We are all, in our own way creative are we not?
The above thought came to me a week or so ago as I discussed advertising with a gentleman working in that industry. He is (or was when we fell into conversation) working on an advertisement for an animated pizza.
I have always had an ambivalent attitude towards advertising. On the one hand the industry does, in my opinion attempt to convince potential purchasers of similar (sometimes identical products) that the item produced by one manufacturer is better than another manufactured by a rival producer. In my experience Fairy, Bold or any other branded soap powder is equally effective at washing clothes and all the advertising to convince the potential purchaser of this product otherwise is so much froth and bubbles (forgive the weak pun)!
Advertising can perform a useful function in that it brings to the attention of potential consumers products of which they might otherwise have been unaware. Having acknowledged this benefit, I would add that this function is, in the days of the internet less useful than was previously the case. In the days of the World Wide Web one can, with the click of a mouse discover many things of which one was previously unaware (I must confess that on occasions I wish I had remained in blissful ignorance)! Be that as it may, advertising can, at its best act as a source of information to potential buyers of a multiplicity of products.
Despite my reservations regarding advertising, there is, in my mind no doubt that it is a creative industry. Certain ads stick in my head due to the fact that they are particularly amusing or contain a clip of beautiful music. They may not cause me to purchase the product being advertised. They do, however impress me as a piece of creative media and, on occasion artistic creativity. Being blind I can not see visual representations. Where I to possess sight I would, I feel sure be impressed by the utilisation by advertisers of the visual media in highly creative ways, including animated pizzas!
My creative outlet is via poetry. I burn to release a poem which is running around in my head trying to find a way out onto the virtual pages of this blog and, on occasions onto real paper via my books. Others use their hands to create. I have on one of my tables a beautiful carved turtle which I bought when visiting Sri Lanka in 2001. The turtle is highly tactile and the craftsman producing it obviously put a piece of himself into doing so. To give of oneself in the production of art whether literary or through the making of beautiful objects is the mark of a craftsman or artist. I have no idea whether the gentleman who produced the turtle which now lives in my living room was a lover of literature or painting. I have no doubt however that he is a true creator of beauty.
In conclusion, we are all creative and even if this creativity does not find an outlet, we do none the less possess the latent capacity to be creative whether via dancing pizzas, poetry or carved wooden turtles.
Kevin
K Morris - Poet 