Can we elevate the idea of "Well, if you look at it this other way" to the level of a philosophy?

Namikawa: Nice to see you again this week.

Nora-bukuro: Oh, nice to meet you.

Namikawa: The purpose of this series is to think about "what advertising is" philosophically. But something I've always found frustrating is that people in the advertising industry tend to be uncomfortable with philosophical discussions, right?

Nora-bukuro: I don't think that's necessarily true.

Namikawa: No, they are. When I passionately start talking about "how the world should be," most advertising people just give me a wry smile. Like, "Well, that's one way of looking at it."

Norabukuro: ...Hmm, that evasive maneuver is the very essence—or rather, the habit—of an ad man.

Namikawa: I started wondering: Why do they dodge it?

Then I came to think there must be a close connection between the job of making ads and the ad man's habit of disliking absolute ideologies.

In other words, the job of advertising is to make a product appealing, whether it's something you like or not. If it's something you like, it's simple. You just create the ad with that feeling. But for products you don't like, we start thinking: "Wait, but if you look at it this way, isn't this product actually appealing?"

Repeating this process ingrains the mindset of "Wait, what if we looked at it this other way?" deep within us. It's like always being ready to jump—light on our feet, poised to leap either left or right.

So when someone passionately starts preaching "absolute ideology," the ad man reflexively jumps sideways. Instinctively.

Nora Bag: I see. So for advertising, "absolute ideology" is the arch-enemy. But having that reflex to resist "absolute ideology" – isn't that also an admirable trait of an ad man?

Namikawa: I wonder. I've always felt frustrated with advertising that lacks that absolute ideology of "Let's proactively shape the world like this."

Nora Bag: Well, the good and the bad are two sides of the same coin. An ad man's nimbleness can backfire, making him seem "too quick to change" or "lacking in substance."

But you know, like we talked about with structuralism last time, the whole "absolute ideology is just an illusion" thing is the trend these days. So advertising actually fits that trend pretty well.

If you want to push ideology through ads, why not just take that "Well, what if we looked at it this other way?" approach, elevate it to an ideological level, and build it up solidly?

Namikawa: Let's dig deeper into this topic in the next session.

To be continued.