Design and Art Direction is a British educational charity which exists to promote excellence in design and advertising. This article is part of a collaborative essay series between the D&AD and Superimpose which is a new creative agency working with brands such as Adidas and The British Fashion Council etc challenging brands to go further. The collaboration is called ‘The Future of Creativity’ which discusses art and design for a social purpose which links to the theme of Social Design; the application of design tackling social issues such as racism, poverty, inequality and so on. The essays look at new technologies and skills creatives need to master the changing industry's and then promote ‘constant and honest’ messages. The essay collection looks at the key question: ‘What is the future for creativity?’
The essay raised awareness on the importance of consumer power to create change which was a key area. Us as consumers have power over everything we do for example our lifestyles impact the condition of the planet due to our demand for travel, manufactured goods, energy, water for textiles aswell as other raw materials such as palm oil ect which strains natural ecosystems and leads to mass extinction and global warming which is ultimately the answer for the growing occurrences of extreme weather conditions and extreme wild fires as seen in Australia and the Amazon recently. As consumers our business and professional decisions impact society aswell. Our tendency to over consume manufactured goods and even food items also has major social and further environmental impacts therefore the essay stressed how we have the power to make a change in society for a more just, equal and healthy society.
Today with the power of social media and the community's within social media along with the fame of influencers, trending movements and the marketing opportunities it is easier than ever to build a platform that matters - ‘By defying stereotypes, we can make more of an impact’. The article informed many key points to consider when platforms are built including the importance of bringing a unique insight and creativity to connect subjects to a wider audience. However the article made a interesting point faulting social media stating how the desire for fame and the ‘blue tick of validation’ over comes the strive for social change. This is interesting as it emphasis how social media is still very much a source of entertainment then education.
This article links to my subject matter of stereotypes such as those surrounding feminism, racism, toxic masculinity etc as it shows the importance of breaking away from stereotypes and how the people that do so are the people who help communities in a meaningful way. The use of stereotypes in marketing are used for story telling in order to clearly promote a brands message however it is the consumers that fuel a business whether that brand be a influencer, a artist or a poet, such as Suhalymah Manzoor who is a poet raising awareness for gender and race due in todays cultural and social challenges, it’s us as consumers that have the power to support the brand that strive to make a difference and raise awareness.
Advertising agency Superimpose promotes ideas of Guerrilla marketing and using brand advertising in my creative outcomes to promotes messages rather than just pieces of art.