The Start of Advertising in Media

More and more media is changing. Originally, books were the way information spread, then newspapers, and recently and explosion of communication technology has been the new trend. Many of these innovations go hand in hand with new technologies developed to sell products to consumers. 

Radio was the first electronic communication device to widely use advertising, in a way we would recognize from today. Though it wasn’t always been like that. Radio was one of the first widely available ways for businesses to reach consumers in near real time. This was a game changer for many companies and in 1922 at the WEAF radio station in New York City, the first interruption ad was played on the air. It was an advertisement for apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens. It was bought for $50, and was the first advertisement over the airwaves in America. 

(Aside: Places such as the UK were far more resistant to the idea of advertisements over the radio since they viewed it more as something in the public interest)

After that ads have been a key part in many technologies used for communication today. From its inception Television had advertisements in mind. A way to actually show a consumer a product from the comfort of their own home. Programs were littered with sponsored content, from cigarettes to cleaning detergent. Ads would interrupt programs, forcing you to watch them to get to what consumers actually wanted to watch. As cynical as that last statement sounded its necessary, if television was entirely paid out of pocket by the viewer the quality of shows would drop dramatically and bill would increase by an astronomical amount. It allows consumers to get higher quality entertainment and media while also allowing businesses to perform an important aspect of their business. 

Once ads like this became common place people began to get smarter. They knew the ads were just after the cash in their wallets and consumers became more resistant to the marketing they were seeing on their screens. 

This, however, does not mean that advertisers have free reign over the air waves. Advertisements do not enjoy the same level of protected free speech as an individual or an artist. Advertisements are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 

Regulations Were Quickly Made

The FTC was created in 1919 to protect consumers, “Protecting consumers and competition by preventing anti-competitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.”

This prevents ads from deceiving consumers, making false claims, or simply lying to the public. By most everyone’s standards this is a good thing, as it protects consumers from the old timey snake oil salesmen. It keeps companies honest and allows consumers to choose products based on their merits and the quality of their advertising instead of on the lies the advertising propagates. 

Frequently ads appear in journalism, it’s necessary to pay for the content that is created. People are less and less willing to pay this price themselves leaving advertisement to pick up the rest of the bill. In the world of content creation there is the idea that is frequently called “The Separation of Church and State” referring to the separation of the editorial side of news, and the business side of news. Due to this shift in where the money is coming from, these content creators are forced to pay more mind to the advertisers paying the bills that consumers aren’t willing to pay. 

People Adapt to Advertisement

Flash forward to today, the world is filled with more ads than ever. The average person sees around 5000 ads a day compared to the 2000 they were seeing in 1977. Its not a secret that advertisements are everywhere, but they have begun to crop up in places that are beginning to concern creators, and consumers alike. Ads are being made to look like the content they are placed in. This is called native advertising, and it’s quickly becoming a massive cause for concern. 

Native advertising is made to look like the content around it and to camouflage in as much as possible. Advertisers are starting to favor this method for a number of reasons. One of which being the ineffectiveness of traditional advertising on many consumers. According Webascender.com consumers only click on the average online banner ad 0.04% of the time, television ads 0.05%, and billboards only 0.03%. These numbers might be surprising to some based on how often you see these forms advertisements, but think about the last time you actually purchased something from one of these ads. The only times I can think of are billboards for food on a long road trip. 

Native Advertising Takes Hold

This gives some context to the forces driving the recent boom in native advertising. This type of advertising helps to increase the likely-hood that a consumer will read the message advertisers create and allows the content creator to charge more for the service. This new method is coming at a cost to the consumer even though it might not be immediately apparent. 

In 2014 Copyblogger.com held a survey with 2,088 participants, when they were asked “Do you know what native advertising is?” 49% responded “No. I have no idea” and 24% were “Hardly familiar with it”. This makes it clear that those getting targeted by native advertisements aren’t necessarily aware of what it is. That is dangerous for consumers. It is extremely important for those being subject to advertising to be aware of what is going on. Many in the survey were not as concerned about native advertisements being placed in publications such as Buzzfeed (Who regularly engage in this practice). But there was a cause for concern when the thought that news organizations such as the New York Times were put in the same position. The survey was split roughly 51% not that concerned, and 49% being more wary of the practice.

Many will argue that native advertising isn’t anything bad. News organizations are companies, and companies need to make a profit in order to keep running. This is a way for advertisers to gain more profits and help the company continue operating. 

Ethical Usage of Native Advertising

Then the question is asked; is there a way to ethically use native advertising?

Many would say no, and point to things such as consumer confusion over the topic. Since consumers are not aware of the advertising method, it makes them susceptible to manipulation and deception. According to David Franklyn, most people don’t even see the “sponsored” label on much of this content.

This practice also raises concerns over conflict of interest. If companies such as the New York Times are sponsored by a company, would they be less willing to run a story that critiques or condemns that brand? One would hope that no, it has no impact but that would be an idealist and wholly unrealistic way to look at the issue. 

There are even minor things to keep in mind, such as things like non-obvious benefits. Being able to control media that most people would assume as being unbiased gives a lot of power to those who use native advertising. In the Buzzfeed article listed above, Captain Morgan is included alongside a number of other notable historical figures. While Captain Morgan was a real person the company has a massive interest in keeping his image alive, and the memory of him preserved in a certain way. They might be less interested in people remembering him as a brutal plantation owner with numerous slaves than as a fun loving pirate who was just concerned with having a strong drink and good time. If someone was to read an native article published by that brand then the facts they learn might be a twisted version of reality. 

While writing this piece it was difficult for me to keep my opinion as neutral as I was hoping to. Frankly, I think that native advertising is an exceptionally dangerous tactic to establish as an acceptable norm. It creates a break in the line between advertisements and content that I think it dangerous to leave open. The disclaimer that exists now doesn’t seem to be enough to inform people about the nature of the content they’re reading, and I personally feel that there either needs to be an overhaul of how this type of content is included in their hosting media sites or there need to exist set guidelines on how companies can use this type of marketing. 

However, that is just my opinion and I would love to have my mind changed. So please let me know what you think in the comments.

When I was a kid I was obsessed with Halloween, still am too, it was such a magical time for a little kid. As I got older I was more ambitious when it came to the costumes I would wear and I began making my own. Soon I discovered a world of people online who would go to conventions dressed as their favorite characters dressed in intricate costumes. These people were ‘cosplaying’ and I was immediately hooked on the concept.

What is Cosplay?

Cosplay is the art of making costumes to recreate the outfits and ensembles of characters from fiction. In a broader sense, it is the art of costume making and a celebration of characters, media, and culture. The name cosplay comes from a portmanteau of the words “costume” and “play” and is not a new phenomenon. In fact its actually quite old, one of the first cosplay’s happened in 1908 at masquerade in Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. William Fell showed up dressed as Mr. Skygack and Miss Dillpickles from the popular comic “Mr. Skygack From Mars”. This was the first well documented example of someone dressing up like a character they like from media, but it probably wasn’t the first.

In modern times you can find people cosplaying characters from all different corners of media, books to movies to comics to video games. If a franchise has enough of a following chances are someone has cosplayed a character from it.

Cosplays are made with variety of techniques and with a huge amount of materials. Almost every cosplay uses a combination of different methods to bring their character to life. One of the most commonly used materials in cosplay are called thermoplastics which are what they sound like. They’re plastics that, when heated, are moldable and can be shaped into pieces such as armor. The most common of these is called EVA foam and is actually used in a number of everyday products such as gym mats, and crafting foam. When cosplaying try to think outside of the box, sometimes all you need is an everyday item painted a little differently.

What if I want to Cosplay?

Then go for it! Cosplaying can seem intimidating especially when you look at people who have been doing it for a while. Here are a handful of tips that might make the introduction to this hobby a bit easier.

Cosplay something you like!

If you’ve ever worked on a project you’ve been forced to do then you know that it can be hard to motivate yourself if you don’t like what you’re doing. So, find something you will want to spend time on. Sometimes people will specifically choose a character because of how interesting their outfit.

Don’t be Afraid to Fail!

Costume making is very rewarding, but it takes time to learn. Working with unfamiliar materials, trying new techniques, and experimenting are all part of the process. And that process involves failure. Ask anyone who has made a cosplay about their failures and they’ll likely give you a list of outfits that didn’t fit, or fell apart 4 minutes into the con. To quote cosplayer, and former Mythbuster Adam Savage “Failure is always an option.” But its not the end of your journey unless you it be so screw it up, burn it down, and learn from the mistakes you make. What you make will get better as you learn.

Break it Down

Lets say you found the character you want to cosplay, you’re ready to fail, and nothing is gonna get you down. How do you actually start? This is the most common question I get from other people starting out in the cosplay community, and my answer is always to break down the project into workable chunks. A costume I’ve been thinking about starting comes from the game Dead By Daylight and this is how I would break it down.

• The main body of the outfit is a pretty simple onesie, basic additions of a pocket and some patches. This could either be sewn from scratch or bought and added to.
• The head is the most complicated piece and could be broken down further into multiple pieces, the trunk would be sewn and stuffed.
• The actual head needs structure, which would be provided by foam board that has fabric over it.
• The rest, gloves, boots, knife, and bottle, could all be bought.

Benefits of Cosplay

Cosplay is a wonderful creative outlet that combines creativity, crafting, and problem solving. The cosplay community is about celebrating the media we enjoy and the hard work that goes into the creation of these costumes. Nothing lights up a cosplayer’s eyes quiet like someone stopping them and telling them how great their costume is. Seeing someone walking down the hall in the same cosplay tends to result in two fans gushing over eachothers cosplays, and talking about the different difficulties they faced while making it. It creates a wonderful sense of community that you can feel a part of.

Here are a handful of cosplays from a convention I was working at.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Unfortunately I don’t have the names of these cosplayers otherwise I would love to give them credit for their hard work. Let me know down in the comments what you guys think about cosplaying, are you already part of the community or is this your first introduction? Either way I’m interested to hear.