A look into "The Creative Agency"

Imagine a company that produces a product so bad they actually have to pay people to consume it. Can it be possible? Well, that's what hundreds of thousands of people all over the world do for a living in advertising agencies. You say "am I getting paid to watch advertising"? In a way you do. The free TV and radio shows, and even content like this blog, YouTube, or your free e-mail account is paid for advertising.

Advertising agencies are intermediaries. They were born during the Industrial Revolution to market products for corporations that rather use their time making the products. At the time, advertising agencies offered also something the corporations needed to spread the word out: creativity. Thanks to advertising agencies' innovation we name those headache pills "Aspirin", there's a condition named Athlete's Foot, and Santa Claus wears a red outfit. Advertising agencies are the only corporations in the world with departments dedicated specifically for creativity. That's all advertising agencies talk about ad nauseam (no pun intended): Creativity, creativity, creativity. While companies who wouldn't be here today without their tremendous creativity, like Apple, Disney, Google, Nintendo, Nokia, Ikea and an endless list, just shut up about it and innovate.

Ad agencies today are dinosaurs roaming the Earth, doing work for dinosaurs of the Industrial Revolution. An ad agency haven't produced an innovative product, perhaps since the soap opera. Google, which essentially is an advertising company (not an ad agency), is bringing the first innovations in advertising in a long, long time.

But let's go back to ad agencies. They say they're creative, they're not (so is the irony of the title of my comic strip). Even the ones considered "creative boutiques" base their greatness on industry awards, which frankly, no one (even most companies who pay for the ads) gives a shit about. Ad agencies creative departments have some of the highest population of douchebags per capita you can find.

Of course, they need the praise to lure talent too lazy to wait until they get their break to live out of their craft. These people are brainwashed as if advertising will let them be "creative," I imagine because other companies don't, except thousands like the ones I previously mentioned. People who work in advertising is not smarter, more intuitive or innovative than anybody else, they just think they are. But they need to believe it so their lives have a sense of purpose even though their contribution to humanity is practically non-existant. Essentially, advertising -the career- offers you the same that advertising -the product: bullshit.

My comic strip is based on things I saw and heard in ad agencies, and even though is exaggerated and comical, is not too far from reality. Sorry you guys outside agencies are not going to understand a lot of the lingo, but I hope you get to understand at least why the product you see coming out of ad agencies is so crappy.