The essential role of communications
John Philip Jones
ADVERTISING: STRONG OR WEAK FORCE? TWO VIEWS AN OCEAN APART
In the article with this title, which appeared for the first time in 1990, I argued that effective advertising can far more often be explained as operating as a weak force (by soft-selling/seducing/working with the grain of consumer attitudes), than as a strong force (by hard-selling/wearing down resistance/ converting apathetic or hostile consumers). The essential role of communications still endorse this doctrine, although I believe it to be incomplete in one important respect. It ignores the possibility that advertising is capable...