As I strolled down the paths of Woodland Mall on Saturday afternoon, I felt like it was like every other shopping excursion me and my friends went on. I would not necessarily consider the mall to be a hangout place for my friends. We usually know what we want before we go and get in and out as soon as we can. Before this I had never really seen all of Woodland and its stores.
Keeping mind what we learned about advertising from The Persuaders, I tried to find aspects of advertising I had never noticed before. I came upon the realization that all these stores were not just selling products and goods. They were selling a certain lifestyle. GNC was selling a health body through vitamins, Barnes & Noble was selling intelligence through books, and all the clothing stores tried to make it seem like their clothes were the most stylish. Advertising comes in the play by trying to tell us which lifestyle is right for us. GNC tells us that are men are supposed to be strong individuals with their in store advertising. GNC was also advertising to me with their employees. These two men were some of the strongest and toughest looking guys I have ever seen. It made me think that if took their supplements I would get ripped, too. Barnes & Noble’s advertising focused more on sales than any other store I went in. They convinced me that they had the cheapest books by all their posters telling me of all the good deals going on. They also were showing me that being intelligent was cool. They showed good-looking people emerging themselves into the newest bestsellers. This was very much like what the clothing stores did. They chose the best looking people they could find and put them up on the walls for all to see. When I saw the clothes that they were wearing on the rack, it made me think that I could be just as good looking. The use of ads in all of the stores I went to made me feel kind of deceived. They were playing with my emotions to make a profit. The Persuaders mentioned the time when all advertisements just told you what their product was. Now we have ads telling us we aren’t cool or good enough if we don’t buy their product.
This trip to Woodland Mall was eye-opening. I had never paid much attention to the ads and now I know what to blame my empty wallet on. Our society tells us we must spend money the coolest and latest stuff. Most of us will never be able to have all of this, so what the point? Why do we spend any money at all on things we want if we will still not be cool when we own it?
I like your idea of ads selling a live style rather than just a product. Nowadays, it seems like a selling a product simply isn't good enough. There has to be a background, another story to the ad in order to grab attention and "cut through the crap" like the movie said. I also like how you point out that ads are in fact constructed: beautiful people in beautiful situations, rather than any one person off the street who happened to be buying the book the store wanted to sell.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your observations, Matt. What is the consumer's responsibility to be discerning when it comes to these ads? Are the advertisers and the retail stores more powerful than the average consumer or is it a level playing field?
ReplyDeleteAnd why in the world don't schools teach kids how to be savvy and discerning when it comes to this sort of thing so that they won't be captive to the false images of happiness? Is it because schools have an interest in upholding the status quo of consumption?