When you see this photo what do you think it represents? The 2015 Calvin Klein Jeans advertisement, featuring Justin Bieber, sends out many messages to viewers. The ad for jeans shows Bieber straddling a topless model, both wearing Calvin Klein jeans. This ad connects jeans, a typical clothing item, to sexuality and looks. People who see this ad may begin to believe wearing these jeans gives people a sense of superiority and sensuality. This ad is not the only one publicized that sends these messages. In fact, a majority of products on the market are heavily marketed through advertisements including food, cars, cosmetics, and household products.
In Chapter 26, Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture, Jut Shally gives an indepth explanation of advertisements and their affect on pop culture today. He starts by giving a brief history of ads being used in the early 1900's where ads starting incorporating visual images. The evolution since then due to technological advances and marketing innovations has been tremendous. Ads are encountered countless times in our everyday life, surfing the internet, driving to work, reading magazines, watching TV and many other day to day activities. Shally explains that advertisements create life styles that people yearn for. For example, a basic cereal ad typically includes a "perfect" family sitting at a table eating breakfast together. These social factors affect the audience leading them to believe that purchasing these products are necessary to give them this happiness. He also mentions that commentators have associated advertising with a religious system where people form their identity in materialistic means.
Articles like this one are effective in promoting awareness of the image based, materialistic culture that ads have created.We are constantly being led to believe that we can recreate the lifestyles in ads with the products they promote. From feeling sexy in high end jeans to feeling superior in a particular car, how can we prevent the ads from affecting our minds? I believe the best way to approach these ads is with a sense of skepticism. Reading articles like the one in this chapter helps us become aware of these subtle messages.
No comments:
Post a Comment