Cigarettes & Advertising…ideal bedmates!

I see that accountant turned advertising guru, Sir Martin Sorrell, has been indulging in the prophesying business recently.   As usual, and as behoves someone in that notoriously inaccurate and unaccountable business of advertising, his prophesies are hopelessly inaccurate.Like the discredited tobacco industry before them and also due to falling budgets (sales) they are now (and have been for some time) targeting the emerging markets in Asia Pacific, Africa and other areas.The reason tobacco has relentlessly moved its main marketing efforts overseas are obvious to all – in one word – Cancer!And the reason the big advertising groups are moving their efforts overseas are also obvious to all – in two words – clutter and unaccountability!Advertising is about as distasteful to its supposed target audience in the Western World as smoking!Sorrell proudly boasts that WPP aims to increase its business in the faster growing markets to reduce reliance on the less dynamic US and Western Europe.     Western Europe and US are the very areas where the practice of advertising is becoming discredited and questionable.  Sorrell, like others within in his industry, ignores categorical advice from experts. Advertising refuses to learn from past failures and thus is destined to repeat them.  Sad to say in other peoples impoverished countries!   Thus wasting huge sums of money that could be put to far better use in these emerging economies!These emerging economies do not need the profligacy of advertising agencies and their unaccountable work, the monies saved could be put to far better use than advertising!It is said that progress is not though reason and rational thought (although there is no evidence at all in advertising circles of reason and rational thought).It used to be thought that progress occurred when youthful ideas march into established territory, to the great dismay of the old guard.  Rarely do the guardians of the status quo convert, they go to their graves sticking stubbornly to their beliefs…. Especially that old advertising myth "advertising works".   Only in their absence can fresh ideas bloom and take hold.The longer we live, the slower the rate of intellectual advancement.  And in the land of advertising we see very little progress indeed.   In fact no progress whatsoever!All human knowledge is provisional but it is also incremental, the sum of what we know to day is far greater than thirty years ago – with, possibly, the sole exception of marketing/advertising.There have been many, far superior, ideas developed to make marketing communication effective, these have all been dammed by faint praise by the advertising agencies over the years.   All the agencies have ever wanted to do was to increase frequency and increase the cluttered media landscape, with no accountability of any true meaning whatsoever.No they want to replicate this wasteful process all over again…shame on you all!