Week 8

Advertising, Consumers Cultures and Desire

Why we respond to advertising? Because it evokes Envy, Desire and Belonging. We, as humanity are always searching and wanting something better.

http://www.learnpipe.com/blog/2009/09/14/your_advertising_budget_better_spent_on_learnpipe.html

The language of transformation they sell the promise that their lives will change if they buy a particular product. They use figures of glamour that consumers can envy and wish to emulate.

Attachment of the value of art to a product can give it a connotation of prestige tradition or authenticity and cultural value. For example, Grey Goose Vodka advertising.

http://www.google.com.au/search?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1416&bih=648&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=grey+goose+magazine+advertising&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

Advertisements such as these construct consumers as having cultural knowledge - cultural capitol. French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu identified different forms of capital in addition to economic capital, social capital and cultural capital.

http://www.bestsearchpage.com/?q=pierre+bourdieu&aid=2161

*Social Capital - Whom you know, your social network and the opportunities they provide you.

*Symbolic Capital - Prestige celebrities.

*Cultural Capital - the forms of cultural knowledge that give you social advantages.

It can come in the form of rare taste, connoisseur and competence in deciphering cultural relation and artefacts.

"Jobs for the Boys"

Gareth and Norman, two comedic writers and performers take on the job of designing an advertisement from a clients brief. The men found it quite difficult, they realised all the hard work that goes into the research for a thirty second or so commercial. As comedians they kept wanting to make their ideas clever and funny even if the client didn't specify. They figured out that advertising was quite deep, it involved a tone of research, that would back up the product, brand and company, and that it also had to received by the consumer well. "Quite simply, it's dimply" was quite simple solution they came up with for toilet roles, personally the simple thought through idea worked well in selling the product to a broad market. The majority of the population have a family and can relate to children making anything into a toy, the clever play gains intrigue and the execution went well. I liked this extract because it gave an insight into the world of advertising the whole picture, struggles and all. 

Product Fetishism

Consumer culture - Commodity Culture

Commodity (bought and sold)

Commodities to construct personalities, that is clothing, makeup, car, etc. (Marx - social theorist)

http://cciheredia.cr/37.php?q=karl-marx-conflict-theory&page=7

Marx - social theorist, from the 19th century he was the first to write about apatalism as a social structural element. Sometimes "use value" is outweighed by "exchange value" (the more expensive the better). 

Commodities are emptied of the meaning of their production, the context in which they were produced.

This comes into relation to the article from Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire, from page 279 to 287. (Brief summary)

 It talks about a consumer culture being a commodity culture, a culture in which commodities are central to cultural meaning, in our societies today it is how we construct our identities our "commodity self". That is, clothing, music, cosmetic products, and cars, among other things. Advertising is forever convincing the public that commodities are the source in conveying their personalities, whatever consumer products that inhabit their lives reveals their story. 

Marxist theory is limited, which is a general analysis of the role of economics in human history and an analysis of the ways that capitalism functions, in how it can help understanding contemporary consumerism because the complexity of the relationship between culture and consumerism is something Marx never could have imagined in the nineteenth century. So many theorists today are trying to understand the growing epidemic of the commodity culture and fetishism. 

"Use value" versus "Exchange value", for some reason we will base our opinions on a product on how much it is worth, a singlet from a no name brand at $5 is considered less valuable then the same singlet but with a surf brand logo on it at $40, we seem to forget the use value and just consider the exchange value. It is almost as if we are being conditioned by the media and advertising because we will buy a ticket for a concert, and yet we value the price of the ticket over the experience. Strange but true. 

http://www.expeditionhighway.webs.com/

http://www.neonataltherapists.com/registration/

Page 280, "One of the most useful concepts in understanding how consumerism creates an abstract world of signs and symbols separate from the economic context of commerce and production is the idea of commodity fetishism. This refers to the process by which mass-produced goods are emptied of the meaning of their production (the context of production and labor the created them) and then filled with new meaning in ways that both mystify the product and turn it into a fetish object."

There is a cartoon on the following page that shows mind map, where it will have steps we al fall into when getting dressed. We will either just put the shirt on; examine the label and see where it was made, feel a little concern for the labouring that occurred in the process of the shirts production and continue to put the shirt on and forget about it. The reality of our consumerist values are in fact harming others, our awareness of hard work and our concern for others is being desensitised because we are growing up not knowing the real value of a dollar.

The chapter goes on to talk about commodity fetishism being an inevitable outcome of mass-production, the practises of advertising and marketing, and the distribution of goods to many different countries.