Does it matter to you who's behind the pen?

I spent a lot of time on the couch and in front of the TV this past week and not because I’m unemployed (as was the case not so long ago).  A week into being a happy working person again, I catch some mystery thing that “could be meningitis, could be the swine flu, or maybe pneumonia” (thanks, Doc – lots of help).  As I struggled to recover what turned out to be one major asskicker of a flu, my stiff neck always managed to keep the remote just out of reach and I caught a helluva lot of commercials.  Now, it’s been some time since I’ve viewed TV commercials in their natural form (despite my love for the ad world) – like most, I only ever see them because I had to catch something on Hulu or needed to YouTube an ad that was actually hilarious and needed to be watched again.

It’s not a secret or even a great observation to say that advertisers and marketers have borrowed from the art industry.  Billboards, print ads, et cetera – that’s photography and graphic arts – things we can easily still call art in its most commercial form.  Jingles are (let’s not forget) the work of a composer and maybe even a lyricist.  And what about the snazzy slogans and zingy one-liners? Writing good copy takes a true talent with words – encompassing a product or service’s purpose and core in a single sentence is not an easy task.

So if advertising has already “taken” photography and fine arts from the art industry, is it that strange that poetry would one day find itself lurking in the ad world’s dark, dirty cells?

The Guardian did an article about a month and a half back about the “The Rise of Poetry in Advertising.” Featured in the piece was a UK McDonald’s commercial whose narrative is carried by a jaunty poem that exceeds advertising’s more typical, cheaper uses of literary devices.  The use of poetry actually worked quite well and set a very specific tone for McDonald’s.  In fact, I’m not sure the ad would have fared quite as well if it weren’t written “poetically.”

So… is it still poetry if it was written for a commercial? If we hadn’t seen that these people were all sitting in a McDonald’s and the McDonald’s tagline wasn’t attached to its tail, could it stand alone to be judged as a poem and not as a commercial? Do we lose our sense to properly judge something as “art” once the ad world has touched it with its dirty hands?

The line between art and advertising will continue to blur as the last of the mainstream-ers learn that viral is the way to go.  If advertisers can find a way to keep you engrossed in something – anything – and then hit you over the head with their product the moment you feel emotionally attached, they’ll do it.  Using some form of art (even poetry), seems the best way to go.  Smart people.

Below: For your viewing pleasure, the McDonalds commercial in question AND a pretty snippy but amusing parody