In Sun Tzu's book The Art of War, he detailed Thirty-Six Strategies for winning battles.
The Strategy of Art as I like to call it, is not one of his original strategies. It is an observation I have looking through the lens of some of his principles. The Strategy of Art is about the constant battle that is waging for your attention and loyalty. Businesses rightly emphasize a great deal on the subject of art and how it can differentiate a brand and can be used to increase customer engagement and loyalty.
I have always been a fan of Strategic Thinking, even before I realized what that was. As a result of that, I have an appreciation for the principles covered in "The Art of War". I am not under the illusion that Sun Tzu's famous book somehow contains all or any of the answers for life that are applicable to all situations, but the principles are interesting to me.
Apparently many people follow Sun Tzu's advice and his 14th Strategy of using a forgotten strategy to surprise originally, or as he said "Borrowing a Corpse for the Soul's Return". I don't know about you, but I think his original verbiage is pretty gross! If you Google Art of *, you will find some interesting examples of people re-using, or resurrecting Sun Tzu's ideas to convey their point, so there is no shortage of people using his strategies to seem original.
As Ecclesiastes 1:9 says. "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."
So here I am "borrowing a corpse" to communicate my point(s) to you.
Companies go through great lengths to attract you to their product through art. Here is one example that I literally picked at random.
This webpage was created by McDonalds to show you that they use high quality beef in their burgers, using The Strategy of Art.
McDonalds Website talking about their high quality beef
Here is a YouTube video from the same site above from 2012 showing farmers herding cattle in open fields, talking about quality, etc. This is The Strategy of Art.
Black and Gold Ranch, McDonalds Commercial. Artistic Portrayal
Please take the time to view the site and video while McDonalds still has it up.
On the flip side, here is a link from the same ranch showing how the cattle really eat and live.
Black and Gold Ranch Feedlot, Non-Artistic Portrayal
So in one strategic, artistic portrayal, you have expansive fields, good looking, healthy cows on an open range and all kinds of subjective messages that convey what McDonalds wants you to see. It is their "Billboard". There is a Strategy of Art at play to win the battlefield of your mind and help you feel better about what you're eating, or to influence you to believe that you are getting high quality beef from humanely treated cows and attract you to eat their food.
In the other, you see a portrayal devoid of artistic quality, that shows many cows crowded into pens, eating feed off of a road!
It's the same ranch, same cows, same beef, yet two very different presentations. Which one do you think sells the product better? This is The Strategy of Art.
I want to be clear that I don't necessarily see a problem with the Strategy of Art, it can equally be used to communicate concepts and truths in ways that really helps people.
Here is a video on the power of words. It shows how the portrayal of something in a different way can be very helpful and makes a difference for the positive.
Words Matter Video
Art is a beautiful and powerful thing that can be used for good, or not so good.
Art is often used to present a message to persuade you. It is always a good idea to be aware of this strategy and in turn make decisions that are in your best interest, opposed to being too distracted by the delivery and The Strategy of Art that is used.