Sunday 27 March 2011

Task 6 - Theory Into Practice

For this task I will be looking at Garry Barker's post on Surveillance and Foucault. Garry's thoughts on stereotyping and social acceptance relate deeply to some of my design ideas. My main interest within graphic design is high end retail advertisement and is a place where stereotyping and influential ideas are used repeatedly targeting society's docile body. Garry argues that, 

          'communication supersedes sociological interpretations'.

This is something that I strongly agree with. The designer for a piece of work is in a very powerful position of influencing society. People will always be able to interpret ideas in their own way, however the designer has the power to control to a certain extent how his work is viewed and perceived through means such as market placement, colour, type etc.


Stereotyping was a key element in a project I have just completed for a YCN competition designing for Ted Baker. The main idea is the slogan 'Perfected' and presents the idea that perfection is achievable if you buy a watch from Ted Baker. In our fast paced, judgmental society stereotypes become part of everyday life and everyone wants to be seen as perfect. For the logos in Fig 1 I made a conscious decision to use very 'obvious' type faces to make the audience do as little as possible to work out which design was relating to them. The female logo is soft, decorative and pretty. Whereas the male logo is structured, strong and bold. This use of design influences the audience subconsciously, yet enables them to take on their relative persona. The Panopticon lies within the suggestion that the Ted Baker watches have a power to change you as a person. Placing stereotypical objects with the relative watches (Fig2, Fig 3) helps the customer to visualize and embody their own lifestyle and relate it with the idealistic one that Ted Baker has created. 

Garry goes on to look at Derrida's Of Grammatology focusing on how 'representation inhabits reality'. My response to this would be that with the ongoing use of idealistic advertising, advertising an 'obtainable' perfect lifestyle makes people very susceptible to believing that the ideas they see are true, especially if they are the only ideas they they are being shown.


Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Sunday 20 March 2011

Task 4 - Communication Theory


I will be applying 'The Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model for communication theory' in this analysis with a piece of graphic design for Marc Jacobs. 

Many factors can interrupt a 'perfect' communication, and they can happen anywhere between the information source and the destination. For this example the advertisement was featured in a popular men's magazine. This very specific channel capacity helps to rule out around fifty percent of its potential audience because mainly men will be reading the magazine lessening its chances of entropy.

For this case the information source would be the company (Marc Jacobs) and the transmitter would be the designer. Already some noise could be created from design ideas being misinterpreted. The designer may be being fed with multiple ideas for a design and he has to decide himself which is the best idea for the company. When the design layout is seen in  magazine there is potential for a lot of noise created by the receiver. With the designer unable to explain personally what he is trying to say in his design work the audience are free to have their own interpretation. This is why it is important that for any idea you have it is to be as clear as possible, ensuring it evokes the desired feeling, message and reaction from the audience.

The designer has used minimal text and enlarged the image on the page for maximum impact. The text 'bang' is also very large and evokes the sexual feeling reflected in the image. The whole advertisement is very bold and somewhat unforgiving in its sexual persuasion.

From the minimal use of text the perfume is only described visually in the image. For people wanting to know about the perfume before they buy it this makes the advertisement redundant for them because it doesn't communicate anything about the scent, it merely shows a male holding it making the advert less about the perfume and more about lifestyle.


Wednesday 16 March 2011

FINAL Essay - How Advertisement Perpetuates Materialism

How Advertisement Perpetuates Materialism 

Advertisement is all around us; it is a part of our everyday lives and effects us on both conscious and subconscious levels. This essay will look into how advertisement influences people and why we are so susceptible to being materialistic in today’s society. It will incorporate the theory’s of people such as Berger (Ways of Seeing) who helps to highlight how being rich can come at a heavy price and Bauman (Identity) looking at identity within society.
Walking down a high street you are bombarded with advertisements from companies trying to sell you their products. The imagery and persuasion that they use is of ideology, theorising of a sensory or impractical nature; an ideal world, or an ideal lifestyle. An adverts main focus isn’t necessarily on the product they are trying to sell you; they are trying to sell you a lifestyle, an all be it imaginary one, which can only exist in our minds and dreams. This makes the public want and aim for something impossible. Showing the audience images of people who are enjoying a ‘better’ life are therefore enviable. 
“Publicity proposes to each of us in a consumer society that we change ourselves or our lives by buying something more. This ‘more’ publicity persuades us will make us in some way richer, even though we will be poorer by spending our money”. (Berger, Ways of Seeing).
In this way publicity is very one sided and selfish. They want your business and are prepared to make you believe you will be richer to do this. They lead their customers to believe they are providing them with a service which will better their life, when in fact the company’s that you trust and couldn’t live without, through the powers of advertising and their distortion of reality, could potentially leave you moneyless. 
Advertisement, for some, can be a means of escapism. Advertisements promise you things, (status, sex appeal, etc.) but at the same time threaten that you are substandard as you are. To create a want for something the media can go to great lengths. Twisting reality to such an extent that its catalytic, making reality seem mundane and almost not real. Whilst they threaten you, they also provide a remedy. They invite you into their world, making you feel excluded as you are and giving you a need to be a part of something. This something which has been created by imagination and has no real substance. 

This example of deceptive advertising (Figure 1) shows an old male on his wedding day marrying a, blonde bride. The advert implies that it doesn’t matter how old you are or what you look like, if you buy this car you will marry a beautiful woman. With the slogan ‘Need We Say More?’ it gives the advertisement a very light hearted feel.  It makes a joke about stereotypes and subjectifies women as being materialistic, gold-diggers. Whilst the advert seems very light hearted it still makes you believe that what you seeing is real. The whole picture is very idealistic, yet at the same time deceptively realistic. The male looks directly at the camera with an intense gaze as if to say ‘look what I’ve got, come and join me’. The woman also looks very happy with her new husband and new life. With companies having a lot of competition, producing the best advertising campaign is vital. Exaggerating the truth, leading us, the consumer, to believe companies outrageous claims.
Needing and wanting for things can all be related back to community. If there was no community and there was no one to gaze upon you, people may not feel the need to buy the things that they do.
“The question of identity arises only with the exposure to ‘communities’”. (Bauman, 2004, p11).
With a lack of community comes a lack of role models and idols; a lack of following; a lack of structure and compliance. Communities bring in place acceptance and normality. Communities have different ideas and beliefs, but within them lays structure. With structure brings power, and with power come role models; with this comes aspiration and materialism.  
With the media putting emphasis on materialism and possessions, advertisements need to progress with society’s needs while also perpetuating the needs themselves.
“Consumable embody the ultimate non-finality and removability of choices and the ultimate disposability of the objects chosen. Even more importantly they seem to put us in control. It is we, the consumers, who draw the line between the useful and the waste”. (Bauman, 2004, p95).
We want to buy into these companies, yet we also want the freedom to change our mind freely. In today’s ‘throw away’ society this is vital. Whilst advertisements claim they only give you choices and advice, they subtly create a divide between ‘you’ and ‘them’. In situations like these materialism can present problems such as depression and insecurity. The images shown in media are soaked in materialism. Materialistic people feel that by buying products they will make them happier, however that never ending longing for something that you don’t have actually causes unhappiness. Therefore people who don’t express materialistic values can enjoy a happier life feeling content with what they have.
TV Programmes like MTV cribs help to highlight big cultural divides. Giving you a guided tour of the rich and famous’ houses; you want what you don’t have, leaving the bitter taste of envy. Showing you what you ‘could’ have, but in fact, what is actually a very unlikely, unreachable goal.

“Status is open to everyone, but enjoyed by only a few”. (Berger, Ways of Seeing).
Wanting for the near impossible lifestyles of the people you idolize, whilst only knowing the smallest facts about what their life is really like. It could be compared to taking a job that you don’t know what the job title will be. Your expectations could outweigh the reality. Aspiring to be like someone, to do the things that they do and have the things they have whilst they may feel as unfulfilled as you do. Putting reasoning to the saying,
“Money can’t buy you happiness”.
However this is not what the advertisements lead you to believe. Buying into a brand gives you a sense of belonging and a misinformed judgement that now perhaps you are like the woman in the poster and your life is perfect, helping the fuel the fire of materialism.
Branding and possession all exude money and power.

“You are what you have”. (Berger, Ways of Seeing).
To have nothing is to be nothing. The materialistic life only accepts those who comply, regardless of the consequences. Branding gives you an identity and in todays society people are often viewed on face value. Because of our throw away attitude life is fast paced and unfortunately appearance is becoming a fast track way to describe everything about you, weather how truthful or not this may be. It is easy to judge someone before you have even met them, giving way to stereotypes and in turn enhancing the materialistic qualities in society because what you wear and have is who you are viewed to be, it is your identity.
In today’s society you would be forgiven to think that individualism is rife and that you can be who you want to be, dress how you like to dress and be happy for just being you. Whilst this is true, there is an overwhelming predominance of brands representing who you are. Once you buy into a brand you are represented by their reputation and vise versa. You become the stereotype of the said brand. Wearing Adidas, for example, you are considered sporty or having a Blackberry mobile phone, you are considered a business man/lady. You have to fit in with the status quo to be considered successful.
Influencing digitally everyday online and on the TV are yet more companies trying to sell you things and shape your identity into a ‘better’ one. Before the 1950s broadcasting was more regional, influencing a relatively small amount of people. However, today advertisements can reach out globally.
“People in Europe and the USA typically spend three or four hours per day watching TV”. (Gauntlett, 2002, p2). 
It therefore seems inevitable that at least some of this information is going to influence us somehow. Even films can influence us on both a materialistic and emotional level, showing us how people interact and converse with each other. Depicting peoples lifestyles, more often than not, ideologically. The audience then envy this scripted lifestyle, therefore encouraging them to buy into commercial products that will enhance their own ‘normal’ lifestyle. 
Materialism comes at a price, a price which means we must work at our nine to five jobs in order for us to be able to purchase the next thing on our long list of necessities. But is there a point in working these long hours, when you will have no time to enjoy the rewards because you will be slaving away saving up for your next big spend?
As much as we, the consumer, buy into these products, the brands themselves are prepared to spend masses of money just to get us to notice them in the first place.
“In the year to March 2007, Vodafone spent £20 million on outdoor media”. (Burton, 2005, p207).
Putting great amounts of money into outdoor media alone, as a company, you have to be sure that it will pay off and benefit you. Extensive research is essential, companies have to know their target audience inside and out to know where and when to advertise their brand.
Advertising is part of a higher power of conforming. It is conforming to society that is the real key to the cause of both materialism and advertising. Even selfless acts such as donating to charities show people following to the crowd,
“Charity donations were higher when potential donors believed that many other people had already contributed”. (Armstrong, 2010, p68).
People are scared to try new things and therefore follow the crowd. The crowd then brings its own styles and beliefs creating stereotypes and a stronger need to conform. With people being influenced easily by others this can create false desires,
           “People often fail to act on their intentions because they lack the ability, resources, or willpower to do so”. (Fennis and Stroebe, 2010, p200).
If people in society don’t individually have the willpower to be true to themselves this leaves potential for a false community to arise with false hopes and dreams.
Figure 2 shows unrealistic claims of the strength of a mobile phone. Using computer enhanced imagery Land Rover show a multiple of trucks, cranes and diggers all piled on top of the ‘incredibly tough’ mobile phone they are advertising. Although the image is clearly not true to life, it incorporates the background scene and image of workers on the machines to subconsciously make the image appear more real. You find yourself asking irrational questions about the qualities of the products advertised, asking if the phone could actually hold such a large amount of weight. In this dilute form of propaganda, what is a seemingly normal mobile phone, transforms into a super strong, super hero, lifting up the weight of everyday life. This makes you feel that if you buy the phone the everyday stress of life and work will all be lifted so effortlessly.
Materialism isn’t just to have things. It is to do things, to live a certain lifestyle. Advertisement revolves around community, conforming and idealism. By means of advertisement companies can create perfection. A new world away from the stressful life you live; an escape to somewhere which actually can only realistically lives out in our imagination and dreams. Advertising can be both positive and negative. It brings escapism for society, claiming to show a way to better your self and your life. On the other hand what you buy into is a false advertisement of what this product will do for you. This brings false hope and in serious cases can cause depression and insecurities about ones self. It is not healthy for people, especially the younger generations, to be exposed to such an unreachable goal. With young girls wanting to be pop stars and young boys wanting to be footballers, when all they see is a one sided fantasy. It is healthy to have aspirations and goals, but surely over stimulating our goals and aspirations will lead us to an imminent eventuality of disappointment. 

Figure 1

Figure 2
Bibliography

Armstrong, J. Scott (2010), Persuasive Advertising (Evidence-based Principles), Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan.
Barthes, R. (2006), The Language of Fashion, Oxford, Berg Publishers.
Barthes, R. (1990), The Fashion System, United States of America, University of California Press Ltd.
Bauman, Z. (2004) , Identity, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Burton, G. (2005), Media and Society, Critical Perspectives, Berkshire, Open Uni Press.
Fennis, Bob M. and Stroebe, Wolfgang (2010), The Psychology of Advertising, East Sussex, Psychology Press.
Gauntlett, D. (2002), Media, Gender and Identity, Oxfordshire, Routledge.
Gauntlett, D. (2005), Media, Gender and Identity (2nd Edition), Oxon, Routledge.
Grant, J. (2003), After Image: Mind-Altering Marketing, United Kingdom, Profile Books.
Kasser, T. (2003), The High Price of Materialism, London, MIT Press.
Wilson, S. (1995), Cultural Materialism: Theory and Practice, West Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell.


Tuesday 15 February 2011

Task 2 - On Popular Music

In Adorno's (1941) article 'On Popular Music' he talks about how popular music is 'standardised' in the way the music is written around a simple structure (verse, chorus, bridge etc.) and the stereotypical subjects in which people sing about. This is a very easy method of selling records because the songs sounds so similar they are recognised by a wide audience.


Adorno's also talks about 'serious' music and how every element of this music is important for the song to work correctly. He believes these songs are more unique; unlike in popular music where 'every detail is substitutable'. The details are so over produced they could pretty much be played in any order and they would still sound right.


Radio stations help to enhance standardization in the music industry, having radio stations which will only play a certain genre of music completely controls what the audience will be exposed to. If a station plays a dance music track, for example, it is a questionable matter weather the viewer truly likes the track or likes it because it has been labelled as 'dance' music. The audience is less open to their own opinions and interpretations and becomes docile.






Below is a music video by JLS which I feel epitomises Adorno's sentiments.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te3cx9fyZ-I - 


This video appeals to a wide target audience, but mainly the teenage girl. It has a very simple and easy to follow structure to make it easy to listen to and pick up. The track is all about love and appeals to its fans by making the band members seem caring. Although this is only a song the emotion shown through the video gives the impression to the audience that they mean what they say and the song is about themselves. 


Even though the main target audience is teenage girls, the caring and emotional side the band seem to evoke appeals to most females. Showing them an idealistic portrayal of a loving man makes women aim for a possibly unachievable target. This supports Adorno's idea that society is persuaded by the mass to purchase things that may not truly reflect their own taste and is not in fact real.


It is somewhat ironic that this group featured on a talent scout programme before they became famous, Below is a link of their first audition:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUmZBzZj8Y


From this audition, to the video they released linked above, you can see they have been through a lot of change, from their identity, to the style of music they are singing. They have been sculpted on already existing artists so that they can 'fit in' to the market. This is a perfect example of how the music industry influences how people perceive bands and artists.

Sunday 13 February 2011

Essay - How Advertisement Perpetuates Materialism

How Advertisement Perpetuates Materialism 

Advertisement is all around us; it is a part of our everyday lives and effects us on both conscious and subconscious levels. This essay will look into how advertisement influences society and why we are susceptible to being materialistic in today’s society. It will incorporate the theory’s of people such as J. Berger who helps to highlight how being rich can come at a heavy price and Z. Bauman looking at identity within society.
Walking down a high street you are bombarded with advertisements from companies trying to sell you their products. The imagery and persuasion that they use is of ideology. An ideal world, or an ideal lifestyle. An adverts main focus isn’t necessarily on the product they are trying to sell you; they are trying to sell you a lifestyle, an all be it imaginary one, which can only exist in our minds and dreams. Making the public want and aim for something impossible showing us images of people who are enjoying a ‘better’ life are therefore enviable. 
“Publicity proposes to each of us in a consumer society that we change ourselves or our lives by buying something more. This ‘more’ publicity persuades us will make us in some way richer, even though we will be poorer by spending our money”. (Berger, www.youtube.com).
In this way advertisement is very one sided and devious. They want your business and are prepared to make you believe you will be richer to do this. They lead their customers to believe they are providing them with a service which will better their life, when in fact the company’s that you trust and couldn’t live without, through the powers of advertising and their distortion of reality, could potentially leave you moneyless. 
Advertisement for some can be a means of escapism. Advertisements promise you things, (status, sex appeal, etc.) but at the same time threaten that you are substandard as you are. To create a want for something the media can go to great lengths to twist reality to such an extent that its catalytic, making reality seem mundane and almost not real. Whilst they threaten you, they also provide a remedy. They invite you into their world, making you feel excluded as you are and giving you a need to be a part of something. This something which has been created by a man with a pen and paper and a big imagination seemingly.
Needing and wanting for things can all be related back to community. If there was no community and there was no one to gaze upon you, would you still feel the need to buy the things you do? 
“The question of identity arises only with the exposure to ‘communities’”. (Bauman, 2004, p11).
With a lack of community comes a lack of role models and idols; a lack of following; a lack of structure and compliance. Communities bring in place acceptance and normality. Communities have different ideas and beliefs, but within them lays structure. With structure brings power, and with power comes role models; and with this comes aspiration and materialism.  
With the media putting emphasis on materialism and possessions advertisements need to progress with society’s needs while they also perpetuate the needs themselves.
“Consumable embody the ultimate non-finality and removability of choices and the ultimate disposability of the objects chosen. Even more importantly they seem to put us in control. It is we, the consumers, who draw the line between the useful and the waste”. (Bauman, 2004, p95).
We want to buy into these companies, yet we also want the freedom to change our mind freely. In today’s ‘throw away’ society this is vital. Whilst advertisements claim they only give you choices and advice, they subtly create a divide between ‘you’ and ‘them’. In situations like these materialism presents problems such as depression and insecurity. The images shown in media are soaked in materialism. Materialistic people feel that by buying products they will make them happier, however that never ending longing for something that you don’t have causes more unhappiness. People who don’t express materialistic values can enjoy a happier life feeling content with what they have.
TV Programmes like MTV cribs show big cultural divides. Giving you a guided tour of the rich and famous’ houses; you want what you don’t have, leaving the bitter taste of envy. Showing you what you ‘could’ have, but in fact, what is actually a very unlikely, unreachable goal.
“Status is open to everyone, but enjoyed by only a few”. (Berger, www.youtube.com).
Wanting for the near impossible. Wanting the lifestyles of the people you idolize, whilst only knowing the smallest facts about what their life is really like. It could be compared to taking a job that you don’t know what the job title will be. Your expectations could outweigh the reality. Aspiring to be like someone, to do the things that they do and have the things they have. They may feel as unfulfilled as you do. Putting reasoning to the saying,
“Money can’t buy you happiness”.
However this is not what the advertisements lead you to believe. Buying into a brand gives you a sense of belonging and a misinformed judgement that now perhaps you are like the woman in the poster and your life is perfect, helping the fuel the fire of materialism.
Branding and possession all exude money and power.

“You are what you have”. (Berger, www.youtube.com).
To have nothing is to be nothing. The materialistic life only accepts those who comply, regardless of the consequences. Branding gives you an identity. In todays society people are often viewed on face value. Because of our throw away attitude life is fast paced and unfortunately appearance is becoming a fast track way to describe everything about you, weather truthful or not. It is easy to judge someone before you have even met them, giving way to stereotypes and in turn enhancing the materialistic qualities in society because what you wear and have is who you are viewed to be, it is your identity.
In today’s society you would be forgiven to think that individualism is rife and that you can be who you want to be, dress how you like to dress and be happy for just being you. Whilst this is true, there is an overwhelming predominance of brands representing who you are. Once you buy into a brand you are represented by their reputation and vise versa. You become the stereotype of the said brand. Wearing Adidas for example you are considered sporty or having a Blackberry mobile phone you are considered a business man/lady. You have to fit in with the status quo to be considered successful.
Influencing digitally everyday online and on the TV are yet more companies trying to sell you things and shape your identity into a better one. Before the 1950s it could be said that broadcasting was more regional, influencing a relatively small amount of people. However, today advertisements can reach out globally.
“People in Europe and the USA typically spend three or four hours per day watching TV”. (Gauntlett, 2002, p2). 
It therefore seems inevitable that at least some of this information is going to go into our brain and influence us somehow. Even films can influence us on both a materialistic level and emotional level. Showing us how people interact and converse with each other. Depicting peoples lifestyles, more often than not, ideologically. The audience then envy this scripted lifestyle, therefore encouraging them to buy into commercial products that will enhance their own ‘normal’ lifestyle. 
Materialism comes at a price, a price which means we must slave away at our nine to five jobs   in order for us to be able to purchase the next thing on our long list of necessities. But what is the point in working these long hours when you will have no time to enjoy the rewards because you will be slaving away saving up for your next big spend?
As much as we, the consumer, buy into these products, the brands themselves are prepared to spend masses of money just to get us to notice them in the first place.
“In the year to March 2007, Vodafone spent £20 million on outdoor media”. (Burton, 2005, p207).
Putting that much money into outdoor media alone, as a company, you have to be sure that it will pay off and benefit you. Putting extensive research into the best places and ways to advertise companies have to know their target audience inside and out. 
Here is a perfect example of deceptive advertising (Text 1). The image shows an old male on his wedding day marrying a beautiful, blonde bride. The advert implies that it doesn’t matter how old you are or what you look like, if you buy this car you will marry a beautiful woman. With the slogan ‘NEED WE SAY MORE?’ it gives the advertisement a very light hearted feel.  It makes a joke about stereotypes and subjectifies women as being materialistic, gold-diggers. Whilst the advert seems very light hearted it still makes you believe that what you seeing is real. The whole picture is very idealistic, yet at the same time deceptively realistic. The male looks directly at the camera with an intense gaze as if to say ‘look what I’ve got, come and join me’. The woman looks very happy with her new husband and new life. What more could a man want? A fast car and a beautiful wife. 


Text 1



With companies having a lot of competition, producing the best advertising campaign is vital. Exaggerating the truth, leading us, the consumer, to believe companies outrageous claims. 
Text 2 also shows unrealistic claims of the strength of a mobile phone. Using computer enhanced imagery Land Rover show a multiple of trucks, cranes and diggers all piled on top of the ‘incredibly tough’ mobile phone they are advertising. Although the image is clearly not true to life it incorporates the background scene and image of workers on the machines to subconsciously make to image appear more real. Of course it is not real, but is it? You find yourself asking irrational questions about the qualities of the products advertised. In this dilute form of propaganda, what is a seemingly normal mobile phone transforms into a super strong, super hero, lifting up the weight of everyday life. Making you feel that if you buy the phone the everyday stress of life and work will all be lifted so effortlessly.




Text 2
Materialism isn’t just to have things. It is to do things, to live a certain lifestyle. Advertisement revolves around community, conforming and idealism. By means of advertisement companies can create perfection. A new world away from the stressful life you live. An escape to somewhere which actually can only realistically for most of us live out in our imagination and dreams. Advertising can be both positive and negative. It brings escapism for society, claiming to show a way to better your self and your life. On the other hand what you buy into is a false advertisement of what this product will do for you. This brings false hope and in serious cases can cause depression and insecurities about ones self. It is not healthy for people, especially the younger generations, to be exposed to such an unreachable goal. With young girls wanting to be pop stars and young boys wanting to be footballers, when all they see is very one sided, surely over stimulates our goals and aspirations leading to an imminent eventuality of disappointment. 






Bibliography

Barthes, R. (2006), The Language of Fashion, Oxford, Berg Publishers.
Barthes, R. (1990), The Fashion System, United States of America, University of California Press Ltd.
Bauman, Z. (2004) , Identity, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Burton, G. (2005), Media and Society, Critical Perspectives, Berkshire, Open Uni Press.
Gauntlett, D. (2002), Media, Gender and Identity, Oxfordshire, Routledge.
Gauntlett, D. (2005), Media, Gender and Identity (2nd Edition), Oxon, Routledge.

Friday 11 February 2011