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ALBEIT MY PRESENT JOB may give the impression that I am a geek (which I am, too) I am, unknown to many, also an ardent student and practitioner of the science and art of marketing.† Among the marketing disciplines advertising is undoubtedly the one I find most fascinating.
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There’s a very intriguing concept I came across in a June 10 column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (John Nery’s Newsstand, PDI 06/10/08, page B15).† I believe the column’s topic was ìthe role of advertising in democracy,î and it is a commentary on the currently sizzling hot issue of product endorsements by known 2010 presidential wannabes.
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Nery made a reference to a marketing book by a certain author, Daniel Boorstin.† Boorstin apparently stated that ìadvertising is the characteristic rhetoric of democracyî (whatever that means).
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My particular interest is on the concept called Erasure which, according to Boorstin, is advertising’s most powerful role.† Boorstin, according to Nery, defined erasure as the uncanny ability of advertising, not to make us remember, but precisely to make us forget (e.g. This year’s model is superior to last year’s).
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I didn’t seem to have come across the concept during my not-so-long-ago 3-year MBA in UP Diliman.† Or maybe I was, as was usual, sleeping when either†Dr. Alba†or Prof. Gregorio was discussing the topic. #
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