The mass media plays an incredibly important in our lives as consumers today. So much of what we think is formed around what the media has to say, it is only natural that what we buy would be affected as well. Advertising can affect us anywhere now, on tv, computers, magazines even on the road. I for one couldnt imagine a world without advertisements, things would certainly be very different without them. It's not just someone telling you to buy something either anymore. Now people are hard at work trying to figure out what type of advertisements will really connect with us. These days so much more is put into advertisement than the object itself.
This type of marketing really began at the turn of the century with the World's fair."The exposition of 1900 provides a scale model of the consumer revolution." With all new technologies and products being showcased came a new merchandising ploy. Salespitches weren't so straightforward. They appealed to people's dreams and imaginations through different representations of the product, ones they may not present the product in a way one may think. Technologies like radio and cinematography helped aid this new way of mrketing. They helped advertisements at the World's fair become spectacles that would force people to want to look at them. At this point it became less about the product and more about the mystique of the product. What would make one look at it or wonder about it.
This kind of advertising is very apparent in a magazine ad i chose to look at. The ad depicts Paris Hilton holding her dressed up dog sitting in a chair putting something that looks like a pencil into her mouth. First off, the ad is for the clothing line Guess, yet you can only see her clothing from the shoulders up, you can see more of the dogs clothing than hers. Secondly, she appears to be putting something in her mouth. This is obviously meant to have some sort of sexual connotation.
This ad can be analyzed through Barthe's approach. To begin, the signifier would probably be nothing more than the word girl. Next, the signified portion would probably be illustrated by a couple words like girl, celebrity, party and finally, the only word on the ad, Guess. When these two are tied together the sign is the conclusion. It would seem that this girl, when she wears guess, can have fun, be sexy and be like a celebrity. It is interesting that it can communicate that message about the product without really even showing the product. Images obviously don't have to connect with the products, as long as they make one think and remember then, the particulars are saved for later when one may actually buy the product.
Lears, Jackson. "Advertising and the Idea of Mass Society." 2003.
Communication in History. Ed. David Crowley and Jackson Lears. 5th ed.
Boston: Pearson Education, 2007. 197-202.
Williams, Rosalynd. "Dream Worlds of Consumption." 2003. Communication in
History. Ed. David Crowley and Paul Heyer. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson
Education, 2007. 169-175
2 comments:
Amanda-
I think you did a good job explaining how your Guess advertisement is all about the "image." You made it clear that it does not even matter if Paris Hilton is even wearing Guess clothing. The only important aspect of the ad is that Paris, a celebrity and a popular culture icon, is seductively posing for the brand Guess. The viewer can conclude, like you said, that Guess clothing = popularity, fun, and sex.
I also think that you incorporated the World's fair appropriately in your essay. It is true that the 1900 exhibition introduced the "consumer revolution" and advertisement.
To improve your essay you could have also elaborated on how language in advertisement can influence the audience and the consumer just as powerfully as the image.
You did an awesome job at explaining how in our times, it's HOW a product is advertised, rather than the product itself. The Guess ad was perfect for it!
I think it would have helped your essay to write some general tendencies of the advertising industry, like what general ideas do they usually go for when they put out on advertisement. You mentioned the sexual connotation; you could mention that the media/advertising industry uses sexual images a LOT to grab the attention of the consumers.
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