Belling the Cat: Stealthy and Seductive Advertising Exposed | Robert Dalton | TEDxPearsonCollegeUWC

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Multinational corporations maintain economic supremacy by mounting brilliant campaigns to advertise their products. Those ads are seductively persuasive. Conspicuous consumption and waste is the inevitable result as we come to accept the message that to be truly happy and loved (or envied) we need to open our wallets. To expose this propaganda we need to recognize the ways images and slogans can persuade — we must become visually literate. We must also hear the other side of the story, adverse effects of products that endanger our health, for example. While corporations have massive budgets for advertising, counter ads come from small agencies such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) or the Canadian Medical Association. A champion is Ad Busters, an organization headquartered in Vancouver. Through its glossy publication and grassroots campaigns it puts a bell on the cat, alerting us of its approach.

Robert Dalton is a professor of Art Education at the University of Victoria. Holding an MFA degree in Painting from the University of Washington and a PhD in Art Education from the Ohio State University, he sees a pressing need for visual literacy — learning to read and create images — especially the pervasive and persuasive ads in popular media such as magazines and television. In an image saturated world, people need to learn to critique and question the messages they receive. Bob has taught graphic design, fine art, and art education over a 40-year career.

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