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The discussion raised about whether billboards should exist is not only a problem of their physical existence, but it raises conflict because it becomes a problem of whether people are taking social responsibility to build and maintain the community, while different groups of people have different opinions about community: Traditional white middle-class people define community as a coherent warm group, which means they ask more from the emotional satisfaction since they do not have worries from basic survival level. But for people who are still struggling for basic needs, billboards are an important communication tool for them with the commercialized society. Therefore, whether billboards are reasonable and whether their existence should be justified depends on the subjective definition of community and life.

As Catherine Gudis mentions in the reading, billboards are considered as a symbol of increasing industrialization, but whether such a symbol is good or bad (as “moral decline and urban disorder) depends on people’s income level. When billboards are presenting advertisements for cheap fast food/ ways to earn money/ casino promotions and so on, they are viewed as unnecessary by people who do not have to worry about these basic needs, but they are viewed as a life-changing opportunity by people who are struggling to make a living. The reading mentions the argument of how billboards will interrupt with the outdoor beauty. The problem can be solved but also need to use the power of capital. Take McDonald’s billboard “bee-hotel” as an example: it demonstrates that maintaining the beauty of nature and having commercial value can happen at the same time, but needs more money and time investment on designing, which is not affordable for every company when commercialized purpose cannot be displayed directly.

https://www.designboom.com/design/mcdonalds-billboards-beehive-hotels-nord-ddb-09-12-2019/

People reject billboards also means they are rejecting a restless, fast pace, over-commercialized lifestyle. Billboards advertisements are updating in a short time period so people are constantly receiving a new message and commercial information and make people feel like losing life but being pulled by reality. Middle-class people get triggered because they have a sense of who gets to own the city and consider them as Interruptions of the lifestyle. I also found that the natural finishing idea is interesting. The billboard advertisement is meant to designed to emphasize the idea of natural ingredients used for burgers, and “natural painted color” makes it more memorable. Strengthening the idea of natural on such an unnatural visual communicative form sounds ironic.

https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-billboard-ads/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

The reading “Sex in public: Women outdoor advertising and public policy” talks about how billboards displaying and enhancing sexist information. I can understand how these are designed for grabbing people’s attention immediately on high-speed roads, but they are still inappropriate information to be displayed in the public space by destroying the identity of the public space.

All in all, there are some billboards displaying inappropriate information and disrupting the community, but it is the problem of content, not the form. Such visual communicative forms are still worth to keep for sharing innovative ideas and raise public awareness on social issues. The commercialized use of billboards is reasonable but can be improved. However, it is not a simple question but has to do with income level and should be considered as an economic problem.

References:

Gudis, Cathrine. “When Separate Spheres Collide”. Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape.

Rosewarne, Lauren. “Chapter One: Advertising and Public Space”. Sex in Public Women, Outdoor Advertising and Public Policy. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2007. The UK.

#billboard #social status #advertising #income #innovation

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Nowadays, evaluating a brand is not limited to its economic values but we also should consider its social value. In the competitive market, most products, especially for daily used, can be easily replaced by other brands, and it gets harder and harder for a company to differentiate itself from its competitors. To attract consumers, brands have to build connotations that are positive and can be easily recalled by consumers. Therefore, asserting values such as gender equity, against muscularity, improving racial equity, even pastoralism can help brands stand out. To take it a step further, advertising is not only a tool for companies themselves but also can be utilized by politics to lead and shape the public’s perception of social-economic issues.

First, breaking a concept to re-constructing it is the strategy to make something unacceptable to fit into the social norms. It is a smart strategy because consumers usually perceive it as revolutionary and think about how brands are taking social responsibilities. Bahrainwala analyzes how Nike breaks the concept of traditional Muslim women and redefine it by adapting to American mainstream culture that is palatable to white people (Bahrainwala, 1). Nike deals with it by adding new elements to enrich the original concept so that people will develop likeness towards it because it includes values they already familiar with.

Chipotle’s campaign issued in fall 2011 also applies the same strategy: adding new elements into an old concept to stand out and impress the consumers:

https://adage.com/article/agency-news/top-15-ad-campaigns-21st-century/2162916#backtostart

As a restaurant, Chipotle redefined the concept of a “food lovers” as a group of people who not only cares about the taste but also about food knowledge and are willing to track the origins back to nature. Therefore, the concept of food lovers equals to respecting and loving nature, as well as having the enthusiasm of learning and being knowledgeable. Consumers tend to develop preferences for Chipotle because they already recognize the values behind it. So it is a smart marketing promotion that makes consumers develop preferences unconsciously.

Besides, the 2016 Indian movie Dangal also breaks the impression of Indian females and rebuild it by relating them with sports to show their potential of being independent by admitting the misogyny then make a progressive transformation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfvlh0tjyo

Second, extending, associating and even creating a brand’s value to transfer social responsibilities to individuals and motivate people to conduct certain behavior by relating individuals struggles with global issues to lead people to feel empowered and try to overcome it (through purchasing and supporting the brand). As the reading discussed, Nike targets specifically to empower Muslim females. Victoria’s Secret has launched a poster campaign saying “the perfect body” featuring fit and hot body shapes. Its rival company Dear Kate posted a “perfect body” campaign as responding by bringing the value of “respecting and appreciating your own body” to empower females. Therefore, consumers tend to support Dear Kate to show how they recognize and assimilate the value. Such specificity (against a certain campaign from the rival company) motivates consumers to make a response (supporting by purchase) as well.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.huffpost.com%2Fgen%2F2252188%2Fthumbs%2Fo-DEAR-KATE-570.jpg%3F6&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fvictorias-secret-perfect-body-campaign_n_6115728&docid=9Qm7jWevnCS0DM&tbnid=vzK7C4v2xZhLVM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiOu93JxITmAhWHsZ4KHcrvAuUQMwhhKAUwBQ..i&w=570&h=281&bih=554&biw=1175&q=the%20perfect%20body%20campaign&ved=0ahUKEwiOu93JxITmAhWHsZ4KHcrvAuUQMwhhKAUwBQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

All in all, brands take adavantages in motivating consumers to assimilating themselves with the brand value by switching and enriching concepts in a leading way.

Bahrainwala, Lamiyah. & Erin O’Connor. “Nike Unveils Muslim Women Athletes”. Feminist Media Studies, pp. 1-16. Routledge: Taylor& Francis Group. 2019.

Banet-Weiser, Sarah. “Economic Crisis, Masculinity, and the American Working Class”. We Are All Workers. Date of Accessed: November 5th, 2019.

#gender stereotyping #advertising #consumer behavior #dangal #female rights #marketing

Paper 2: Visual Story on Trump Impeachment Inquiry

How did the whole story begin? 🤔🤔🤔

On July 24, 2019: The special counsel Robert Mueller testifies and gives a warning about the danger of Russian interference in American elections.

#impeachment #politics #trump impeachment #congress #vice president biden #breaking news #ukraine #the white house

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It is undeniable that people are influenced by advertising, especially when they are exposed to different kinds of media every day. Using ordinary people as models is not always a better choice: The relationship between advertising and ordinary people is dynamic, and the position of advertising in ordinary people’s life is also changing depends on how people view them: When people consider it as a guide and a goal, professional models work better. When people try to increase the product’s reliability, ordinary people work better. For the high-fashion industry, photographers are supposed to maintain their sacred positions and keep the distance from ordinary people to make people interested and keep the industry energetic. People always take Dove as an example to illustrate how they use ordinary people as a beauty product brand. However, Dove’s products such as shampoo are daily-used products that consumers do not have a very high expectation, When I saw ordinary people’s happy faces on the advertisement, consumers can build trust towards Dove just as how they are able to see themselves happily using the product, safe and satisfied. However, if consumers are purchasing luxurious Cartier or Bulgari, they are expecting to transform, to be more elegant wearing the jewelry. Therefore, ordinary model’s happy faces do not work anymore because what consumers expect to see is an ideal and perfect version that they could possibly transfer into.

Ordinary people make consumers feel less distanced but harder to create a trend as well. However, using celebrities can make consumers better recall the brand compared with using ordinary people.

As Kate mentions that choosing ordinary models is still an extension of commodity, the purpose is not purely encouraging people without perfect body shapes. Choosing ordinary people as models is still a method to gain likes from the public so that they can make more commercial profits. It is rarely because the industry wants to make changes but they just adapt to the market. It is an easy way to gain consumers’ trust since ordinary models are projections of us normal people, which means consumers will quickly identify with the brand. But what business owners want is that consumers pay for the value of “social equity, gender equity” added based on the product but has no practical use at all.

Kate also discusses “realist fashion”, and I think what we hate is not perfection but fakeness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVe-tGLRvo

The link is a Chanel No.5 perfume advertising inviting supermodel Giselle. I admit that I enjoy watching it because their appearances are pleasant to be looked at. Professional models make the advertisement have aesthetic values but what I don’t like is the storyline: an independent woman quits surfing immediately in order to better take care of her husband and run after him because she is touched by the little notecard and the perfume he left. The ad is too romantic without considering what choice should women make in real life and ignore the struggles women may go through in reality before making such decisions. People hate meaningless. Advertising should make consumers feel something such as the dynamic relationships women have with the world and the change in social responsibilities. Instead of merely presenting the product, consumers now are more curious about what can be brought through the product. No matter how photographers try to assimilate with everyday life, they still have to present with artistic values, and using professional models can help with that.

Next, social media helps break the boundary between ordinary people and the fashion industry to some extent. The idea of “Non-professional models reflects a simultaneous obsession with manufacturing celebrities out of ordinary people”(Rhodes) fascinates me. For example, The appearance of street fashion differs itself in high fashion by allowing ordinary people to participate, especially combining with social media. Consumers can tag the official account on Instagram and they have the chance to be posted on the official account. It is a clever way to attract more consumers and save the cost of having professional models. It makes people believe that they can own the fashion lifestyle by just simply purchase a hoodie.

https://instagram.com/antisocialsocialclub?igshid=1pdwigmee31tk

Bloggers/ Vloggers also utilize social media to fulfill ordinary people’s desire to see the potential of manufacturing celebrities out of ordinary people. Take make-up tutorial videos as an example, fashion bloggers usually are not afraid to show their faces without makeup. Unlike celebrities who have to be perfect every second in the public’s view, bloggers/vloggers act like friends who teach girls to be beautiful and grow up together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60YkNkqzoRU every time I watch their videos, I can see my potential to be prettier, which Agnes defined in the article as “process of becoming”.

However, it is not a self-empowerment but a loss of control since other people have a saying of the trend we have to follow since we make decisions based on others’ feedback. The author claims “ever-present prompt for its affirmation” in the article, and I like the expression of calling it “prompt” since females have to fill out the answers all the time, and then they score themselves. The blog/vlog culture consistently creates new standards that people will never fill out all the answers. How to take a photo for your ice cream: holding it in front of the beautiful view; how to introduce your outfit: holding a camera blocking your face and talk to the mirror; how to spend your spare time before going to bed: light up a candle and take a photo of you holding a book saying “goodnight” on social media...We have to live a life fulfilling some formulas all the time. It is pathetic for us to still falsely claim that we achieve the goal of controlling our lives but keep pursuing one goal after another with endless ripples. And I hope there comes the moment when we have more empathy for ourselves.

References:

Rhodes, Kate. The Elegance of the Every day: Nobodies in Contemporary Fashion Photography. Fashion as Photograph. Date of access: November 12, 2019.

Rocamora, Agnes. Personal Fashion Blogs: Screens and Mirrors in Digital Self-portraits. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Fashion, Body, and Culture.. 15:4, 407-424. Routledge: Taylor& Francis Group. April 21, 2015.

#advertising #fashion #social media #social standards #self love #security #marketingdigital

How “Bojack Horseman” is a perfect example of realistic animation.

The animation series depicts a world where animals and humans live together and interact socially. The visual production is simple and feels like a child’s drawing, but its perception and pressures endowed to the audience are realistic even depressing. I used to not understand why there have to be animal characters in the series, and why can’t they just use all humans to tell the story. After reading Jason Mittell’s “Cartoon Realism: Genre Mixing and the Cultural Life of The Simpsons”, I begin to understand that having animals and humans together is a way of genre mixing. According to the concept brought by Mittell, realism animation can take advantage of both emphasizing the realistic part (such as the content, dialogue, the storyline and so on), as well as the animation part to keep a distance from reality. In this way, it can avoid projecting too overloaded and depressing thoughts and feelings to the audience. Animation makes it easier to talk about dark issues and is ideal for its implicit distance. In the show, they are stressed about managing relationships, find life goals, pressures from a career-wise, unhappy childhood and so on. Such kept distance is well applied: animation has a relaxing coat to constantly remind people “don’t take it too seriously”, but also the realistic content makes the audience identify themselves with the show.

The differentiation between animals and humans is also meaningful. In Bojack Horseman, Mr. Peanut Butter is a dog, and Princess Caroline is a cat. They are never bothered by the question to figure out who they are. Princess Caroline has specific plans for her life and she always knows what she wants, which explains why she is so determined when making decisions. Mr. PeanutButter is always positive and cheerful. In contrast, human characters such as Diane and Todd are stuck in the self-questioning all the time. They are exhausted to figure out the answer, and Todd does not even know his true sexual orientation until after the seasons of the show. He stays at Bojack’s sofa every day and doing nothing, happily live inconsistent, gradual, but implicit pain. Comparing with the four supporting characters who can be clearly distinguished between animals and humans, the main character Bojack is the one hesitating between. The complex personalities and life issues he faces make the series much more than a cartoon but a realistic production that really motivates the audience to think through, just as how Jason mentioned in his work that its reflexivity and self-awareness breaks down the artifice and illusion, and brings in realism because producers usually project themselves in the production.

In the show, Bojack keeps questioning himself for what he wants and who he is: The scene depicting people keep asking him “Are you the one who was in the Horse-in Around Show?” “Are you Bojack?” repeats almost in every episode. Therefore, I consider it as a realistic animation, as Jason Mittell defined, a production with hyper-reflexivity and self-awareness. Besides, it examines universal human behaviors, which allows it to be relatable and have a larger audience base, as claimed by Rex Kruger. We do not fight with magic in real life, but we do try to figure out our self-identities. There are configured cultural hierarchies and norms, and the conflict between self and the outside world. Rex Krueger talks about how obeying the physics rule in the animation makes the series more realistic. In Bojack Horseman, there’s no falling from a skyscraper or jump out of windows, it mainly depicts how characters talk and only normal physical interactions. It may seem dry and simplified at first, but I feel a stronger desire to identify with them since that’s how we act in real life. Rex also mentions how the connection producing new experiences and a sense of reality when he talks about adaptation and appropriation. Bojack is a series initially online but I still see how connection produces realism between seasons. The opening title part of Bojack keeps along with the plot: other characters appear or disappear according to the plot as the background in Bojack’s house. Rex Kruger also talks about how “The Boondocks encourages the audience to question their own personal motivation” (315), and Bojack Horseman does a good job of using supporting characters to reveal and fulfill the main character: Hollyhock represents the childish side and ignorance of Bojack. It reflects the idea of how one’s identity is revealed and counter-projected by people around us. Bojack is the series that motivate the audience to question and think through, so it is realistic. Next, Rex defined “fluid relationships with current events” keeps an animation realistic, and Bojack season 4 often addresses social issues such as social media, online violence, gun control, and so on. In the form of animation, the cartoon enhances perceived realism, and it breaks sitcom and produces greater realism. And I like how animation allows production more freedom, as addressed by Rex: Bojack takes the drug and his emotions of craziness, black humor, being absurd can be shown without acting limitations but strongly relatable as well. Jason has brought up a concept called “Parody in the context of cultural life”, and in Bojack sometimes the audience will be reminded that some characters are animals when they almost forget the fact. For example, a polar bear wears shorts in winter; the license plate for Mr. Peanut Butter is “GOOD BOY”...Such balance will drag the audience back to the setting of animation and being relaxed. I think realistic cartoons still have to do a good job of keeping the balance by taking some seriousness out of the picture: it can’t be the behaviors, so animal appearances become the top choice.

Bojack Horseman season 6 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGxOQxXjdo&t=9s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGyxgE19Xjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8a_3KxB9uE

All in all, the depression and struggle, ironically, are my reasons to love this comedy cartoon.

References:

Mittell, Jason. The Velvet Lightrap. “Cartoon Realism: Genre Mixing and the Cultural Life of The Simpsons”. 2001. pp15-28.

Krueger, Rex. Animation. “Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks and Its Transition From Comic Strip to Animated Series”. 2010. pp 313-329.

#bojack horseman #realism #genremix #black humor

Blog post 1: Power dynamics between humans and the nature & True “owners” of human brains.

The endless pursuit of power socially and economically keeps stressing the problem and intense conflict. After reading Carol A Stabile’s article, I am impressed and start to think about the power of religion. In the case of whether abortion should be legalized, there are two separate groups as “pro-life” and “pro-choice”. The main argument held by “pro-choice” is the power endowed by women that they should be able to have total control and right of their bodies, which is criticized by “pro-life” as the pure pursue of such power is selfish. However, the essence of the “pro-life” group also has to do with power but being manipulated by the power of religion. I found a documentary movie poster (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwin7Nun8-zkAhVVuZ4KHZCzBWcQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Ftitle%2Ftt8948614%2F&psig=AOvVaw1orJvd3FkJmc9yzBPEXRR6&ust=1569532748586751) precisely depicts the conflict between individuals and authoritative groups: In the poster, a pregnant woman stands facing the supreme court by only showing her back. Comparing with the huge architecture, the woman seems pretty insignificant, and those countless steps indicate the metaphor of struggles and doubts she has to be through if she just wants the right to control her uterus. Besides, the court is in the dark, which makes me feel uncontrollable and mysterious, while the woman is standing under the light which emphasized how vulnerable she is to be attacked. The visual contrast of being huge and small, dark and bright can easily raise sympathy towards women themselves. As mentioned in the article that the development of visual technologies makes it possible to show “photos” of embryos. But the logic here is chop because simply defining women who choose to give up their babies as murder ignores the mental and social struggles experienced by pregnant women. Going back yo the poster, the woman firmly stands straight that indicates her determined mind to fight while putting her hands on her belly. Such physical gesture shows her instinctual care and love for her baby, which emphasizes that abortion is a decision made with deep grief after considering the reality. Therefore, the visual image shows that women are brave and pitiful. Next, the sculptures are positioned in the “God-like” view of point to show the repression towards female bodies. And it also functions as a metaphor saying how humans are still being manipulated and guided by the power of religions and natural law. At last, I consider the improvement of visual technologies as a sign of how human has earned more power facing nature.

I also think that pregnant women are de-humanized as merely tools for carriage the baby instead of a mother. For example, the case of the woman being charged after she gets shot proves such point of view: people tend to ignore the mother’s emotions and mental connection with the baby, and they assume her being cold-blooded. Even for women who choose to abortion, they make such a decision not because they want to merely follow their wishes but is actually a hard decision resulted after considering the financial situation, living environment, and social pressures. Therefore, After evolving and building human society for thousands of years, human brains are superior enough to make some changes against the natural law.

Next, Meredith’s work makes me think about whether we know our brains. As the visual technology develops, people are able to view the brain activities scientifically, and it makes brain an objective organ to be looked at. However, the idea of brain being an organ is also given by our brains. So are we have control over our brains as owners or are our bodies just physical forms used by brains to control us? Meredith W. Michales expresses his point: “brain is the source of literally all human thought, emotion, and behavior…”(2). It reminds me of two episodes from the Netflix series called Love, Death, and Roberts. One is called “Sonnie’s edge” which talks about Sonnie inserts and keeps her brain in the scary monster, which emphasizes the idea of how the brain can produce every single thought human have and they can independently exist without human, so humans are not their owners at all.video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6iupb9TWJE&has_verified=1In the episode called “The Whiteness”, there are several explanations towards the endings, but the most popular one defines that the girl and the man are trapped in this murder cycle and they have to repeat such a scenario endlessly. However, I noticed that when the girl is escaping on the street, a huge advertisement sign has the words “She’s MAD”.

I think the explanation could be that her brain is the source of everything but not serving her but control her. The girl is just a tool for the brain to exist and experience the world because every one of her single actions is composed and demanded from her brain, maybe even the definition of “self” is also a trick played by the human brain.

References:

Michaels, Meredith W. Brain Culture: Neuroscience and Popular Media. “The Rhetorical Brain.”2011. Accessed September 24, 2019.

Stabile, Carol A. Shooting the Mother: Fetal Photography and the Politics of Disappearance. January 28, 1992. Accessed September 24, 2019.

#brainpower #religion #abortion #socialstruggle #love death and robots

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