I’m not big on Christmas music, but that John Lennon song is one I can stomach. That’s because it doesn’t implore you to deck the halls with tacky lights or credit card bills, it asks you where you are, existentially speaking, right here and right now.

Advertising people, collectively, are a very self-examining and self-critical bunch. So while you’re polishing off the holiday leftovers, here are some things to ponder as you begin 2008:

Is what you’re doing really worth anything? How do you contribute to the world? Is our industry making the world a better place to live?

It’s not an easy thing to contemplate. We all make our little Faustian bargains to pay the bills. Advertising isn’t brain surgery, but it isn’t larceny, either.

Every year, someone does a survey of the most trusted professions. And ever year, “advertising practitioners” rank down at the bottom near “car salesmen.” Believe me, we’re not about to shoot up the respectability rankings when they repeat the survey this year.

Frankly though, I can’t think of a profession in the industrial world that’s a purely altruistic endeavor. With a simple educational detour, I could easily have been someone in a more respected field but with questionable motives. Like a doctor who crawls into bed with pharmaceutical companies and insurers. A duplicitous lawyer. Or a professor more concerned with my tenure track than with teaching.

Still, it’s hard to feel that advertising really benefits the world. Clients don’t really appreciate it, consumers try to avoid it, and on the totem pole of commercial art, we’re pretty low. Yet, we’re part of the free market machinery, part of the cycle that keeps goods and services in demand, creating jobs and wealth for some portion

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The second big influence was the arrival of the Beatles in America, and the British Invasion.When the Beatles first appeared, everyone copied their hair styles, clothing (down to their boots), and—naturally—musical instruments. The Rickenbacker guitar, favored by John Lennon, and the Hofner bass, played by Paul McCartney, were soon the most in-demand instruments in music stores across America. Instrument makers rushed to give the Beatles free instruments so that they could benefit from the publicity.

The British Invasion also spawned guitar gods like Eric Clapton,influenced by American blues players. A veritable war broke out among partisans of the Fender Stratocaster versus the equally popular Gibson Les Paul—some defended one as the “holy grail” of guitar sound, while others went for the other. Added “effects” from wah-wah to fuzztone ere an additional arsenal in the guitar’s acoustic army. One of the first guitarists to use these effects in a truly musical way was Jimi Hendrix,whose flamboyant stage presence only added to his popularity.

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