Jan van Toorn has many valid points about how a designer should thoughtfully portray society and reality in their work, especially when trying to communicate a particular political or cultural message. As far as what he refers to as "symbolic productions", these are what we see most in our daily lives. Advertisements for a wide range of things, aren't always going to have a deeper meaning and are not meant to be any more than what they are on the surface. A designer/illustrator that came to mind while I was reading this, is Shepard Fairey. Much like Jan van Toorn, Shepard works political and cultural messages into his work, and typically leaves the viewer with few words to use during interpretation of the design. Although their styles are very different, I think they both have the same goal -- to reveal true reality. Here are a few examples of Fairey's work:
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