Critical Positions on Advertising

• In Britain there are around 25 million print adverts a year
• Adverts demand that we buy something to gain status in society
• With some products you are not just buying into the brand but a lifestyle. For example, Mac vs. PC - Mac's are hundreds of pounds more expensive than PCs, but seem cooler and more creative. The logo makes it obvious that you are part of this Mac lifestyle. Another example is with Starbucks coffee, it is majorly overpriced, but people buy it, as there is a certain lifestyle that accompanies buying into this brand.
• It is impossible to escape away from advertising, we are bombarded with promises for better lives, which makes us unhappy with our own life. These adverts instruct and persuade, and their influence within the Western world cannot be denied. Times Square is an example of this, with there being adverts in every direction you look.
• They are an integrated part of our lives as you can't get away from them, for example there are adverts and pop-ups all over the Internet.
• The commodity culture we are in artificially makes us feel closer with people that have the same interests, wear the same clothes etc. These commodities allow people to express themselves, or the ideal of themselves.
• What we buy is what we are. People seem not to be judged on their skills or qualities but their commodities (things that are designed to be sold). Because of these commodities, our self worth has changed. Clothes, holidays, house, furnishings, electronics, technology and transport can all be used to show status. (Conspicuous consumption)
• With old advertising, commodities were sold based on their virtues.
• When advertising changes, a dream is being sold instead of the qualities of the product. (Uncle Sam Range Cooker advert).
• Contemporary adverts can contain lots of connotations. CK1 perfume advert connotes beauty, sexiness, popularity, youth, belonging, multi-racial relationships, sophisticated sexuality (note the model has shaved hair - there is no nod towards a dumb blond model stereotype). We are fooled into believing that buying a bottle of this perfumed water will make us cooler, popular etc.
• Commodities have to be advertised, as we don't actually need the products, so we need to be tricked into buying them or they wouldn't sell.
• John Berger on advertising (YouTube Video) -We buy products to make us feel richer, where in reality they make us poorer
• The people we think we need to be are projected to us on billboards, giving us the idea that we can become better people through consumption
• Advertising provokes envy as we think we need to be these 'fantasy' people. We feel we can't afford not to be glamorous. This is a trap which is ultimately making us poorer.
• Commodity culture perpetuates false needs - aesthetic innovation - e.g. we would buy a 'better' kettle because of its looks. e.g. we already have enough clothes, but we are convinced we need more - this becomes an addiction
• Newer things create false needs - e.g. when a new version of the Ipod comes out the old versions are not cool. The desire to keep spending is a peculiar desire.
• Planned obsolescence - companies know when to release products so they are most desirable. Things aren't made to last, but made to break as soon as the guarantee is over, so that you have to buy a new one. Companies do have the power and knowledge to make better products. (Death of a Salesman - Play about this)
• The reality of a product is not shown in an advert, for example, with Nike products, the reality is that the item is made in a sweatshop in a foreign country, where the workers are paid slave labour prizes. In the adverts, the products were worn by powerful women.
• Reification is a byproduct of commodity fetishism. It is when things you buy almost become a person, such as in the car advert where the family are hugging the car. It allows objects to become human yet humans are simplified into categories, almost becoming objects themselves - such as 'emos'.
• The role of the model is like the role of the goddess. The model is the unattainable idea of perfection.
• Commodities show status, just like how collections of art used to.
• Advertising is beneficial to the economy. It encourages business and growth. It allows for creative and radical innovations. It challenges stereotypes.
• Yet advertising can distort language skills, as it has to communicate to the audience in a simple, reductive way.

Advertising and New Media

Old Media

• Hesker Lever is pointed to as the pioneer of advertising. He was one half of the Lever Brothers - now Unilever - a company which manages over 900 brands
• In 1851, Britain was a superpower, it was the richest country in the world (it is now the 4th) and had the largest empire in the world
• In 1860, Britain began to print, and mechanically fill boxes
• The modern shop Lush reverts back to what soap was sold like - cut into slabs and stamped
• The main revenue for advertising was newspapers (now google is a big competitor)
• In the 1890's, better quality colour printing allowed for mass production
• Lever started buying contemporary paintings to use in his advertisements. At the time, when an image was bought, the buyer owned the copyright. He picked paintings of children and items of white linen. These images now seem old-fashioned but were modern at the time.
• The bride painting contains different generations of women and lots of white, ideal for a soap advert.The painting was edited so that the soap could feature. The idea is that the children can see that their mothers use Sunlight soap to keep clothes white, so the children should do it when they grow up. It suggests that happiness will come with this too.
• Unilever the company is still involved with contemporary art, each year sponsoring at the Tate.
• Lever was one of the richest men in the world
• Sunlight was the first international advertising campaign, telling people that they needed the product
• Lever Brothers was the first firm to hold promotional events, having a competition and a day out to advertise the soap
• They even had a royal endorsement, making them the soap makers for Queen Victoria, and started a collection scheme, where customers could save the wrappers in exchange for gifts. This is a common scheme now.
• Paintings were often of middle class scenes containing children. The posters were targeted at mothers as the brand wanted lifetime loyalty.
• Lever took over soap companies from all over the world. He spent £2 million on advertising in the first 20 years.
• There was a sinister side to Lever, he was an advocate for forced labour. He made slaves extract palm oil for the soap, but the advertisements didn't show this side of the picture, instead only showing lovely images of palm trees.
• Lever caused discussions and debates with new art forms.
• Lever was a liberal capitalist so avoided placing advertisements in left-wing papers. He was choosy where he advertised, and wanted good stock.
• John Hegarty of BBH is another pioneer of advertising, he said that advertising is telling the truth, but making it interesting.
• Working class women were the audience for Lever's advertisements. They were hard workers and so they aged quickly. The advertisements tried to advertise that the soap would make life easier, leaving quality time for romance, and also to make sure that you wouldn't age as quickly. Advertisers wouldn't get away with saying something like "why do women age much quicker than men?" nowadays.
• Even the brand Dove (a Unilever brand) uses the strategy of brand loyalty today. They suggest that a mother is responsible for a daughters beauty.
• Britishness was used as a mark for quality and success on products
• The advertisers had a clear message, aiming to point out personal hygiene, and this made sales rocket. This strategy is used in the advertisement for the men's brand Lynx today (another Unilever brand.)
• People began to study the psychology of advertising, as some believed they needed these products to be better.
• To help advertise, there were celebrity endorsements and soap companies even sponsored soap operas on the radio.
• The soap company held a promotional event where children could carve soap figures. This strategy was analyzed with psychology.
• Advertising was criticized by left-wingers during the war.  It was believed to be wrong, evil and morally corrupt.
• Economic Liberals - Admass believed that advertising was better for everyone

New Media

• In the last decade there has been a shift, and many ads now involve audience
• Communication is not just one way, it is circular now the audience are engaged
• Advertisements based on technology
• Voluntary advertisements (watching online) vs. forced (TV/print)
• Trevor Beattie - "Lots of small ideas grow to big ones"
• The YouTube video containing experiment show with diet coke and mentos had nothing to do with either company, but advertising became worth $10 million to mentos
• Advertising now talking with instead of to an audience
• The Old Spice adverts are pass around virals, replying to requests on their twitter account (marriage proposal)
• Oasis new album release advertised by New York street artists performing selected tracks, buzz on streets, news, Internet, even a documentary was made
• YouTube video awards now exist, growing areas are social issues and charities

Mobile Phones

• Mobile phones are changing the future of advertising with their apps
• Giant Hydra company - artists collaborate not compete, people from all over the world help each other with a project

An Introduction to Semiotics

Seminar notes

• Linguistics is a social science of signs giving meaning. Semiotics is understanding deeper meaning to normalised codes in society.
• Almost everything in society gives meaning, forming a code, as its based on a complicated structure of shared consensus
• Society has agreed that sounds and letters placed together make a word. Nothing is actually linked between letters and their meaning.
• Images communicate to us - image 1 (rappers) and image 2 (punk style man) are a challenge to image 3 (a man in a suit) The suit is seen to be professional and smart. It is an unwritten cultural code, an agreed system of meaning. Everyone understands this social system even if they don't acknowledge it. Another example is that a tie has no use, is in no way practical, instead is just an item of clothing giving away meaning, communicating the idea of sophistication.
• A dog could be called anything, why a dog? If it was called a woofer, it would make the most sense, regarding to the noise a dog makes.
• Anything that gives meaning is a sign - gestures, clothes, sounds etc
• Signifier = sound, image Signified = mental concept
• There is no real logical connection between the signifier and the signified, just a socially given meaning.
• An image of a rose is a signifier. And the sound of the word rose. What is being signified is a Rose. More can be read from the image, red roses symbolise love and passion. The relationship between these is arbitury.
• Fonts are signifier. Sexist cliches about women can be shown with femine girly fonts.
• There is a code that a certain font signifies a certain thing. If these clashed, cultural codes would be disturbed. For example, comic sans is known as a children's font. Sans serif fonts show modernism. A flowerly font is not modern.
• The signified is broken down into two levels. Denotation is the simple direct surface meaning. Connotation is the deeper symbolic meaning. These are socially coded, taught to you by society.
• Image denotes landscape. It is an advert trying to sell whisky. This image connotes peace, relaxation, tranquility, happiness, togetherness. The advert relies on tapping into cultural codes. It creates a mythic idea of Scotland, which is the birthplace of whisky. The setting being Scotland shows the brand is authentic. This means that the image is connotating history and tradition. It also connotes urban life and sophistication through the modern sofa the couple are sat on. This is a paradox to the connotations of country life.
• Myth is the deepest level of connotation. It is dangerous and problomatic. People understand myth as natural meaning rather than socially given.
• This image from a popular culture magazine denotes a young black soldier saluting the french flag, and connotes that all people are equal under the french flag regardless of colour.
• The painting by Constable - The Haywain (1821) represents the myth of Englishness, green and pleasant land, harmony with natural and peaceful landscapes. There is also the myth of the English peasant, happily working the lands. In reality, this image was painted at a time of mass rioting, but the scene in the painting is now seen as reality rather than pure fiction.
• St George's flag is a signifier. Different sides are being signified, from strength and unity to tea, rain and bowler hats.
• Waving an England flag at a football game actually signifies more than just being a fan of football.
• In the Wonderbra adverts, they are speaking in a language they think the women will understand, they are not intentionall trying to offend women, instead just going along with what culture agrees on. The text 'Double Major' is used on the infamous bra advert, a term suggesting that someone has done really well academically. However, the women's version of this term is suggested a meaning that a women has done well if she is a sexual object. This goes along with the historic myth that women are stupid, so have to sexualise themselves to achieve.
• This advert for a birth control that only has to be thought about 4 times a year unintentionally makes the woman sounds stupid, lazy, forgetful etc.
• This is a magazine article with the title 'Dressing your I.Q.' suggesting that you can look more intelligent through what clothes you wear.
• The Hans Memling (1485) painting 'Vanity' shows the women as a stupid vain character, as she stares at herself in a mirror. Yet she is nude, as the man painting the image has sexualised the woman.
• There are fonts which are known as Hawaiian or Greek fonts, showing the mythic idea of foreigners and labelling the other
• A Chinese restaurant with a sign saying "No! We no see cat of yours no more ask please" taps into the racist stereotype in an attempt to get people into the restaurant.
• P.C. Plod patrols Toy town (Noddy). He is fat, silly, friendly, jovial and not serious. This codes you into a way of thinking about the police - a constructed myth.
• P.C. Wiggum patrols Springfield (Simpsons). He is lazy and greedy but ultimately harmless.
• Actual police photograph. Signifies order, violence, that the police are just faceless robotic operatives of the law.
• Original photograph of student smashing window at NUS march in London against tuition fees. Same image used on cover of 9 newspapers, with different headlines showing different opinions and sides to this story.

Applying semiotics to newspaper article

Article, Daily Mirror, 23.11.10 'Suicidal'

Now that I have been introduced to semiotics, I have applied what I have learnt to a newspaper article about ConDem cuts meaning that al-Qaeda followers may not be properly supervised after leaving prison.

Signifier - The image is a signifier, the words are signifiers, the colour is a signifier

Signified - 'Taliban fanatics' are signified in the image. The signified is broken down into what is dennoted, and what is connoted.

Denotes - The basic understanding of the people in the photographs is that they are Islamic, due to what they are wearing. The basic understanding through the title is that of death.

Connotes - The use of red connotes blood, violence, suffering and pain. This use of red has been placed on the word 'cuts' to connote cuts to mean physical pain as well as referring to spending cuts. The large, bold, uppercase text 'SUICIDAL' connotes fear, urgency and worry. By placing 'SUICIDAL' next to an photograph of Muslims, it connotes that these Muslims are suicide bombers. The word 'fanatics' in the sub-heading connotes the Muslims in the image to be crazy. These are the symbols that have been taught by society.

Myth - Through the headings placed next to the image, this article could be seen as following the myth that you should be scared of the actions of people of other religions. This myth is dangerous and problomatic, as many people who don't know much about Islam will form opinions from this socially given meaning.

The Document

• Documentary photography was the biggest form of photography practice in the 20th century
• The medium gained power, transcended painting as supposedly captures the truth
• It is believed to be objective
• There was the idea was that photographic evidence is neutral and not to be questioned
• But also the idea that the photography was to document for the purpose of changing the world, to record and relay information
• Camera with a conscious - not just there to record but to expose (James Nachtwey)
• Because everyone can't see the pain of war, photography is there to show them images
• Here the photographer is not disinterested, is not invisible, but instead is making a stance, being overtly subjective with a political humanist agenda. He is attempting to expose war the benefit of humanity. He is struggling for the people, which gets rid of the idea of photography being neutral
• The world is being closed in on itself by showing how the 'other' half live through photography
• Bonds are created between subject, audience and photographer
• The photographer seeks to align, and to make the viewer feel empathy
• In this photograph by Kilburn, he has stood higher than the scene to take the photograph, as if he is removed, and this is just a neutral image. These photographs become our only knowledge of certain events, and so become our history
• In comparison, Nachtwey got right it on the action in his photographs
• Henri Cartier Bresson took photographs of everyday life, however these were highly constructed for aesthetic value - For example, the man and his shadow are mimicking the movements of the dancer on the poster
• As he has already planned the photograph, it is more than just a record, but art, however, the images still seem to be neutral and aesthetic
• This poses the question "How much should documentary photography be concerned with aesthetic - does this make it unreal?"
• Jacob Riis was a social campaigner who photographed squalor and poverty, but it is as if he had a hidden agenda
• His photography was used in a book which allowed the rich, with their morbid curiosity, to spy on the poor
• The photograph is not like the invisible eye, instead, these images are superficial as they are set up and the people in them are posing
• In the photographs there is a struggle as the images are neither about how people project their sense of self or how the photographer depicts their sense of self
• This photograph of a robbery is staged - Riis bribed street kids to act in a certain way for an interesting image. This is not a real depiction but an artificial representation of the other
• Lewis Hine was a social campaigner who showed the plight of the immigrant workers, wanting for humanity and empathy
• A photographer can stamp their representation on people or aim to get the peoples image of themselves out to the world
• Project FSA was a government campaign to combat social crisis. Images were taken to be used as an emotive lobbying tool
• This was a controversial project as the photographers had an agenda as they were instructed what to take and how to do this so that the images would be emotive in every way
• These photographs are not neutral documents
• The image of the boy and the dog in the newspaper advertisement covered shelter shows how the advertisement culture was surrounding poverty
• The photographers had to send their negatives back to the government so couldn't destroy the images that they didn't like, some weren't used as considered too confrontational
• Composition tries to draw similarities with the classical art images of Madonna and child
• The subjects were arranged like actors
• Another photograph that wasn't used was a farmer with his children, as this is not the image the government was to project - a starving farmer who has five children
• Some photographs were used as a reminder of our own mortality. The image of the factory and the graveyard with the houses in between reminds that we work, live and then die
• In the Victorian Era, photography was about power, used to compare and contrast the 'other' with us. A tool for scrutinising, classifying and documenting. This agenda of trying to justify that black people are inferior to white people was disguised as a scientific pursuit
• The 'Mass Observation' project was an attempt to develop a neutral democratic record of the working class. As it was a shared vision, as the working class were allowed to send in diaries and images of their everyday life, it could be seen as a more accurate document of the world
• War and conflict photographs are horrifying but show striking images of human experience
• Blurring becomes an aesthetic style for one artist - becomes known as the Capa shudder - which represents the drama
• The Magnum group are a collaborative network that photograph sights of struggle. They believe in internationalism and record work for humanity
• All photographers have a style, an aesthetic, and their own way to represent their world
• Images of immense power, such as the photograph which was took a moment before the death of the people involved, spark up a moral question - should you intervene? These photographs are taken with the desire to show horror to someone else in the hope of change

Modernist Graphic Design Images

Modernist Graphic Design

These are five images I believe to be Modernist examples of Graphic Design.

What is Modernist Graphic Design?

Qualities defined by Boyne and Rattansi

*Aesthetic self-reflectiveness -Something which is as much about the process of designing as the final piece *Montage and new techniques

*Paradox, ambiguity and uncertainty - Multiple meanings, open to interpretation
*Loss of the integrated individual subject - People weren't confident with identity anymore, they were instead lost in new technology. Mass urbanisation, conspicuous consumption and new leisure activities mean a dizzying change.
*Optimism and utopianism - Modernists wants inequality to vanish, and for the world to be a better place. International fonts such as sans serif could be used all over the world, instead of, for example the German type.
Other qualities associated with Modernist Graphic Design
*No looking back, only forward
*Should be a neutral language, that doesn't discriminate
*Should develop the world and allow for a better future
*Design should be available to all, which can be done by mass-production
*Designs should be tidy, as excessively decorating wasn't seen as progress
*Form should follow function
*Designs should work within the modern world
*Aesthetics are not the most important aspect
*Designs should be eternal and universal

Rodchenko, A (1925) 'Trade union is a defender of female labour' Poster,
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/alexander-rodchenkos-russian-revolution-1518872.html?action=Gallery

The first image, by Rodchenko, is a poster with the translated text saying "Trade union is a defender of female labour". It contains a wedge shape which features in many pieces from the era. The colours and design are simple as this image isn't focusing too much on aesthetic, as form follows function with modernist Graphic Design. Instead the artist wants to get the message across in a simple and effective way.

Obama's Design Team (2008) Berlin Flyer
http://meaningfuldistractions.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/md-exclusive-obamas-berlin-flyer-not-messianic-pays-tribute-to-german-design/

The second image, by Obama's design team, is a modern example which almost mimics the Rodchenko poster of the woman shouting out, due to the position of text and where the image of Obama is placed. Modernist design is supposed to be eternal and universal, and this poster embraces this idea, as it is created much later than the earlier designs, by artists from other countries.

Lyubov Popova (1922) Val's. Pamiati Skriabina

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A4694&page_number=15&template_id=1&sort_order=1

The third image, by Popova, is a simple book cover, which features no fine art, as early Graphic Design did, instead only containing lines and text. There are no signs of excessive decoration, only what is needed is included for effectiveness. There is a mix of fonts - the use of a sans serif font shows is a sign of modernism.

Stella McCartney for Adidas Design Team (2010) Olympic Fashion Adverts

http://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/blog/?p=14470

The fourth image, by Stella McCartney's design team is advertising the clothes she has created for the London 2012 Olympics. It is a photo montage, and contains 'family resemblances' with the other images, such as the use of positioning on a diagonal line. It is different to other adverts around at the moment, making it seem experimental.

El Lissitzky (1923), For the Voice

http://www.nikibrown.com/designoblog/2009/08/31/el-lissitzky/

• The fifth image, by El Lissitzky, shows no signs of looking backwards, instead creating new styles with the alignment of text and lines. It shows a modern page layout, with use of grid and modern fonts.

Extra Reading

Smashing Reading (2009), Bauhaus: Ninety Years of Inspiration,
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/02/bauhaus-ninety-years-of-inspiration/