Essay Plan

I think I've been finding it hard to get started with this essay as I had to come up with the question and I was looking at so much stuff it was becoming hard to know where to start or what to think about, after reading a lot of 'Buy this Book' and noting down anything that was relating to the ideas I was having I think I have finally come up with a question that is going to relate to my research and hopefully be good to investigate and answer.


Question:
Are products today branded and advertised in such a way in which to sell us a social identity?


Essay Rough Plan for structure


-Intro: what I'm going to look at 
-History: Reference from the books I have looked at
   -Publicity/ primary & secondary circulation - Benetton
-Modern: recent research 
   -Kate Moss for Louis Vuitton - non smoking day 
   -Choice of celebrities for endorsement, popularity, what message are they giving across
-Conclusion: changes over time / similarities
-Influence


-Bibliography / Reference   

Notes

Buy this book

Studies in Advertising and Consumption

Edited by Mica Nava, Andrew Blake, Iain MacRury and Barry Richards 1997

London: Routledge

Chapter 1

Paths to Mass Consumption

Britain and the USA since 1945

Frank Mort

Economic and cultural change in Western Europe and North America, From early 1959’s

“Shifts in productive organisation and output which underpinned the upsurge of consumer demand. The accelerated take-up of the technologies of mass production by consumer industries”

-Frank Mort page 15

‘Commodity specific chain’ – Ben Fine [Fine 1993: 600 & Fine and Leopold 1993, Mort 1996]

References:                                    

Fine, B and Leopold, E. (1993) The world of consumption, London: Routledge.

Mort, F. (1996) Cultures of consumption: Masculinities and social space in Late Twentieth-Century Britain: London: Routledge.

“Distinguish between different moments in the consumer cycle – commodity manufacture and design, advertising, marketing, packaging, shopping and so on”

-Frank Mort page 17 line 10

                     

Burton 1950 & 1960’s – Menswear Clothing

“From the 1930’s through to the mid 1950’s selling techniques relied on one clearly identifiable symbol of masculinity. This was the image of the gentlemen. The emblem not only dominated the advertising of the clothing multiplies, it also shaped the approach to customers at the level of the shop floor”

-Frank Mort page 20 para 4 line 3

Ideas portrayed through clothing

“Clothes were a public sign of social esteem.” -22  line 5

“clothes as an expression of status, manners as visible markers of distinction”  -Class relations

-Frank Mort page 22 line 7

“Consumers were usually equipped with very imperfect knowledge of the marketplace and were easily influenced and persuaded”

-Frank Mort page 27 line 1

People on a low wage only spend a portion of it on necessities such as food, clothing and shelter

“with the rest consumers, sought to buy ‘psychological satisfaction’ and to express their individual personalities”  [Laver 1947: 14-15]

- page 22 line 5

“The critical element here was what he termed the ‘atmosphere’ of the message. Atmosphere essentially involved subjective indicators, in particular the mood of consumers and their emotional response to products” –[Hobson 1961: 12]

Page 22 para 2 line 14 Hobson’s and crawford’s 1950’s??

Business examples, slogans.

London Press Exchange, earliest British attempts to sell via triple utopias of modernity, sex and status. “Their 1963 account, Getaway people, for National Benzole, carried the message ‘petrol for the with-it people’, the ‘people who did good things’ [Pearson and Turner 1965: 42]

“Ford Anglia car, produced in the same year, was anchored by the caption ‘Beauty with Long Legs’, accompanied by an image of a veiled [DEFINITION] and aloof [DEFINITION] woman with bare midriff.” [DEFINITION]

“Double Diamond –The Beer the Men Drink’, pictured men in a world of ‘affluent and jet-age leisure’: surfing, parachuting, water-skiing and mountaineering” [Pearson and Turner 1965: 149]

-Page 28 Para 2 line 6

“Atmospheric advertisements of this type reflected the soundings taken by market researchers on the social transformations which they believed has been set in train by the shift in consumption patterns”

-Page 28 Para 3

Chapter 2

Framing Advertising

Cultural analysis and the incrimination of visual texts

Mica Nava

“It seemed that everyday culture and social identity could now be manufactured at the whim of big business and the state apparatus... that social consciousness itself could be produced almost as effortlessly as the assembly lines were producing automobiles or bars of soap.” [Lee 1993: 98]

-Page 36

Reference:                                      

Lee, Martyn (1993) Consumer Culture Reborn, London: Routledge

“Consumers are persuaded to buy goods against their real class interests because they are unable to escape the false meanings invoked by advertising” [Williamson 1978: 13]

-Page 36

Reference:                                      

Williamson, Judith (1978) Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, London: Sage.

“(In France redheads are for some reason presumed to smell more, so advertisers are warned against using them for fragrance ads, campaign 13 May 1994)”

-Page 45

“It is not just how people interpret what ads are trying to say that is significant. It is also whether they are ‘hailed’ by them, whether they see themselves in the ad, whether the ad makes an impact.”

-Page 46 Line 1

People were becoming bored of advertising after being bombarded with signs

“In fact the battle of the advertisers to overcome this boredom is what has led to the creation of so many witty, sophisticated, intertextually referenced and visually appealing ads.”

-Page 46 Line 6

Chapter 4

The Benetton-Toscani Effect

Testing the limits of conventional advertising

Pasi Falk

A brief history of modern advertising

“The simplest way to define modern advertising – the beginnings of which took place in the second half of the nineteenth century – is to say that it is an active strategy of selling and marketing. This allows us to draw a line between the pre- and early modern announcements informing potential clients and customers of the existence and availability of a certain product. The active character of the strategy implies an intentionality which is about more than selling goods: The idea is first and foremost to stimulate demand and thereby to sell as much as possible.”

-Page 65

Mass Production

“Mass production expanded markets beyond local boundaries into national and international sphere, and as a consequence replaces the identity of products as the personal extensions of small-scale producers and local shopkeepers with anonymous mass-produced goods”

“Naming is the first step in the construction of an identity which, on the one hand, distinguishes a product from other more or less identical competing products and, on the other, enables the commodity to introduce itself in the imaginary face-to-face encounter with the consumer.”

“Messages are received by individual consumers who make choices (to buy or not to buy, to buy this or that)”

-Page 65

“However, an advert still has to sell the product. It has to produce the positive end effect of transforming the potential consumer into an actual consumer of the promoted item and has to ensure that the whole cycle, from representation to purchase and actual use, is repeated. In order to achieve this, conventional advertising still primarily uses the positive register of representation”  

-Page 69 Para 3

The Benetton Affair

“mystery of the representational strategies in the catastrophe adverts. It is true that the campaign has made the name Benetton very famous, but to interpret this as proof of a deliberate marketing strategy is not particularly convincing.”  “They operate primarily through non-sublimated shock effects” – Page 70

“The catastrophe ads series introduced in the early 1990’s takes the Benetton strategy one step further, and its effect is amplified by the secondary circulation. This is illustrated by the full-page (secondary) advert, promoting the annual conference of Finnish marketing professionals published in the leading Finnish newspaper (Helsingin Sanomat). The text translates: ‘The Trial of the Century: Benetton versus Mickwitz’. This refers to the banning of the Benetton ads by the state office of consumer affairs (represented by Mickwitz). So, the Benetton ads reach their audience even when banned.”

“This kind of secondary circulation has such a central role in Benetton’s promotional strategy that it would perhaps be more accurate to call it primary.”

-Page 76 Para 2 & 3

-Cover issues in their advertising such as AID’s, Race relations

Benetton “aim of showing people ‘the real thing’, and waking them up with shocking pictures of today’s reality, the circulation and reception of these representations is still based on the media spectacle/audience split which is characteristic of the consumption of media imagery and cultural good in general.” –Page 78

“The recent Diesel campaign promoting casual wear to young people is an example of advertising which transgresses conventional codes in this way: the ads draw on counter-cultural images of drugs and violence etc. And present carnivalised scenes of middle-class adult life”

-Page 80

Kadu Clothing

“published in Times magazine in July 1994, on its secondary circulation, as the Cannes prizewinning advertisement of the year. The elements of the representation are very much in line with the Benetton catastrophe ads: a real shark is cut open, there is real blood and a real (looking) human skeleton is emerging from the stomach – dressed, of course, in real brand-new looking Kadu clothes. Even though we may suspect that the scene has been set up and that it actually contains only one real death, that of the shark, the ‘reality’ effect is nevertheless there.”

 “But it is not subsumed into the conventional advert message: Our products are good quality, they don’t lose their colour, even in the gastric acids of a shark, and their double seams can endure its sharp teeth. So, the good old advert format has proved its ability to incorporate the transgressive elements of Benetton ads and use them for conventional purposes” –Page 81

Chapter 13

Listen To Britain

Music, advertising and postmodern culture

Andrew Blake

“I argue that music is an important carrier of meaning, representing the invisible and unspeakable, capable of undercutting as well as underlining the visual content of any form of audio-visual representation.” –Page 225

“Again it should be underlined that the use of music is a topic hardly touched on in research into advertising and consumption. One interesting attempt to decode the role of music in advertising (Cook 1993) examines classical or classical-derived music as the foundation of adverts for cars and insurance, and concludes that music of this sort, associated with notions of high culture and explicit excellence, can offer an assurance to the potential buyer that the product is quite simply better than the competition” –Page 232

Chapter 20

When a meaning is not a message

A critique of the consumption as communication thesis

Colin Campbell

“when individuals in contemporary society engage with consumer goods they are principally employing them as ‘signs’ rather than as ‘things’, actively manipulating them in such a way as to communicate information about themselves to others.”

“It is commonly assumed that these individuals, in their capacity as consumers, engage with goods in order to achieve ‘self-construction’ (Langman 1992: 43)

“Claims by John Clammer to the effect that ‘shopping is not merely the acquisition of things: it is the buying of identity’ (Clammer 1992: 195)”

“Beng Huat Chau’s assertion that clothing ‘is a means of encoding and communicating information about the self’ (Chua 1992: 115)

“The perspective regards consumption as an activity in which individuals employ the symbolic meanings attached to goods in an endeavour both to construct and to inform others of their ‘lifestyle’ or ‘identity’, and hence that ‘consumption’ is, in effect, best understood as a form of communication.” –Page340

Development

Further Research current:
Kate Moss, Louis Vuitton catwalk smoking on non-smoking day 
Cosmopolitian daily mail mirror guardian: The observer


Session Notes:
Development of advertising over time
How it effects a postmodern view to advertising
Postmodern shift


Postmodern idea of self - shift / change 
things we wear are who we are.


Look a straight forward ad


Definition: Postmodern

post·mod·ern (pōst′mäd′ərn)

adjective

1. coming after, and usually in reaction to, modernism in the 20th century, esp. in the arts and literature; specif., of or relating to a diffuse cultural and artistic trend or movement, esp. in art, architecture, and writing, since the 1950s, characterized by eclecticism in style and content, freedom from strict theoretical constraints, indifference to social concerns, etc.

Further Research

Information on celebrity endorsement, what it's about, how it's successful etc
by Martin Roll
Reading this article I found it interesting and came across some information on his book 'Asian Brand Strategy' and a particular section, chapter 5 'Celebrity Branding in Asia' ebook which has more information leading on from the article.

Celebrity Branding & Endorsements

I decided to look at the way celebrities are used to push sales in products and create larger brands or even sub brands within the company, while doing a quick search I came across this site and four of their case studies Jamie Oliver for Sainsbury's, George Foreman for Grilling Machines, Tom Cruise, Ray-Ban and Gary Lineker for Walkers.


The studies show that they boosted sales for the companies quite substantially, all down to the fact that people want to have what celebrities are having, it makes them feel more accessible and like they can be on the same level with them in some aspects.

   
BBC - Celebrity endorsement 'alters brain activity' link
Looking at this case from July 14th 2010 it was an experiment done, having 40 mixed photos of celebrities and equally attractive unknown women wearing the same shoes and they could show that the brain reacted differently with more activity when the women taking the test were shown the photos of celebrities wearing the shoes. 
A quote from the website:

"The enhanced memory performance for items that were encoded in the context of a famous individual can neither be explained by increased attractiveness of the celebrity nor by a higher level of perceived expertise, but only by the persuasiveness of fame itself," wrote lead author Mirre Stallen of Erasmus University.

This quote means that people find the idea of fame attractive, I think that they are probably looking at the shoes and thinking about the lifestyle that these celebrities have rather than wanting to have the same shoes that a certain one of them owns.

The Independent - The Naked Truth about celebrity endorsements link

hs

Guardian top sporting stars are worth 2009 link

Celebrity endorsements link

Dr Dre -Beats by Dre

Johnny Rotten -Country Life

Lewis Hamilton -Reebok, TAG Heuer, Satander, Bradford & Bingley, Alliance and Leicester

Barack Obama -unofficially for BlackBerry link 

Possible Questiosn
Effects of celebrity endorsement in advertising on consumer behaviour
How does celebrity endorsement influence the consumer?
Why is celebrity endorsement an effective sales method?  

  
Recent endorsements 
Charlie Sheen to be matched with a product to endorse via twitter 
Hollywood Reporter 
CNNMoney 
LA Times Story 
CNBC 
Ad.ly website 
Telegraph 
Jenson Button -Head & Shoulders
Marketing Magazine report 
Kylie Minogue -Lexus CT 
Link
hja

Notes and Ideas so far

So far I have come up with two ideas, which I will eventually choose one of to focus on.

The first idea is based around photography and the involvement of the photographer who is taking the photo, looking at it and considering can a photo ever be completely natural, not set up.

Most photographers are going to be thinking about how the photo looks and is set up while taking the photo, they will be considering lighting, background and composition, adjusting the angle to get a better shot.

What makes a good photo? is planning a shot and adjusting the angle changing the reality of what's in front of you.

How far do you get involved, with photos from a natural environment, if they are a record of what's happening then the photographer should really be involved or interact with it, but is them just being there effecting the reality. If they are photographing wild animals hunting, but they notice the photographer and become scared and change plans, is this being involved.

With the photo by Kevin carter, where the vulture is watching a weak child what is right to do in this situation, the photograph shows the reality of what's there, is it right to not get involved before and after taking the photo.

The second Idea I have is looking at products being sold as a means of identity, 'must have essentials' which no one really needs. Are we buying into a cultural group, what makes you need the items, cultural acceptance, social groups, being able to relate to piers.

The idea of buying into a brand, if you own a certain item or brand you give yourself a label.

Products are creating ideas of things we don't need, adverts showing self improvements, being able to create the 'perfect you' the 'ideal', but how do we decide what perfect is, everyone will have their own opinions on what perfection is. 

possible questions:

Is there such a thing as the 'perfect you'?

are we buying products to fit into social groups?  

Are you buying the item or the image associated with it?

Research to do:

Books "The saturated self" -Kenneth J. Gergen 

Currently looking at:

Self and Society -Ann Branaman

To get started I looked at the e-Book and picked out some information that was interesting and related in a way to the ideas I was having about the way people want to be seen in society, and how what they wear puts across a certain message to other people, stereotypes.

Research Project – Initial ideas and interests

1. Which areas of Creative Practices particularly interest you (these may include areas outside of your immediate subject specialism)?

The areas of creative practice that interest me are a bit of all of them Graphics, Fine Art and Photography are what I enjoy doing. I have a big interest in the music industry everything from the music, artists, promotion, labels and design of CD’s logos, branding etc. Also the live music and photographing it. I think I link this into my work a lot as I’ve done promotional covers and flyers for artists and go to a lot of live shows making sure I get as many photos as possible. I’ve also done drawings and paintings that I’ve given to and done for artists.

2. Are there any questions that you have identified in your responses to the readings and lectures that have formed part of the module to date? What about any questions that you have posted on your blog?

I’ve found it quite interesting looking at the videos and breaking them down, if there for adverts or music videos as they are relatively short they have to fit a lot of visual information within a small space to get across the message that they are trying to give. In the case of most music videos they tend to tell a story in most cases relating to the lyrics of the song if they are more meaning full, I think I find them interesting to watch as the way in which some people read them are completely different, some people look really deeply into the meaning of them in some cases way too far and there is a big conspiracy theory growing larger online surrounding artists and what they show in their videos such as signs and symbols, so to me I find it interesting to break them down and try to see what other people might be seeing.

3. Which aspects of the readings and lectures from the module have you agreed with?

I’ve agreed with the subject of ethical issues surrounding the subject areas and how they could present problems for people working in the industry, you have to be able to see something for more than one point of view to think how someone else might take it and that what might be acceptable to you might be seen by others as unacceptable.

4. Which aspects of the reading and lectures from the module have you found to be particularly interesting?

The things that I found interesting were the ethical issues with art, graphics and photography, having to get certain permissions from people for using their photos, fonts, image etc. Looking at who they actually belong to e.g does the photo belong to the photographer, publisher or subject if it’s a person. Considering what is acceptable, who can view it, privacy.

The issue of what is considered as ‘art’ looking at what is on exhibitions currently how it differs from what people would imagine when you say to them ‘what’s art’.

How commercial images are changed, advertising images being ‘improved’ for a stronger effect, not always realist, they try to portray ‘perfection’ in advertising from makeup’s and health products, is it misleading?

5. Which aspects of the reading or the lectures and discussions from the module to date have you disagreed with?

I don’t think I’ve disagreed specifically with things from the module, I’ve had ideas and opinions about things but I mainly focus on the ideas and work I like.

6. Are there any specific issues that you feel strongly about? (Art, Design & Media related or not?)

Not that I can think of currently.

7. Which exhibitions/events/screenings have you been to see since beginning the programme? Are there any specific aspects of these that have particularly interested you?

I’ve only really been to two exhibitions, I find I get more out of work I come across rather than going to a specific exhibition looking for work, If I saw an exhibition coming up that sounds interesting or has work that draws me in I would go to see it mainly to help me improve my work and see how other artists are working. I think that some of the things that are in exhibitions currently are very uninteresting. While in Spain I went into a shop / studio of a photographer, I did find this really interesting, maybe partly because of the content, style and the effect that the images had. I bought a book from the shop that contained the photographers work from the start to current, I read it and studied the photos on the way home in the plane and I think I got a lot more from that one small shop than I ever have from any exhibition.

8. What do you know about contemporary employment practices in your chosen area of specialism?

I’ve looked briefly at employment as a graphic designer, photographer and Artist. All of these I’d be interested in going into but I’ve never really seen how Art can become a sustainable job. Looking at photography I think you would need to go into a company to start with as the equipment would be pretty expensive depending on the type of photography your doing. Graphics would probably be easier to start out but it’s such a wide subject it could be hard to narrow down what you are looking to do.

9. Are you specifically interested in any aspect of commercial practices?

I think I’d be really interested in photography for events, studio or commercial publishing, the hardest part would be starting out getting a portfolio together. Also I’ve never took photography as a subject so everything I know is self taught from experimenting and a lot of research for myself.

I also really enjoy painting and drawing portraits or objects in a photographic style but I’ve always thought I’d never have it as a job because it’s not guaranteed that you would have any work.

10. What do you intend to do at the end of the Foundation Degree? Do you know how you are going to go about this? What do you need to know to pursue your ambitions?

My original plan was to try and get a job in the graphics design industry but currently I’m looking at it from a wider view, looking at getting into commercial photography or Art, it will always be a side interest if I worker in graphic design.