Advertisements play a pivotal role in making ideas morally and cognitively visible: In addition to reporting simple facts about the products, advertisements typically also deliver the contextual frame necessary for interpreting the facts, thus shaping our world view. On the other hand, as well-informed citizens who seek to take an active role in shaping our community, we possess what the Age of Enlightenment called "lumen naturale": We are endowed with a natural reasoning faculty that allows us to engage in debates and make decisions on issues that directly affect us, for example, what kind of products we want to buy. However, in most cases, we fall into the advertising temptation. To maintain their leading positions, advertising elites often conceal important premises and ideological components of the choice of words when presenting social phenomena and their actions to the public.

Today, the consumer role is becoming second nature to man, and products are becoming the language of communication between people, not only in the traditional sense of status, prestige or wealth, but much more profoundly as an expression of personality, tastes and preferences. An expensively purchased product is a confirmation of a man's unique personality and his reality.

Luxurious, limited series of products are becoming fetishes of the commercialism being promoted. Such products are beyond the reach of most people, but still there are many who buy more than they can afford. Therefore, advertising plays an ideological role by containing active socialising elements.

2023, site-specific installation, Griesplatz, Graz | Photos © k.ada