Déformation professionelle - Professional diseases in advertising and marketing
Axel Eckstein, Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett Switzerland, writes in Werbewoche about the pathological in advertising and marketing. In the thirteenth installment: Compulsive order (normomania).
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an obsessive-compulsive disorder that manifests itself in an inner urge to establish design guidelines (CI rules). The associated loss of flexibility leads to severe impairments in everyday creativity (idea development). Those affected defend themselves against the compulsion as it seems pointless, but are unable to counteract it voluntarily.
Obsessive thoughts
The fear of being held responsible for possible disaster leads to mental circles around certain topics. Spacing: Changing positions of logo and headline could make the brand invisible. Imagery: Perhaps text-only solutions torment the reader with emotional coldness. Brightness: Clouds, dark shadows or black lines may plunge the target group into deep sadness.
Compulsive actions
The clinical picture ranges from obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions to elaborate compulsive rituals (CI workshop). In order to reduce tension, the compulsion to order requires the exact execution of a ritualized chain of actions.
Diagnosis
Constraints of great complexity and bizarreness are recorded in writing (CI manual). New actions that creep in in the meantime must be included in the report as exceptions. However, this usually delays the binding conclusion of the report to such an extent that a completely new system of rules develops in parallel.
Published so far:
Customer distemper (procure distemper)
Director's Cut (conceptus amputatis)
Salmon jam (risum interrupta)
Premature mark effusion (ejaculatio logo praecox)
Idea bedsores (decubitus idea)
Panic-progressive disorder (morbus pendulum)
Margin inflammation (gastritis profit)
Success strabismus (strabismus successus)
Gold fever (febre auri)
Platitourette (repetitio nausea)
Visual fetishism (stimulus best practice)
Probonose (thrombosis facsimile)
