From Jean Baudrillard - Simulacra and Simulations (1981)

Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser (1994)

IX. Absolute Advertising, Ground-Zero Advertising
Today what we are experiencing is the absorption of all virtal modes of expression into that of
advertising! "ll original cltral forms# all determined langages are absorbed in advertising becase it
has no depth# it is instantaneos and instantaneosly forgotten! Trimph of sperficial form# of the
smallest common denominator of all signification# degree $ero of meaning# trimph of entropy over all
possible tropes! The lowest form of energy of the sign! This narticlated# instantaneos form# withot a
past# withot a ftre# withot the possiblity of metamorphosis# has power over all the others! "ll crrent
forms of activity tend toward advertising and most exhast themselves therein! %ot necessarily
advertising itself# the &ind that is prodced as sch ' bt the form of advertising# that of a simplified
operational mode# vagely sedctive# vagely consensal (all the modalities are confsed therein# bt in
an attenated# agitated mode)! (ore generally# the form of advertising is one in which all particlar
contents are annlled at the very moment when they can be transcribed into each other# whereas what is
inherent to )weighty) ennciations# to articlated forms of meaning (or of style) is that they cannot be
translated into each other# any more than the rles of a game can be! This long movement toward
translatability and ths toward a complete combinatorial# which is that of the sperficial transparency of
everything# of their absolte advertising (of which professional advertising is# once again# only an
episodic form)# can be read in the vicissitdes of propaganda!
The whole scope of advertising and propaganda comes from the *ctober +evoltion and the mar&et crash
of 19,9! -oth langages of the masses# issing from the mass prodction of ideas# or commodities# their
registers# separate at first# progressively converge! .ropaganda becomes the mar&eting and
merchandising of idea'forces# of political men and parties with their )trademar& image!) .ropaganda
approaches advertising as it wold the vehiclar model of the only great and veritable idea'force of this
competing society# the commodity and the mar&! This convergence defines a societyors' in which there
is no longer any difference between the economic and the political# becase the same langage reigns in
both# from one end to the other/ a society therefore where the political economy# literally spea&ing# is
finally flly reali$ed! That is to say dissolved as a specific power (as an historical mode of social
contradiction)# resolte# absorbed in a langage withot contradictions# li&e a dream# becase traversed
by prely sperficial intensities!
" sbse0ent stage is crossed once the very langage of the social# after that of the political# becomes
confsed with this fascinating solicitation of an agitated langage# once the social trns itself into
advertising# trns itself over to the poplar vote by trying to impose its trademar& image! From the
historical destiny that it was# the social itself fell to the level of a )collective enterprise) secring its
pblicity on every level! See what srpls vale of the social each advertisement tries to prodce1 werben
werben (advertise advertise) ' the solicitation of the social everywhere# present on walls# in the hot and
bloodless voices of female radio annoncers# in the accents of the sond trac& and in the mltiple
tonalities of the image trac& that is played everywhere before or eyes! " sociality everywhere present#
an absolte sociality finally reali$ed in absolte advertising ' that is to say# also totally dissolved# a
vestige of sociality hallcinated on all the walls in the simplified form of a demand of the social that is
immediately met by the echo of advertising! The social as a script# whose bewildered adience we are!
Ths the form of advertising has imposed itself and developed at the expense of all the other langages
as an increasingly netral# e0ivalent rhetoric# withot affects# as an )asyntactic nebla#) 2ves Stord$e
wold say# which envelops s from every side (and which at the same time eliminates the hotly
controversial problem of )belief) and efficacy1 it does not offer signifieds in which to invest# it offers a
simplified e0ivalence of all the formerly distinctive signs# and deters them with this very e0ivalence)!
This defines the limits of advertising3s crrent power and the conditions of its disappearance# since today
advertising is no longer a sta&e# it has both )entered into or cstoms) and at the same time escaped the
social and moral dramatrgy that it still represented twenty years ago!
4t is not that people no longer believe in it or that they have accepted it as rotine! 4t is that if its
fascination once lay in its power to simplify all langages# today this power is stolen from it by another
type of langage that is even more simplified and ths more fnctional1 the langages of compter
science! The se0ence model# the sond trac&# and the image trac& that advertising# along with the other
big media# offers s ' the model of the combinatory# e0al distribtion of all discorses that it proposes '
this still rhetorical continm of sonds# signs# signals# slogans that it erects as a total environment is
largely overta&en# precisely in its fnction of simlation# by the magnetic tape# by the electronic
continm that is in the process of being silhoetted against the hori$on of the end of this centry!
(icroprocessing# digitality# cybernetic langages go mch frther in the direction of the absolte
simplification of processes than advertising did on its hmble ' still imaginary and spectaclar ' level! "nd
it is becase these systems go frther that today they polari$e the fascination that formerly devolved on
advertising! 4t is information# in the sense of data processing# that will pt an end to# that is already
ptting an end to the reign of advertising! That is what inspires fear# and what is thrilling! The )thrill) of
advertising has been displaced onto compters and onto the miniatri$ation of everyday life by compter
science!
The anticipatory illstration of this transformation was .hilip 5! 6ic&3s papla ' that transistori$ed
advertising implant# a sort of broadcasting leech# an electronic parasite that attaches itself to the body
and that is very hard to get rid of! -t the papla is still an intermediary form1 it is already a &ind of
incorporated prosthesis# bt it still incessantly repeats advertising messages! " hybrid# then# bt a
prefigration of the psychotropic and dataprocessing networ&s of the atomatic piloting of individals#
next to which the )conditioning) by advertising loo&s li&e a delightfl change in fortne!
7rrently# the most interesting aspect of advertising is its disappearance# its diltion as a specific form# or
even as a medim! "dvertising is no longer (was it ever8) a means of commnication or of information!
*r else it is overta&en by the madness specific to overdeveloped systems# that of voting for itself at each
moment# and ths of parodying itself! 4f at a given moment# the commodity was its own pblicity (there
was no other) today pblicity has become its own commodity! 4t is confsed with itself (and the eroticism
with which it ridiclosly cloa&s itself is nothing bt the atoerotic index of a system that does nothing
bt designate itself ' whence the absrdity of seeing in it an )alienation) of the female body)!
"s a medim become its own message (which ma&es it so that now there is a demand for advertising in
and of itself# and that ths the 0estion of )believing) in it or not is no longer even posed)# advertising is
completely in nison with the social# whose historical necessity has fond itself absorbed by the pre and
simple demand for the social1 a demand that the social fnction li&e a bsiness# a grop of services# a
mode of living or of srvival (the social mst be saved 9st as natre mst be preserved1 the social is or
niche) ' whereas formerly it was a sort of revoltion in its very pro9ect! This is certainly lost1 the social
has lost precisely this power of illsion# it has fallen into the register of spply and demand# 9st as wor&
has passed from being a force antagonistic to capital to the simple stats of employment# that is to say of
goods (eventally rare) and services 9st li&e the others! *ne can ths create advertising for wor&# the
9oy of finding wor&# 9st as one will be able to create advertising for the social! "nd# today# tre
advertising lies therein1 in the design of the social# in the exaltation of the social in all its forms# in the
fierce# obstinate reminder of a social# the need for which ma&es itself rdely felt! Fol&loric dances in the
metro# innmerable campaigns for secrity# the slogan )tomorrow 4 wor&) accompanied by a smile
formerly reserved for leisre time# and the advertising se0ence for the election to the .rd'hommes (an
indstrial tribnal)1 )4 don3t let anyone choose for me) ' an :bes0e slogan# one that rang so
spectaclarly falsely# with a moc&ing liberty# that of proving the social while denying it! 4t is not by chance
that advertising# after having# for a long time# carried an implicit ltimatm of an economic &ind#
fndamentally saying and repeating incessantly# )4 by# 4 consme# 4 ta&e pleasre#) today repeats in
other forms# )4 vote# 4 participate# 4 am present# 4 am concerned) ' mirror of a paradoxical moc&ery#
mirror of the indifference of all pblic signification!
The opposite panic1 one &nows that the social can be dissolved in a panic reaction# an ncontrollable
chain reaction! -t it can also be dissolved in the opposite reaction# a chain reaction of inertia# each
microniverse satrated# atoreglated# compteri$ed# isolated in atomatic pilot! "dvertising is the
prefigration of this1 the first manifestation of an ninterrpted thread of signs# li&e tic&er tape ' each
isolated in its inertia! 6isaffected# bt satrated! 6esensiti$ed# bt ready to crac&! 4t is in sch a niverse
that what ;irilio calls the aesthetic of disappearance gathers strength# that the following being to appear1
fractal ob9ects# fractal forms# falt $ones that follow satration# and ths a process of massive re9ection#
of the abreaction or stpor of a society prely transparent to itself! <i&e the signs in advertising# one is
geared down# one becomes transparent or ncontable# one becomes diaphanos or rhi$omic to escape
the point of inertia ' one is placed in orbit# one is plgged in# one is satelli$ed# one is archived ' paths
cross1 there is the sond trac&# the image trac&# 9st as in life there is the wor& trac&# the leisre trac&#
the transport trac&# etc!# all enveloped in the advertising trac&! =verywhere there are three or for paths#
and yo are at the crossroads! Sperficial satration and fascination! -ecase fascination remains! *ne
need only loo& at <as ;egas# the absolte advertising city (of the 19>?s# of the cra$y years of advertising#
which has retained the charm of that era# today retro in some sense# becase advertising is secretly
condemned by the programmatic logic that will give rise to very different cities)! @hen one sees <as
;egas rise whole from the desert in the radiance of advertising at ds&# and retrn to the desert when
dawn brea&s# one sees that advertising is not what brightens or decorates the walls# it is what effaces the
walls# effaces the streets# the facades# and all the architectre# effaces any spport and any depth# and
that it is this li0idation# this reabsorption of everything into the srface (whatever signs circlate there)
that plnges s into this stpefied# hyperreal ephoria that we wold not exchange for anything else# and
that is the empty and inescapable form of sedction!
<angage allows itself to be dragged along by its doble# and 9oins the best to the worst for a phantom of
rationality whose formla is )=veryone mst believe in it!) Sch is the message of what nites s!
' A! <! -ottes# <e destrcter d3intensites (The 6estroyer of 4ntensities) "dvertising# therefore# li&e
information1 destroyer of intensities# accelerator of inertia! See how all the artifices of meaning and of
nonmeaning are repeated in it with lassitde# li&e all the procedres# all the mechanisms of the langage
of commnication (the fnction of contact1 yo nderstand me8 "re yo loo&ing at me8 4t will spea&B '
the referential fnction# the poetic fnction even# the allsion# the irony# the game of words# the
nconscios)# how all of that is staged exactly li&e sex in pornography# that is to say withot any faith#
with the same tired obscenity! That is why# now# it is seless to analy$e advertising as langage# becase
something else is happening there1 a dobling of langage (and also of images)# to which neither
lingistics nor semiology correspond# becase they fnction on the veritable operation of meaning#
withot the slightest sspicion of this caricatral exorbitance of all the fnctions of langage# this opening
onto an immense field of the moc&ery of signs# )consmed) as one says in their moc&ery# for their
moc&ery and the collective spectacle of their game withot sta&es ' 9st as porno is a hypertrophied
fiction of sex consmed in its moc&ery# for its moc&ery# a collective spectacle of the inanity of sex in its
baro0e assmption (it was the baro0e that invented this trimphal moc&ery of stcco# fixing the
disappearance of the religios in the orgasm of states)!
@here is the golden age of the advertising pro9ect8 The exaltation of an ob9ect by an image# the
exaltation of bying and of consmption throgh the smptary spending of advertising8 @hatever the
sb9gation of pblicity to the management of capital (bt this aspect of the 0estion ' that of the social
and economic impact of pblicity ' always remains nresolved and fndamentally insolble)# it always
had more than a sb9gated fnction# it was a mirror held ot to the niverse of political economy and of
the commodity# it was for a moment their glorios imaginary# that of a torn'p world# bt an expanding
one! -t the niverse of the commodity is no longer this one1 it is a world both satrated and in
involtion! 4n one blow# it lost both its trimphal imaginary# and# from the mirror stage# it passed in some
sense to the stage of morning!
There is no longer a staging of the commodity1 there is only its obscene and empty form! "nd advertising
is the illstration of this satrated and empty form!
That is why advertising no longer has a territory! 4ts recoverable forms no longer have any meaning! The
Form des Calles# for example# is a gigantic advertising nit ' an operation of pblicitde! 4t is not the
advertising of a particlar person# of any firm# the Form also does not have the stats of a veritable mall
or architectral whole# any more than -eaborg is# in the end# a cltral center1 these strange ob9ects#
these spergadgets simply demonstrate that or social monmentality has become advertising! "nd it is
something li&e the Form that best illstrates what advertising has become# what the pblic domain has
become!
The commodity is bried# li&e information is in archives# li&e archives are in bn&ers# li&e missiles are in
atomic silos!
Gone the happy and displayed commodity# now that it flees the sn# and sddenly it is li&e a man who
has lost his shadow! Ths the Form des Calles closely resembles a fneral home ' the fnereal lxry of
a commodity bried# transparent# in a blac& sn! Sarcophags of the commodity!
=verything there is seplchral ' white# blac&# salmon marble! " bn&er'case'in deep# snobbish# dll blac&'
mineral ndergrond space! Total absence of flids/ there is no longer even a li0id gadget li&e the veil of
water at .arly ,#D1 which at least fooled the eye ' here not even an amsing sbterfge# only pretentios
morning is staged! (The only amsing idea in the whole thing is precisely the hman and his shadow
who wal& in trompe l3oeil on the vertical dais of concrete1 a gigantic# beatifl gray# open'air canvas#
serving as a frame to the trompe l3oeil# this wall lives withot having wished to# in contrast to the family
valt of hate cotre and pret'a'porter that constittes the Form! This shadow is beatifl becase it is
an allsion in contrast to the inferior world that has lost its shadow!)
"ll that one cold hope for# once this sacred space was opened to the pblic# and for fear that polltion#
as in the <ascax caves# case it to deteriorate irremediably (thin& of the waves of people from the
+=+) #D, was that it be immediately closed off to circlation and covered with a definitive shrod in order
to &eep this testimony to a civili$ation that has arrived# after having passed the stage of the apogee# at
the stage of the hypogee# of the commodity# intact! There is a fresco here that traces the long rote
traversed# starting with the man of Tatavel passing throgh (arx and =instein to arrive at 6orothee -is !
! !@hy not save this fresco from decomposition8 <ater the speleologists will rediscover it# at the same
time that they discover a cltre that chose to bry itself in order to definitively escape its own shadow#
to bry its sedctions and its artifices as if it were already consecrating them to another world!
Notes
1. .arly , is a mall that was bilt in the 19E?s on the ots&irts of .aris!'T+"%S!
. The +=+ is a high'speed# ndergrond commter train!'T+"%S!