This New Year's, Make a Resolution to Improve Your Social Impact

2020 sucked. And many of us (if not all) are eager to ring out the old and bring in the new. Indeed, in the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests this summer, myriad agencies, brands, tech, and media companies pledged to "do better." But what does that look like?

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Facebook's general inability to control hate speech, election meddling, and misinformation on their platform, Douglas Rushkoff wondered aloud, "What If Mark Zuckerberg Had Stayed in School?" In other words, by dropping out of Harvard at the end of his sophomore year, Zuckerberg missed out on an education that would have expanded his understanding of the historical, cultural, economic, and political context that his invention would eventually inhabit and inexorably shape…creating blind spots with massive, and even deadly, consequences for people all over the world.

So, in the midst of social movements seeking justice for Black lives, women in the workplace, and the environment, just to name a few, I think Mark should resolve to go back to school in 2021. And I think you should, too. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. And, for those working in the advertising, marketing, and media space, reading Tony Kelso's book The Social Impact of Advertising: Confessions of an (Ex-)Advertising Man would be a great place to start.

Kelso's (pictured right) perspective is unique. After working in Detroit at Young & Rubicam (Y&R) as a broadcast producer and in Atlanta at J. Walter Thompson (JWT) as a copywriter, he went to graduate school at NYU, got his PhD, and decided to use his insider perspective to write a textbook that would challenge advertising majors to think more broadly and critically about the social impact of their future career.

Apropos of his first-hand experience of the ad industry, Kelso starts every chapter of the book with a personal anecdote. My favorite recounts when a baby shower gift dramatized how brands from Cheerios to cars advertise to kids so they'll nudge/nag their parents' purchasing habits. Needless to say, the book is accessible, free of excessive jargon, and decidedly not written from the perspective of a cranky career academic.

And while certainly written with undergrads in mind, I believe The Social Impact of Advertising still offers useful tools for advertising and marketing practitioners striving to meet the moment. For instance, in a chapter on identity, race, and ethnicity, Kelso argues that representation can be more carefully audited by taking into account "inclusion" (who is present in the ad), "roles" (what are those people doing), and "control" (who gets to make creative decisions). Through this approach it becomes clear that, while blatantly racist depictions are now rare, advertising as a whole continues to stereotype in more subtle ways such as over-representing Black men as athletes and under-representing Black women in professional roles.

And Kelso's chapter on ideology is especially effective and relevant given Gen Z's preference for brands that couple a clear point of view on social issues with effective corporate social responsibility. After pointing out ten of the most common ways that advertising creates meaning by establishing cultural norms for the "good life" (such as you are how you look but never OK as you are, complex problems can be easily solved by consuming products, and everything keeps getting better and better), he also reveals the "externalities" that advertising tends to hide (such as the psychological consequences of striving for physical perfection, how endless consumption pollutes the environment, and who actually makes the products and under what conditions).

Going back to school is certainly on-trend. Many sought to bone-up on what they may have missed in college by reading Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Anti-Racist and Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility this summer. And while those books offer good introductions to structural racism in the United States and what to do about it, I'd recommend adding another text to your syllabus—one that narrows in on a more specific setting (the advertising industry) while also taking a broader view of what social responsibility in one's professional life might look like.

While Kelso may have left advertising, my wish for you during this holiday season of reflection and renewal would be to read his book and then resolve to stay, do better, and make 2021 a new year in more ways than one.

About Tony Kelso
Tony Kelso, PhD, is a professor of media studies and chair of the Media & Strategic Communication Department at Iona College. Before earning his PhD, he worked at Young & Rubicam and J. Walter Thompson. Kelso takes an eclectic approach to scholarship, publishing on advertising and religion, advertising and society, gender-nonconforming children in the media, politics and popular culture, and subscription television. He is the author of The Social Impact of Advertising: Confessions of an (Ex-)Advertising Man, a coauthor of Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture, and a coeditor of Mosh the Polls: Youth Voters, Popular Culture, and Democratic Engagement.

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