Can Advertising and Mass Communication Be Transformative?
To shortly answer the title’s question… Absolutely! To this end, a friend of mine passed along a great read from the BBC that I thought was worth sharing. 
In her article “Six ads that changed the way you think,” reporter Katie Connolly does a great job spotlighting a few ad campaigns that transformed the way consumers and marketers think about specific products and/or brands. Case-in-point, she leads with the example of DeBeers’ “A Diamond is Forever” campaign (launched in 1948). As she notes, “DeBeers did something extraordinary - it managed to convince generations of men and women that the only acceptable symbol of an engagement was a diamond ring.”
In the piece, Connolly goes on to highlight campaigns from companies including VW, Marlboro, Nike, Absolute Vodka, President Lyndon Johnson, Calvin Klein and Apple.
With that I’ll throw it to you. What other campaigns have been truly transformative in their ability to alter the way audiences view a specific brand? Comment away… 