like "size matters" goes too far. "Size matters" veers towards the edge of a slippery slope.
