85.         Advertising is dearly the most influential art form in this century. It is therefore
tempting to think it is also the most important. However, great artistic achievement is
determined by criteria beyond mere influence. And when examined against these
criteria, the genre of advertising does not measure up as truly important.
      To begin with, great art inspires us to look at the human situation from new
perspectives. For example, early impressionist paintings challenge our thinking about
visual perception and about the nature of the reality we assume we see. Other works,
like Rodin's "The Thinker," capture for our reflection the essential value of human
rationality, in stark contrast, advertising encourages people not to think or reflect at all,
but simply to spend.
      In addition, the significance of great artistic achievement transcends time, even
when it reflects a particular age. Yet advertising, by its very nature, is transient; in an
eye-blink, today's hot image or slogan is yesterday's news. Of course, the timelessness
of a work cannot be determined in its own time. Still, it's hard to imagine even the most
powerful advertisement living beyond its current ad campaign.
      Admittedly, one ad—Andy Warhol's painting of the Campbell Soup can—has
achieved timelessness. But notice the irony; the packaging or advertising image was
banal until it was elevated above mere graphic design to high art. The lesson here is that
advertising, in itself, probably will not achieve great importance as art. But taken up by
the artist as content in a larger commentary on society, it can become transcendent.
      In sum, artists will no doubt continue to comment on advertising and on the
materialistic values it reflects and promotes. But the ads themselves, however influential
in marketing terms, fail to fulfill all the criteria for important art.