16 January 2012
Another Trip to the Mall
After watching The Persuaders and reading the chapter by John Paul, my recent trip to Woodland Mall had a little different outlook. When I got to the mall, I immediately was struck by the amount of advertising around the mall. There were tons of images of slim, beautiful women offering the products that every woman must have. There were images of happy, perfect families enjoy some activity together. And the list goes on. Along with noticing the advertising, there also were artificial trees placed throughout the mall. I have lived in Grand Rapids my whole life and my family has gone to Woodland plenty of times but not once had I taken any notice to the trees. Also, there were skylights and light windows on the ceiling providing increased light. With the tree and the lighten ceilings, the mall seemed large and open and almost inviting. I roamed the mall for a while and went in a few stores. Laura and I decided to venture into Victoria's Secret. Again, I noticed the images placed around the store. The Victoria's Secret models are slender with big eyes and breasts, long necks, and a coke bottle figure. Every model wore the clothing and lingerie perfectly. These images suggested how woman need to look to be beautiful. They also showed that you need to buy all the accessories to the outfit to be complete. The pants, the sweatshirt, the t-shirt, and of course the underwear. The images throughout the store promoted both an image for women to obtain and a consumeristic happiness. Every store had these images, from the jewelry stores to Sears. I never noticed the images until we watched The Persuaders. It is unbelievable how much my eyes have been opened to the deeper motives of everything at the mall, from the architecture to the images.
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I agree with the how shocked I was with how much advertising is actually in the mall. I also agree with all of the images that you talked about; it makes us people believe that just because those people are supposedly happy in the picture that the product will make us happier too. When walking into Victoria Secret it is true that most people are wanting to purchase from those stores to make them feel like the models and make them feel more beautiful. I was also shocked by how much more I have noticed about advertising thank to The Persuaders.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note the different types of women used in advertising by various stores. A Victoria's Secret model looks quite different from a J. Crew model--almost like a unique body "brand" for the store. Whatever kind of idealized woman you aspire to be, there's a brand for you! In the case of Victoria's Secret, there's also the implication directed toward men that if you buy this product for your partner, she'll look a little bit more like the sexy, doe-eyed model in the ad--or at least you can picture that model when you're intimate with your partner.
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