‘Advertising
doesn’t sell things: all advertising does is change the way people think or
feel’ (Jeremy Bullmore) Evaluate this statement with reference to selected
critical theories.
In today’s society advertisement is unavoidable, it can be found everywhere
from television and radio, websites, billboards, public transport to our phone
apps. It is said we are exposed to over two thousand adverts per day.
Advertising is a well over hundred billion dollar a year industry and affects
us throughout our lives. The average American will spend one and a half years
of his or hers life watching television commercials. We live in a world
consumed by advertising, with constant exposure to products and goods.
The term ‘advertising’ and ‘advertisement’ have at their root come from
the Latin word ‘advertere’ that means to turn towards.
Jeremy Bullmore states, ‘Advertising doesn’t sell things; all advertising
does is change the way people think or feel’ to an extent I agree with the
statement we buy into an image. Women portrayed as sex objects and the perfect
beautiful women changes the way women view themselves and how men view women. In
particular I find adolescents are most vulnerable to the power of
advertisement, as they are most sensitive to peer pressure.
This essay will discuss the idea of how women are portrayed in today’s
society (in perfume adverts etc.) looking at the beautiful models. As well as
this, I will also look into the deeper meanings of adverts and how they try and
persuade us to buy products that are not a necessity. Some adverts use powerful
persuasions, with hidden symbols and signifiers reinforced by the mass media.
We all have a commodity self in which advertisers aim to tap into, its
what we desire to be perceived as by others. It implies an awareness that we
are the sum of the products we buy, ‘the most advertised commodity is not
always the best, but is sometimes merely the product of a company, with plenty
of money to spend on advertising.’ (Emily Post) Products are no longer sold on
their own merit, not solely based on the quality of the item we need
advertising. The advertisements instruct us how to dress, look, feel, dress and
even smell. Do we embrace this?
In comparison to John Berger’s statement and outlook Stephen Garey states,
‘most people don’t believe, don’t remember, don’t even notice most advertising.
This has always been so and always be so’ (Garey, S. How advertising works).
Adverts are purely there to just serve the purpose of selling, not tapping into
our conscious and change the way we think or feel, to convince us to buy a
product. However, it can be argued that to change the way we think and feel
could just purely depend on personal characteristics and what appeals to us an
individual. Perhaps a successful advert would have a deep underlying message
that everybody can relate to.
Advertisers John Berger, Ways of seeing (ways of seeing-Advertising 1/4
www.youtube.com) to me never more relevant than me, the series and book
criticize traditional western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about
hidden ideologies in visual images. John Berger’s, ways of seeing, may be
highly opinionated (in some places-perhaps biased) John Berger states:
‘Publicity proposes to us in a consumer society that we change ourselves by buying
something more. 1. This “more”, publicity persuades us, will make us in some
way richer, even though we will be poorer by having spent our money. And
publicity persuades us of this transformation by showing us people who have
been apparently transformed and are, as a result, enviable. This state of being
envied is what constitutes, glamour and publicity is the process of
manufacturing glamour.’ and “Glamour is for everybody who believes they can be glamorous,
or, perhaps, more accurately, everybody who finds they cannot afford not to be glamorous.”
and “without social envy, glamour cannot exist”. Of course, this is true-
Glamour persuades the viewer that their lives will be transformed by buying the
product. A good example of this are perfume advertisements, we don’t just pay
for the scent we buy into the idea of a glamorous lifestyle and fantasy.
Perfume adverts are unable to sell their product through
merit alone; selling an odour would be impossible without the audience/customer
being able to experience the odour for his self or herself. This means that
they often have to depict a sense of glamour and fortune within their adverts. One of the best examples of this is are the perfume adverts
for Chanel No. 5 which depict glamour and beauty. One of the most famous fragrance adverts of recent years- as well as one
of the most expensive adverts ever made, in which actress Nicole Kidman played
the leading role, earning $12 million for the three-minute commercial. The
director chosen to create the advert was distinguished filmmaker, Baz Luhrmann.
He channelled the style of his 2001 film, ‘Moulin Rouge!’, in which Nicole
Kidman played the leading lady. The advert seems like more of a film trailer
than a perfume commercial. Chanel no.5 also means luxury, beauty, perfection,
romance, fantasy, fame and fortune. With the famous tagline,
“Her kiss...her
smile...her perfume...”
It is perhaps the most
underlying subliminal adverts, with the Chanel logo repeatedly showing over the
three-minute commercial. The target audience for the advert is a young 16-30
year old, aspiring to find love by engaging with emotions. In ‘Persuasion in
advertising’ (John and Nicolas O’Shaughnessy,2004, pg.27) Emotions is a major
factor in advertising, they arouse a
response with the audience.
‘Emotion is a major factor
in persuasive advertising that aims to change viewpoints and not simply to
demonstrate the logical implications of data. In the grip of an emotion, a
person not only feels differently, but tends to think differently.’
By adding this emotional
factor it immediately connects to its target
audience of this fantasy romance whilst using an attractive well-known
celebrity such as Nicole Kidman, which uses the product and immediately falls
in love with a man and every one else.
‘emotions
engage us with their products in such a way as to make them lose their
neutrality: they become marked by being loveable, disgusting exciting, fearful
and so on.’ (J O’Shaughnessy, N O’Shaughnessy, 2004. Pg 27)
The
underlying message of this advert is that if you use the perfume it will make
men be attracted to you. It perpetuates false needs. The advert must
have been successful, as statistics have shown that
there is a bottle of Chanel No. 5 sold every 30 seconds. The advert also connotes
that it does more than just products.
‘The ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell
values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality,
popularity and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be.’
(Kilbourne, J. 2013)
Chanel has continued this ideal with there more recent Chanel
No.5 advert (Chanel No.5 advert with Audrey Tautou, Jean Pierre Jeunet,
www.youtube.com) starring French actress Audrey Tautou which hints romance and
allure. Her beauty is branded alongside the French city of Paris, also
know as ‘the city of love’ but also complimented by the sweet song 'I’m a fool
to want you' by Billie Holiday, selling the magic and romance of the night
train ever more as the story revolves around the mesmerising effect of the
scent in the woman's wake on a man who could only be described as typically and
attractive. Bullmore states, ‘Advertising’s most common function is to bring
out the best in things, to make its subjects as attractive as possible’
(Bullmore, J. page 54) Which is true and Chanel channels this beauty and
elegance in all their advertisements. All this is instigating and building
towards the inevitable manipulation of the audience’s emotions in the direction
of the desired life and the product that gets them there.
Looking at Gucci fragrance adverts, one pour home, and one
pour femme. Both adverts have used the same techniques to appeal to their
audience. In pour home the male gazes straight into the camera, and the female
in pour femme looks into the camera. They both have a voice, there is a sexual
relationship which arouses an emotional response from the audience, the viewer
buys into the commodity that ‘their lives will be transformed’ and will become
beautiful and have the opposite sex to adore and desire them if they use Gucci
fragrance, and share in the fantasy. Sexual positioning has been used. It confirms Berger’s previous quote that advertisements
propose us that these commodities make our lives richer and exciting through
making ourselves financially poorer.
Solely looking at men fragrance adverts, here looking at Tom Ford’s
first fragrance for men cologne advertisement. The cologne advert might be
considered a little crude and racy. However, it is proving effective. The
advert is gaining a lot of attention for the provocative image of a lubed up
women with red lips and nails grabbing her full breasts with manicured hands. The fragrance bottle is strategically
placed on the most sensitive, sexual parts of the woman’s body – between her
breasts, legs, basically body parts that would most probably be aimed during a
sexual interaction. Clearly Tom Ford
is a very edgy and sexual advertiser, reinforcing the idea of ‘sex sells’.
Robert
Green, vice president of advertising for Calvin Klein stated, "A fragrance
doesn't do anything. It doesn't stop wetness. It doesn't unclog your drain. To
create a fantasy for the consumer is what fragrance is all about. And sex and
romance are a big part of where people's fantasies tend to run," (Green,
R)
His fragrance adverts are defiantly targeted to a male audience
demographic. We live in an increasingly sexual culture where images such as
this are becoming less and less of a taboo. Advertising is often accused to
explore sexism-treating people as cultural stereotypes. However, it drives
global economies, it drives creativity, it can enlighten and inspire, it
questions social norms and attitudes.
Products
are often given human associations. An example of this: Stiletto heels are sold
as ‘sexy’ when in fact it’s really the person who wears these commodities who
is ‘sexy’. As a response to this, people are often now treated as such things,
through labelling, generalisation, and objectifying women. Berger states: ‘The
publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her
for the price of the product’. (Berger, J. 1972:134)
In April 2013, an advert featuring Robin
Thicke hit single, ‘Blurred Lines’. The Beats Pill speaker commercial cannot be
aired before 19.30, as it is too sexual the ASA has ruled (Advertising
Standards Authority) after receiving ninety-seven complaints about the advert,
which is based on the already controversial ‘Blurred Lines’ music video, with
majority calling it sexist and degrading towards women and too sexual for
daytime television. The advert features scantily clad women cavorting around
fully dressed men and being used as furniture. Plus the product, Beats Pill
Speakers, phallic shaped products displayed at their most phallic. It changes
the way in which men view women as mere sex objects. This is explained by Berger,
‘The publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back
to her for the price of the product’. (Berger, J. 1972:134) Our society is unequal and full of misogyny;
men are already treated better than women.
Leading on from this, I watched Dreamworlds three (https://archive.org/details/Dreamworlds3) a
documentary on desire, sex and power in music videos and adverts. Dreamworlds
three offers a unique and powerful tool for understanding the influences of
music videos and how men and women through a narrow set of myths about
sexuality and gender roles/stereotypes. In doing so, it changes the way the viewer
thinks and feels and reflects in real life behaviours. Adverts rely heavily on
female sexuality to fulfil their function of selling CD’s and albums etc.
Women’s bodies are repeatedly used again and again through the decades as they
draw the attention of viewers in a crowded and noisy environment. Pop culture
explores female sexuality heavily. However, masculinity is tied to power,
intimidation and force. These ideas of male entitlement and power become
glamorised and normalised they begin to reflect in real life behaviours. Shown
in the documentary is Central Park, New York City on June,11, 2000. The public
space of central park was turned into a literal war zone of scores of women who
were sexual insulted and stripped by groups of men who felt they had an
entitlement to inept their desires on any female body. What was shocking about
the images of Central Park is that they reflected the adverts and music videos,
of women being stripped and being soaked in water. So going back to Jeremy
Bullmore statement, I believe advertising does change the way people think and
feel.
Similarly to Dreamworlds and relevant to
today’s society, I began looking at GQ magazine covers, in particular the cover
of Rihanna depicted as Medusa.
GQ is an American monthly magazine focusing
on fashion, music, sex, culture and men. I began looking into the semiotics of
this cover, looking into the depths and ideologies of advertising. The cultural
code for this image is to do with the pop culture as well as society and
advertising. Rihanna here is depicted like Medusa, a famous Greek myth who
could turn men to stone by looking at her. A lot of people might agree that
Rihanna may have the same kind of power, by selling her music every sin money
maker, she sells out venues all across the world, so although people want to
see her rather than not look at her, she still has a lot of power. Her image of
bad girl is helped along with the lack of clothes she is seen in, many images
of her are semi-naked or very small outfits. The audience is obviously men, men
will stare at this front page.
‘Overwhelmingly, when a
sexy, semi-naked woman appears on the cover, it out performs an image of a male
star, even if that star is someone men want to read about. When ads are more
sexually provocative, men in particular are irresistibly drawn to them. It's
simple genetics. Men respond to sexual images. And if your ad creates a sexual
situation, it will get the desired response.’ (Sugget, P)
In the text of this image is that sex sells,
pop-star legend, Rihanna, doesn’t need clothes to create a style. Although,
this image is very eye catching and powerful because of the styling and the position
of her hands, purposely covering her breasts but always brings attention to her
eyes which is where, if it was Medusa, you aren't meant to look. Which is falling
into the trap of danger, intrigue and allure. Her facial expression is quite
haunting as well, as if she has found someone to gaze upon and turn to stone.
In this case it would the audience or buyer, which is GQ's intention.
Everything in this image is done on purpose to create a good-selling look and point.
This is a highly provocative and iconic image; Rihanna is styled to look like
Medusa. She could also perhaps be representing a powerful and strong woman,
because of the power Medusa had towards men.
In conclusion, to the statement ‘Advertising doesn’t sell things; all
advertising does is change the way people think or feel’ (Jeremy Bullmore). I
am not totally inclined to agree- I think adverts attack our innermost desires,
as John Berger states (ways of seeing) ‘it proposes to each of us that we
transform ourselves, our lives by buying something more. This more, it
proposes, will make us in some way richer-even though we will be poorer by
having spent our money’, but I think majority of advertising attempts to do change
our perceptions and alter our thought processes, I think it’s a personal
choice.
Admittedly, looking into advertisements has fascinated me. The way we
are constantly bombarded with subliminal messages, into spending our money. All
together, Advertising is
unquestionably powerful and persuasive- encouraging and demonstrating the
ideals of glamour, sophistication and quality. Overall, Advertising
enlightens and inspires, reflects values, hopes and dreams whilst questioning
social norms and attitudes. Marshall McLuhan states, ‘Advertising is the
greatest art form of the twentieth century’ (Advertising Age) and I could not
agree more.
Simply put, an advert will
change the way you think or feel if you let it.
Bibliography
Berger, J (1972). Ways
Of Seeing . Harmondsworth, Penguin
Jeremy Bullmore
(1991). More Bull More: Behind the Scenes in Advertising (Mark lll).
Oxfordshire: World Advertising Research Center. p54.
O' Shaughnessy,
John & Nicolas (2004). Persuasion in Advertising. London,
Routledge. p27.
Online resources
Dreamworlds 3. (2007)
Available: https://archive.org/details/Dreamworlds3. Last accessed 13th
Dec 2013.
Post, E. (2013) Meetville (online) Available
at: http://meetville.com/quotes/quote/emily-post/171556 (Accessed 21 Dec 2013)
Reichert, T.
(2003). The Erotic History of Advertising . Available:
http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/book_excerpts/data/2476. Last accessed
6th Jan 2014.
Paul Sugget.
(2008). Sex in Advertising. Available:
http://advertising.about.com/od/advertisingprojects/a/Sex-In-Advertising.htm.
Last accessed 8th Jan 2014.
John Bergers Ways of seeing 1972 BBC series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0JvXiZw7o&feature=related
