Advertising

The power of the voice can be used to create phenomenal works of art, and it can be used to sell us stuff. The people in this story have coaxed you to buy toothpaste, to join a gym or to trust the news you watch. What are they thinking about when they whisper in your […]

Advertising jingles used to be all over radio and television, but they seem to have gone into hiding lately. Richard Paul has created a celebration — and an explanation — of the nearly-lost art of writing a song to sell a product.

The Pop artist James Rosenquist captures the hyperbright, supersaturated colors of commercial culture in his paintings. Kurt and Mr. Rosenquist tour a current retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The paintings there stretch back to the 1960’s and contain a surreal montage of lipsticks and bleaches and dishes and fighter […]

Todd Oldham is a designer for whom color is both whimsy and serious business. Oldham first made his name as a fashion designer of clothes known for their graphic textiles, fun details, and campy themes. In the ’90s his Todd Time segments on MTV made him synonymous with fun well-designed do it yourself home improvement. […]

Kurt Andersen and adman George Lois, creator of the “I want my MTV” campaign and many memorable Esquire covers, look at the strange relationship between art and advertising.