James Twitchell
interviewed by Mike Agger on July 11, 1996
Adcult vs. Highcult:
Is our common culture ad culture? Take our high culture vs ad culture quiz to see how you compare to other Tripod members.
"We do not like to think that we are susceptible to magic and that the major organizing principles of our lives are the principles of magical thinking."
Tripod: You remain cryptic in your book about making any value judgments about advertising.
JT: I am totally uninterested in labeling advertising as good or bad. As someone who spends his life teaching high culture, I know that when I walk into my classroom, high culture is the least of my student's concerns. Also, I am not convinced a giant ingestion of information about high culture produces better people. I think it does produce more interesting people, better conversation, and richer understanding of history, but the culture we all share is not high culture.
Tripod: As your book points out, the culture we all share is Adcult.
JT:If you were to ask your grandparents what they shared with other people when growing up, they would tell you that what they shared was the knowledge and experience of Thackeray, Dickens, Eliot, and the Bible. Today, we do not share a common understanding of Victorian novels or an understanding of sacred texts, but even though you and I have never spoken to each other before today, you and I know both know that in the phrase, "You deserve a..blank..today," the missing word is break. So let's spend a little time examining advertising, not as something we have to hammer out of our culture, but something that is our culture. For better or for worse, this dismal, mindless information is what we have that we know we share.
Tripod: How is it that we have consumed all this information? Do we all have too much free time?
JT: Advertising always deals with surplus. The church advertised the one commodity they had which was in a surplus: the next world. They sold this highly valuable but extremely hard to market concept that there was another world beyond this one and they could help you get to it. One of the reasons that religion has dropped from being the major value-generating force in our culture is that thanks to the Industrial Revolution we produce this massive surplus of other things which essentially captured much of our concentration, though we use the same techniques to sell these items that were used back in the 16th century.
Tripod: What are these techiques that have stood the test of time?
JT: What it comes down to is that we do not like to think that we are susceptible to magic. The major organizing principles of our lives are the principles of magical thinking. The magical thinking that we currently go through is that if I can have a Polo pony on my T-shirt I will be more attractive, or if I drink Michelob beer the night will belong to me. In the 16th century, it would be if I do certain penitential procedures successfully, if I go through certain forms, then I will have not the polo pony but everlasting peace and understanding. They are both grounded in magical thinking.
Tripod: But you could argue that the magic works. A woman might see your Polo shirt and Michelob beer and use those consumer brand choices as a reason to talk to you.
JT: That is the key. Does the magic resolve the anxiety? Yes.
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