|
|
Packed, Wrapped and Ready to GoPacked, Wrapped and Ready to Go
by Nathan Sramek - Fall 2002
In the mind of most men glory comes through dominance displayed in feats of physical strength and agility, sheer will power, and possibly a team thrown in to the mix only because of necessity. A fantasy neatly packaged and presented before a screaming crowd who has been won over through the sheer brilliance of the daydreamer’s performance, and waiting intently for the tear-filled beautifully written speech delivered impromptu upon reception of the Napoleon Trophy for advanced delusions of grandeur. This is virility packaged neatly and delivered to the American male target market in wrapping paper featuring a portrait of the recipients face. The world is trying to tell males, “This could be you; all we need is your credit card number.”
The classic male figure that dominated this century was the cowboy. The appeal of the cowboy partly comes from its historical time period, recent enough to be history yet distant enough to be complete fantasy. This development of sacred bastions of virility has been swallowed so deeply by our society that we have almost lost the ability to objectively look at the fantasies we crave. Rodeo Riders, modern day cowboy emulators, suffer outrageous injuries, “once got hung up and i broke three ribs a leg and i got a whiplash and i tore a legiment. i think steer riding is fun…” (From a post on the message board at www.rodeoriders.com) simply for the glory of riding a farm animal for several seconds at a time. However this kind of physical punishment is not uncommon for glorified male positions. A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that over one quarter of 400 retired rugby players retired solely because of injuries. Rugby’s American counterpart, American Football, is if anything worse off on its players. Entering week five of NFL play nearly 130 players are sidelined due to injuries, of those more then fifty are not expected to return this season. (www.ESPN.com)
Despite its absurdity, the desire to be like these sports stars is rampant among the men in our society, and advertisers have long been taking advantage of this underling quest for glory. American Smokeless Tobacco co. achieves this effect in a series of ads by first promoting stereotypical male behavior and then channeling the fantasies that this creates through several prefabricated characters; the product is then free to piggyback into the target’s mind as a subtle part of the newly created fantasy.
In order to effectively manipulate the viewer into buying into the character the ad must first make an appealing case for whatever activities that the character engages in. In ad 1 this is accomplished using one overarching sign containing many underlying support signs signifying masculinity. The most striking signifier in this ad, the parent sign, is the cowboy. Taking up most of the ad’s foreground, the cowboy fits in to the classic western view of masculinity, invoking images of John Wayne, fearless showdowns at high-noon, and stoic determination. However there are other more subtle signs found within the image of the cowboy that each lend their own aspect to this masculine idea. The cowboy’s clothes, wrinkled and coated with dust suggest that ha has been hard at work pausing only for a satisfying wad of chew. He is wearing a black cowboy hat, often reserved for villains but in this lends an air of rebellion and mystery to him by concealing his face. Finally they cowboy’s belt buckle is dated with an acronym and a picture of a rider roping a steer, presumably a rodeo belt-buckle which makes the cowboy a competitive and aggressive figure. All of these elements combine into one complete sign to create an image of a life that is quite desirable to the ad’s target market.
Ad two takes a slightly different approach. In contrast to the hierarchy of signs that we see in ad one, this ad for Skoal uses several different signs in cooperation to glorify masculinity. The most prominent of these signs is based on the signifier rugby. The photo of four rugby players in the immediate foreground quickly draws a viewer’s attention. The choice of the sport Rugby is significant, it is a sport that is exotic enough to be mysterious and to stand out, yet it is known well enough to be immediately recognized as violent, and aggressive. The players in the ad each wear different jerseys; this shifts the focus of the game towards the individual since there are no clearly defined teams, in addition this gives the game a feeling of spontaneity and fierce yet friendly competition. Looking at the add it is almost as if a group of friends went out for a pickup game after work, therefore all of the pressure of the game is generated from within the players. There is neither championship approaching nor screaming fan’s to please; the players push themselves simply to be “One Step Tougher.” The rain completes the picture, symbolizing determination and perseverance as the players continue to play through the weather.
These are the stereotypes glorified in the ads. First the stoic cowboy who leads a simple yet adventurous life working with his hands; an easy fantasy to escape into for many lost in today’s cubicle based business world who never actually see the physical fruits of their labor. Second there is the idea of the driven amateur athlete, one un-spoilt by high paying contracts and politics of professional sports. One who plays, regardless of the weather and or anything else purely for the love of the game. As American’s become less and less active and drive through services as well as delivery and home ordering become more and more common this particular fantasy becomes more and more attractive, the satisfaction of being outdoors, working hard and dominating your opponent all from the plush confines of a couch. It is this tendency in American’s to be lazy that moves the advertisers to not only suggest a fantasy world for the potential buyer to occupy, but instead manufacture a pre-assembled ready to open fantasy by keeping ads vivid but also anonymous.
In ad one the anonymous properties of the cowboy are fairly simple and quite apparent. First his face is hidden by the dusty hat he is wearing. This is of course significant because it makes the cowboy a character in stead of a person, with a mild amount of imagination the reader can easily see themselves underneath that hat. The black background is also significant since it allows you to create your own surroundings. The cowboy can for example be visualized on the dusty trail under the outdoor sky, or walking down a street with the John Wayne strut. At least this is the desired effect, however hints contained in the cowboy attempt to lead the imaginations of those engaged with the add towards a rodeo. The dust on his clothes suggests that he was just thrown off a bronco; also his belt buckle suggests some sort of prior rodeo championship. Therefore the message that the advertisers are trying to convey is one of freedom from the confines of a job etc, allowing the viewer to create whatever fantasy around the cowboy he wishes as long as that fantasy supports the advertiser’s purpose.
In the second ad the anonomous properties are slightly less blatant. There are multiple rugby players, several of whom have clearly visible faces. However the two players who do not have faces are working together and about to take a hard hit, these are the players that the viewer is supposed to adopt. Also the mismatched uniforms aids in the fantasy, since it is much easier to believe you just joined a pickup game then it would to take part in an international rugby match. This ad is conveying an aggressive fantasy that allows the reader to imagine taking out his stress and frustration doing something worthwhile instead of reading ads from a generic magazine.
In both instances the fantasy is closely controlled, and moderately simple. This minimalist aspect of the created fantasy makes the product still a significant part of it, allowing it, in essence, to piggyback into the mind of the consumer on the prefabricated character. This is seen most clearly in the first ad, where the cowboy’s only action is that of opening a disproportionately small can of chew. The blank background allows you to place the character wherever you would like, the absence of facial features allows him to be anyone you please, but regardless of both of these he must be occupied with Copenhagen Black chew. This method is very effective, since it is much easier to sell an ideal or fantasy that someone already desires then it is to sell them a product which they may not want or need.
The other ad however is much more subtle when placing the product with the image. None of the rugby players seem preoccupied with anything except their game. The association comes instead from the comparison of the product to the players. As they are, “A step tougher” than average, Skoal tobacco is ‘A pinch better!’ This relation may not be as strong as the visual association found in the other ad, but still effective. Both ads easily accomplish their goal of seducing you into buying into their fantasy worlds where they funnel you towards their product.
It is not at all uncommon for ad’s to rely on the fame or appeal of something entirely unrelated to the product in order to produce positive associations. We see it often with famous athletes, celebrities, cute animals, babies and sex symbols. However this technique is by no means limited to advertising. Just as marketers use pleasant fantasies to manipulate targeted markets to escape into their product, others are effectively using the same technique to sell us on far less innocent ‘products.’ If we become wise to it, we can guard ourselves from being taken by fashion trends, political moves, and many other hard to swallow ideas that are being sugarcoated with a pleasant fantasy; wars hidden beneath the surface of patriotism and speculative danger needlessly being pursued to boost economic stimulation and draw attention off of scandals. These are things we should see for what they are. We should never buy into the sugarcoating that seems so pleasant on the surface, but instead focus on what it is inside that we are truly swallowing.
|
|
|
