CONSUMERISM: PERSUASION, SOCIETY, BRAND & CULTURE

In our lecture today, our talk was based on the title above. I found it very interesting because it really was an insight to how controlled human lives were in the Western society and what might seem desirable is more harmful to our conscious and unconscious minds.

• The aims laid out today that were to be brought up were:
•  Analyse the rise the US consumerism
•   Links between consumerism and our unconscious desires
•    Consumerism as social control

Sigmund Freud an Austrian neurologist was working on ‘theories of human nature’, came up with ‘psychoanalysis’ and stated that humans have ‘’hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts which needs controlling’’.

 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/sigmund-freud-1856-1939-photograph-everett.html

He also came up with a diagram structure of a human’s personality, based on the fact that our unconscious thinking drives our conscious thinking making us irrational beings and the most powerful species on earth.

http://www.kheper.net/topics/psychology/Freud.html

In one of his books titled ‘’Civilisation and its Discontents’’ (1930) he explains that human instincts are incompatible with the well being of community and that peace cannot exist because humans cannot fulfil this desire. The Pleasure Principle is where he thinks that the humans minds seek pleasure and avoid distress to satisfy needs or desires and that in turn causes chaos. An example of this is when World War I broke out, he said it ‘’shouldn’t be a surprise the whole world is trying to destroy ourselves’’, he felt saddened by this war and later on in life detached himself from other people.

We also talked about Edward Bernays (1891-1995) who was the first Public Relations (PR) agent at the time. He was a press agent during WWI, which is how post-war he became a PR. A Public Relations role is marketing big businesses.

He came up with a campaign, for a tobacco company because at the time women were allowed to smoke as it was more of a masculine activity and he stated that there the company have already lost most of its sales due to eliminating half of human society. During the 1929 Easter Day Parade celebration he decided to stage a scene where he funded by the tobacco company, a group of ‘debutantes’ were walking in different parts of the parade and at a moment lit up their cigarettes. This campaign worked very well because Edward created a link between cigarettes symbolising freedom, status, power and sex appeal. Again this is playing on the unconscious minds of females everywhere therefore prompting them to feel the need to start smoking and fulfil their desires. The phrase ’Torches of Freedom’ is used to describe the exploitation of women’s aspirations.

 He later became a man that was hired to do many celebrity endorsements and other PR jobs.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/02/27/torches-of-freedom-women-and-smoking-propaganda/

Other adverts that played on the idea of ‘’power’’, is the Oldsmobile car advert.

The advert poster as you can see it is convincing you that buying this car will get you ladies attention, which is sex appeal and power which is status.

Lastly, the book ‘’The Hidden Persuaders’’ written by Vance Packard raises all these points below which I shall think about through my work even when I am making animations and films because they will help to convey my message to my audience through my work.

•  Selling emotional security
•  Selling reassurance of worth
•  Selling ego gratification
•   Selling creative outlets
•    Selling sense of power

All this points above are what needs to be thought about in daily life so if there are changes we want to make then we should think about how we are advertising products and work because society will consume it one way or another.