The Wake

The corporate and artistic sectors of society are seldom aligned, yet the Walker Art Center will attempt to reconcile the two this winter by showing the winning advertisements of the British Television Advertising Awards within its hallowed halls. Through all 23 categories of awards, the question remains—can the manipulation of the western world’s consumer tendencies ultimately lead to the creation of something that can be called art? We proceed with a critical eye.

These commercials don’t advertise anything particularly elevated: predictably, the title of the “Best Crafted Commercial of the Year” is snatched by a beer ad, while other honorary titles are shared amongst commercials for equally non-artsy items such as cell phone service providers and cars. Perhaps in this situation, however, the beauty’s not the destination, but in the trip. So beautiful and honest, in fact, that often the advertised product at the end of these commercials seems completely out of place. It’s as if the huge corporate bastards hired out some sincere little artists, who then created these segments for their pure artistic value, awkwardly sticking the required product placements at the end. That, or those advertising researchers just know how to pull on the heartstrings. Watching these ads from an artistic point of view, one is torn between feeling disgustingly manipulated and being lulled into a happy trance.

Some of these commercials take on topics too cheesy for Sunday morning cartoons to somehow create chill-inspiring material. Take the “Best Video Post Production” winner: this commercial advises us to live our life to the fullest, just like the mayfly, who only has one day to live. This message, which would regularly receive a skeptical glare (on a good day), is in this case delivered with such passion, timing, and careful music selection, that we are left gasping and wide-eyed with wonder…and presumably wanting to sign up with Vodaphone. Who can resist a well-timed, charming British accent? To make something as mundane a cell phone company scrape the surface of our soul—if that isn’t talent, I don’t know what is.

Soul-scraping is most definitely not a requirement for these awards. There is a fair share of humorous winners such as the Bacardi commercial that contends that with Bacardi “There is no bad dancing.” On the other side of the spectrum, the winner of the “Best Stunts” award is notable for its stark difference from the life-affirming nature of the rest of the winners. It is a bit of a downer—some sort of public-service warning to teenagers about the dangers of driving recklessly. Even the charming British accents can’t seem to liven up the footage of a kid being hit by a car.

A the end of the day, it may be tempting to dismiss these commercials in a holier-than-thou, anti-consumerist sprit; but hey—most of us will use a cell phone, drink beer and buy a car at some point in our lives, which gives us no right to look down upon people who advertise these products. There is no shame in appreciating the art in the world around us, even if it’s not in a place you’d conventionally look. If nothing else, these commercials are quite entertaining—I daresay more so than our super bowl commercials. Those Brits know their shit. Cheers.

The 2006 British Advertising Awards will be shown at the Walker from now until December 30. Tickets cost $9; .