Brancusi is Ours or Mine? Publicity and Manipulation in Contemporary Public Space

The paper provides a number of issues concerning one of the most creative communication tools - publicity. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how, by appealing to sensitiveness, publicity directs our perception and reporting to immediate reality, which directs and invests with several meanings. The practical part of the paper refers to the publicity campaign conducted to sensitize Romanian citizens to participate in the acquisition of Romanian sculpture "Cuminţenia Pământului" ["Wisdom of the Earth"], one of the most important works of art of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. The context is one in which the Romanian government announced publicly its intention to acquire the sculpture through a joint effort of the state and its citizens, launching official with the Ministry of Culture, a sustained campaign of national subscription for acquisition this works of art, campaign that was held from May to September 2016. The campaign aimed to attract contributions of Romanians interested in the recovery of national treasures. The analysis conducted in this respect concerns the two publicity spots made during the campaign: the spot conducted by GMP Group, selected by the Ministry of Culture in April 2016 to coordinate the national campaign to purchase the works of Constantin Brancusi and the spot conducted by Papaya Advertising Agency, in August 2016 in a campaign independently of the official with the stated aim of helping the government approach. The paper analyses the discursive and iconic strategies that the two publicity spots have used in order to determine the impact that they had on the Romanian citizen.