Fightin’ Words in Advertising – Do We Have a Martial Language Problem? 

When I went to graduate school to study advertising, one of my good friends was in the Air Force. She spoke the same language the rest of us did, used the same words – “campaign”, “strategy”, “tactics”, and so on. – but it all sounded a bit different coming from her. More…real. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, I suppose; as far as I recall, she was the only veteran in the building.

That wouldn’t have been the case in the “Mad Men” era, when much of today’s “agency speak” was born. While the show Mad Men is fictional, the fact that all of the top management at Sterling Cooper were veterans was typical of the time. After all, in 1960, 45% of American men had military experience. That experience shaped how they thought, wrote, and talked – indeed military jargon permeated every creative industry at the time, not just advertising. We hear it in old episodes of Star Trek and see it in art created by folks like Jasper Johns. 

Half a century later, we still use phrases like “in the trenches”, “rally the troops”, “war rooms”, and so on. Sometimes this language is self-deprecating; sometimes it isn’t – it probably depends more on the speaker and their tone than the words or phrases themselves. But coming from the wrong speaker, martial language can certainly be a force multiplier (just did it myself!) that makes stressful situations worse. 

Martial language isn’t just prevalent in agencies; it also permeates how we talk about brands in popular culture. Over the past 40 years we’ve seen an ongoing Cola War, successive video game Console Wars, and plenty of Car Wars – The Billboard Battle Of BMW Vs Audi. All with winners and losers in the form of brands – not consumers. 

The impact of all this on ad campaigns, relationships with consumers, and more may be the most profound issue stemming from martial thinking in advertising. Seeing the market as territory to be conquered can lead marketers to forget the market is made of people. Which isn’t just dehumanizing; it’s counter-productive! It can lead marketers to talk about themselves and propagandize with misleading messages rather than making themselves and their offerings relevant to the real concerns and lives of the people they serve. 

Is it possible to, if not replace martial language, then at least add more metaphors to how we discuss what we do? Rather than thinking of advertisers as generals or warriors, perhaps we can also remember – and remind our clients and other audiences – that we’re artists, activists, and advocates as well. 

For marketers, martial excess is like Tic-Tac-Toe and Global Thermonuclear War: the only winning move is not to play. If you want to find a way to de-escalate your own brand efforts, we’re here to help.