Tuesday 22 October 2013

OUGD501: Studio session 2 - Consumerism

At the beginning of the seminar we recapped on the consumerism lecture, we were then put into groups and set a task.

Our group was assigned pages 142 - 146 of John Bergers 'Ways of seeing'. We were asked to read it, analyse it and find an advert(s) which exemplifies our section.


The section of our text focused on the "promise of fantasy which is endless deferred". So being shown this life which you can buy into and want to live, but actually never reaching it. Our section looked at how advertisements play on our anxiety, guilt, sexual desire and class to sell us this desired life.

We picked two adverts to exemplify our text. The first advert was a Gucci advert, and the second a Maybelline lipstick advert.




The Gucci advert plays on sexual desire, if you purchase this product you can be as desirable as the woman depicted in the image.  This quote from Bergers can be applied to the advert, 'If you are able to buy this product you will be lovable. If you cannot buy it, you will be less loveable'. The advert links the product to this idea of love and sex. The advert reads 'Gucci guilty', relating to a guilty pleasure of the couple shown. The advert sells this fantasy lifestyle which is so envied but never achievable, but by buying this product you can be one step closer to being/ living like this. The baby bliss advert is also advertising a similar misconception. By buying this product you can have soft baby lips. Baby being linked to youth and being young is linked to being fashionable. Buy this product and you can be young and loveable.

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