Topic Development for Web:
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Responsive: Design Process 2 - Uk Greetings
I really like the bright colours and busy aztec pattern of this envelope, it's really stand out and proud. Defiantly something that would make a statement in a shop and row of cards.
I really like this idea of a pack of foldable pattern envelopes. It's interactive and stands out amongst others because of its unusual shape as well bright colour scheme and patterns.
Context of Practice: Potential Pratical
I looked at the idea of no brand after my essay on consumer culture. I found two brands which go on the idea of having no brand. There simple and plain design concepts. I thought this could be a good idea for my project and create a brand based on no branding.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Context of Practice: Essay Draft
How has consumer culture and the
media objectified people and changed society?
It could be said that
people are products of the society that they are born into and with the
emergence of consumer culture as old as the first civilisations (Ancient Egypt,
Babylon and Ancient Rome) it could be argued to of transformed society into
objectifying peoples identity’s based on there consumerism, especially in the
current, with a heavy influence from the media. Consumer culture is where the
buying and spending of the consumers define the economy; this culture is driven
by money and how buying and owning your own property can attain happiness where
your wants and needs are met. However consumer culture has become consumption
for its own sake through mass media and the promises of consumer culture not
being met for consumers. Instead of it fulfilling spiritual or aesthetic
desires it creates empty promises that leave the consumers more depressed and
insecure. This culture has consumed us and has led to the objectification of
people in society where they become a product of consumer culture through there
consumerism.
As Kalle Lasn writes in Culture Jam
(2000),
‘We are
being manipulated in the most insidious way. Our emotions, personalities and
core values are under siege from media and cultural forces too complex to
decode. A continuous product message has woven itself into the very fabric of
our existence.’ (P.xiii)
the culture has become part of us, our
coding, and we are no longer in control. Everything we eat, touch and wear has
a label attached to it, which is a semantic, so in turn immediately links to an
image, a value, a common understanding in which you are therefore judged on.
For example the Apple brand, if you are to have a macbook, iphone, ipad etc.
the brand connotations are attached to you. You are sleek, innovative, young,
good quality, expensive, clean, an iperson: as Lasn wrote, ‘We ourselves
have been branded.’ (Lasn, 2000, p.xiii). We have effectively become an
object determined by what we wear, what we drive, what we listen to and
ultimately what the media and culture say we are.
One of the main protagonists within the media
that enforces this nature of society is advertising. John Berger’s 1972 series of
'Ways of seeing' shown on the BBC opens with a very strong representation of
the medias creation with a very similar viewpoint as to that of Lasn:
"In our urban world, on
the streets that we walk, the buses that we take, in the magazines that we
read, on walls, on screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way
of life. We may remember or forget theses images, but briefly we take them in
and they stimulate our imagination either by way of memory or anticipation -
where is this other way of life?"
He explains that the culture in which we live in
is constantly challenged by a fantasy displayed in the media that we
aim towards by participating in consumerism. The door to this fantasy we long for is the object we
desire and the media fool us repeatedly into thinking that object
will transform our identity and we can become those we envy in the images
through consumption of the products. As a result our identity is branded by
what we own in the life we do live in and we are constantly judged on
them against the images in the media to place our gender, age,
sexuality and in particular our social status in society. Lasn’s theory wrote
in 2000 on consumer culture expresses similar views as what Berger could touch
upon in 1972. We have now become so immersed in consumer culture that ‘Most of us are now fully detached from the
natural world’ (Lasn, 2000, P4) and
it has caused this knock on effect where we brand ourselves by what we buy
unconsciously and consciously. The media has made us want more through
manipulative advertising and ‘We embrace
the value of More to compensate for lives that seem, somehow, less.’ (Lasn,
2000, P11) with gratitude to the images Berger states surrounds us of the
alternative way of life and encourages the fantasy of the ideal of gaining the
life the false image in the media portrays. Lasn explains that ‘the most powerful narcotic in the world is
the promise of belonging.’ (Lasn, 2000, P.xiii) and that this is best
achieved by conforming to the prescriptions of society. With the narcotic of
belonging numbing the lives that appear somehow less to those we witness in the
media, being on every corner for the right price there is a ‘manipulative corporate ethos’ (Lasn, 2000,
P.xiii) driving our culture. It’s highly addictive and short-lived but it
is indispensible and endless.
Lasn focus is on America but his theory speaks for consumer culture in
general when he writes ‘culture is no
longer created by the people.’ (Lasn, 2000, P.xiii). It is no longer what
stories are passed through generations that create our culture and whom we are
but we are now told by corporations with ‘something
to sell as well as to tell’ (Lasn, 2000, P.xiii), a story. Are culture is
now the spectacles that surround the production of culture such as brands,
celebrities and fashions and we are to listen, watch and based on that, to buy.
There is no room for authenticity or spontaneity; the media and consumer
culture have tamed the human spirit to be an object with an identity to project
an image that you are told to have, feel and behave like.
Dittmar has a very similar viewpoint on
advertising in consumer culture and she explains what it is that’s causes this effect
on people:
"Through the advertising
and fashion industries, consumer culture presents individuals with images that
contain "lifestyle and identity instructions that convey unadulterated
marketplace ideologies (i.e look like this, want these things, aspire to this
kind of lifestyle)" (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, P875). The symbolism
inherent in consumer goods can be defined as the images of "idealized
people associated with [the good]" (wright, Claiborne & Sirgy, 1992),
and the message is that buyers not only consume the actual good advertised, but
also its symbolic meanings (successful, happy, attractive, glamorous) thus
moving closer to the ideal identity portrayed by media models."
Dittmar in the 2008 edition of Consumer
Culture, Identity and Well-Being talks about how advertising and in particular
the fashion industry within consumer culture tell people what they should do,
feel and look like. She adds that the symbolisms within the goods are seen as
ideal and the individual think they will consume when having ownership eg.
successful, attractive, is through the idealized people that advertise it. The
fantasy portrayed in advertising, which Berger comments on, is therefore closer
because of the opportunity to gain this good the character has and to gain this
ideal identity you witness and want. The significant impact this has on individuals
is linked to the ideal identities that are portrayed. Advertising doesn’t just
promote the products but the lifestyle and identity instructions with it,
providing cultural ideals of beauty, success and happiness. The adverts present
the problem that produces the self-doubt and negative emotions but also present
you with a solution: buy this and it will enhance your sense of worth, in
better words ‘because you’re worth it’. The productions of our
culture have tapped into our emotions and from this a ‘material self’ is identified. The identity of a person is
expanded beyond the body to include material goods and those are what determine
the identity of a person, not themselves. The goods ‘have become modern means of acquiring, expressing and enhancing your
identity’ (Dittmar, 2008, P12) and generate your social status and
personality where you are constantly trying to improve yourself with hope of a
better identity.
Not only does the media in consumer culture have this power of leaving
us constantly wanting for a better life, identity and status but also has the power
to manipulate what we in fact desire. Its power of manipulating us is through
our emotions where we can be persuaded into feeling and thinking differently
which inevitably leaves us not only being defined by objects we own but also
subconsciously being told what objects we should and should want to be defined
by. Advertising alters what we want, what we belief and what we value in life
by encouraging emotions when selling objects which John Berger states in his
four part series:
"Emotion is a factor in
persuasive advertising that aims to change viewpoints and not simply to
demonstrate the logical implications of data. In the grip of an emotion, a
person not only feels differently, but also tends to think differently.
Advertising that resonates emotionally stands more chance of inducing a change
in beliefs and values/motives/wants/desires than one based on logic
alone.”
The emotions that would once define a
person’s state now are associated with brands and objects: "Hunger
equals Big Mac. Drowsiness equals Starbucks. Depression equals Prozac." (Lasn,
2000, P41). Depending on what brand you relate emotions to and react upon
determines what kind of person you are and begins to define you to the rest of
the world. These brands have now become forms of communication for others to
acknowledge, process and judge you upon.
In modern society communication has changed, "material
possessions provide people with information about other people's
identities." (Lury, 2001, P8) and there is now a ‘“importance
ascribed to the ownership and acquisition of material goods in
achieving life goals" (Richins, 2004, P210)’ (Dittmar, 2008, p22) as a prime indicator of success to others.
The key to happiness and self- definition is through your material goods as
your self is made up of what you own. What you own then indicates your life
achievements and how successful you are, providing the rest of society with
your identity. Consumer culture has become the key to happiness and the answer
to solving our emotions as well as telling us what they are. Individuals start
to feel depressed by their status in society and the constant need of
achievement with new possessions changing what defines success. As a result ‘You
buy a house with three bathrooms. You park your BMW outside the double garage.
When you grow depressed you go shopping.’ (Lasn, 2000, P55) because the
only way to solve your emotion and lack of worth is through the promises the
media give, people want to believe what the media believes, that you are in
fact worth it. These aren’t delivered so you keep shopping in hope of happiness
only for it to be short lived and disappointed.
Lasn writes how consumer culture has control of
our emotions and how the constant determination to enhance our status and identity
in society has also affected our social culture. Our social culture once
defined individual’s identities but it is now that the consumerist cults
rituals that defines them:
"The cult rituals spread
themselves evenly over the calendar: Christmas, Easter, Summer Olympics,
Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Halloween. Each has its own imperatives - stuff you
have to buy, things you have to do." (Lasn, 2000, P55)
Due to the media encouraging consumer culture
every aspect of our lives is ruled over by this degradation of being a mere
object to be manipulated to consume. The narcotic of belonging is relevant
again, as if you aren’t to celebrate through the products of consumerism and as
the media tell you to then you are outcast as strange and are somehow
unfortunate and lacking in life. What used to be events and rituals of culture
from tales and history that defined us have become points of contact with even
more mass consumption and economic booms for the spectacles producing culture
and it this new consumption ritual that now defines us. A prime example of the
mass effect of consumer culture and the medias influence is Christmas. A once
religious holiday based on love and family has been transformed to one where
you are to ask and receive without question to still not be satisfied and shop
in the discounted sales immediately after to try gain contention. The
traditional generation of culture has now been lost through the media as they
dictate what beliefs, memories and activities that make up your culture should
be through highly publicized imagery which people copy instead of set. People
of the culture have now lost control and now ‘[The]
family trip to a shopping mall is the present-day incarnation of the
sacred’ (Bauman, 2004, P71) leaving the true origins of our identity and culture built over
centuries being lost to consumerism.
This can be shown in particular in an
advertising campaign combining of Selfridges, a high end department store that
transformed the shopping experience from the early 1900’s, Mother, a massive
advertising agency known for it’s ‘anti-advertising’ and a feminist, conceptual
artist Barbara Kruger. Kruger created a series of work which attempted
to reflect the pressures of consumption on women and to expose and challenge
the notion of identity construction through acts of consumption using phrases
such as ‘I shop therefore I am’. Her work was a materialistic version of René Descartes "cogito ergo sum", translation ‘I think, therefore I am’, which
supports Lasn’s theory that a person is defined not by what they think but what
they own through there consumption. Kruger’s art was then used as part of a
three-year collaboration campaign for Selfridge’s January Sales:
The campaign brought the art into every day life but
only with the price of having to have a company logo and sponsorship deal along
side. Aiming it at a cultured middle class consumer the ‘edgy’ campaign openly
expressed the emptiness at the core of the capitalist lifestyle with the joke
being on the customers of Selfridges. If they aren’t to laugh along and be seen
as in on the joke like the ‘educated’ and ‘cultured’ then they fear to not
appear sophisticated, post-modern and media-savvy. What once was fine art that
was an incorporation of phrases on the distortion of desire and corporate
capitalism has been fed into the consumer culture to boost the culture for
further profit and gain and actually mocks us at the same time. This is a true
example of how deranged culture has become through consumption and mass media
advertising. People have lost the control of culture as the media and
corporations, in this example Selfridges and Mother, dictate what the culture
is and places people in positions with only one direction to follow in order to
stay in a status of society, laugh along with us. People aren’t to think for
themselves any longer, the natural way of living is lost beyond the
manufactured one and comes with waterproofing, breathable, adjustable fit for
all day comfort. Every connotation of life has features and fittings to make
life more ideal to live but happiness always comes with a price of consumerism.
This is a depressing factor of the transformation of society and people due to
consumer culture and its media but even the depression benefits them as stated
earlier: ‘when you grow depressed you go
shopping’ (Lasn, 2000, P55).
Not only has this loss and control of culture
objectified people but also it has in fact changed society, ‘our culture has evolved into a consumer
culture and we from citizens to consumers’ (Lasn, 2000, P63). Consumer culture
and the media have changed us from people into an object to be aimed at to sell
something, feeding our insecurities for profit and manipulating us for
self-system gain. It is a violent system that seduces us and gives us a sense
of security in society as ‘It is in acquiring,
using and exchanging things that individuals come to have social lives.’ (Lury,
2001, P12). Without this system we would merely exist and therefore we
can’t help but be controlled by the consumption. With a significant impact on
individuals linking to the ideal identities that promote lifestyle and identity
instructions displayed in the media and advertising it would be hard to escape
the system.
Lasn doesn’t see any evidence of this
changing and neither do I as now there is an Americanization of the world.
American culture has been imperialized and forced upon other cultures until the
cultures unify and adopt American cultures ways of thinking even when it’s not
in the cultures best interest. This globalization has meant that this culture
is produced to benefit and feed consumer culture and the nature of this becomes
part of an individual, as it is now there culture. America’s values are
broadcasted in every area of the world not only in fashion trends and design
but also the media. You can be this person that the culture is saying to be and
the media demonstrates this through images that tell you, you can be whoever
you want to be by buying. The domination of the culture means that you want to
be what you see everywhere and what you see everywhere is America. America is
who lead the world in showing western values as they have control off mass
media whether that is in fashion or film, the propaganda is surrounding
cultures and molding them to fit the right attitudes to support consumer
culture.
In conclusion there has been a clear
transformation on society and the people who live within it due to consumer
culture and its constant growth in the media. People have become an object of
the culture as it steadily transforms every aspect of life into an object to
sell and they become fully detached from the natural world and immersed with
the images surrounding them instructing consumerism. Consumer culture has
affected our identity, emotions, social communication and our values. It is a
powerful and manipulation system which has accessed our self and been exploited
for profitable gain. This system has created a constant need for wanting and a
unreachable promise of satisfaction through idealized and manufactured imagery
displayed in a variety of media. The world has been westernized for economic
excess but in this has actually objectified people and lost the creation of
culture that allows people to define themselves. Instead a replacement of
depression and mass product consumption has formed as society struggles to
survive amongst all the mass communication. The line between fantasy and
reality has been disguised and society has begun to feel it possible to achieve
their desires that are only manipulated and artificial images leaving society
in despair with an unattainable goal. This is a constant fight people have in
society today as they try and maintain an identity and ride the wave of
consumer culture. What is more of a challenge to comprehend is how can we confront
it when it’s controlling every decision we make.
Bibliography
Kalle Lasn (2000). Culture Jam.
New York: Harper Collins. Pxiii.
Helga Dittmar (2008). Consumer Culture,
Identity and Well-Being - The Search for the 'Good Life' and the 'Body Perfect'.
East Sussex: Psychology press. P7.
Celia Lury (2001). Consumer Culture.
Oxford: Polity. P8.
Bauman (2004), Identity, page 71
David B. Clarke (Editor), Marcus A. Doel
(Editor), Kate M. L. Housiaux (Editor) (2003). The Consumption Reader.
New York: Routledge.
John Berger (1972) 'Ways of seeing - Advertising',
Parts 1-4, BBC (www.youtube.com)
Available from:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmgGT3th_oI>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q0JvXiZw7o>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbebPdXv70w>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAJovNjXMTs>
Thursday 24 January 2013
Context of Practice: Lecture 12 - Globalisation and the Media
markets become more powerful in influencing decisions about future of the globe rather than the government
largely western organisation more powerful than countries
a system where restrictions on trade, borders, and countries power
dominate western specifically american culture taking over the globe
americanisation of the world
telecommunications - systems expanded so much - made us all connected
foreign countries
principles of the rigid hierarchy
part of a machine - only make part of the burger
more interconnected as a species
can see what i do effects on someone else
friendliness and society of the village would improve to - more effective knowing our actions and consequences
60s - radio and invention of tv and phone lines
technology extends the capabilities of people
global scale
brings us together
can experience the effects of what we do on every other person in the world
we can see major events all around the world from anywhere from the world
capitalised global force slowly trying to eat up through economic and intellectual means everyone else
global resistance in variety of forms
not bringing us together at all
has brought us together as friends in a 'village' where we all love and get along
enhanced businesses instead
entirely unaccountable
Starbucks - not paying tax here - got away with it - globalised company -not based here even though have tonnes of shops
don't have to answer to government
imperialism - one country will try take over an empire by taking over loads of place and run them as a massive empire
forcing your culture on other country - so your culture becomes there so you don't have to take over because they feel the same
drip feed by western culture on third world countries
made to think not there best interest but more and more towards the westerns way
witnesses the rise of an increasingly homogenised popular culture
news/magazines
giant companies own loads of smaller things but all goes to the man coporation
all the companies 'time warner' they own:
control AOL
Cinema - where films get shown, how long for
Loads of magazines - every part of your life, every interest, all different places in the world
Loads of areas of the media
Profit the same company
spread out to every country across the world
slightly repackaging and sell it across the world - the hot new thing from america
media broadcasted to the rest of the world
you can be whoever you want to be by buying things
nasty side of globalisation
domination
skin whiting cream - biggest seller
from every single advert and side and tv programme is showing white western values
critic of the media
propaganda
5 ways the news operates as propaganda
this idea that if its in the news than it must be real
news is fabricated lies - not about facts or reality
most our news and tv
1/3 of the market share of all the newspapers in britian
said the sun had the power to get a government into power
government would try and win him in order to get in to power
only as objective as it's aloud to be
only aloud to report what your aloud to report
an advert is actually over the news
private companies pulling news stories because they didn't want the horrible story being next to the beautiful product
private multinational companies
propagandise stories
companies set up to feed the stories in there interest
financed by exxon, texaco and ford
brought out positives stories about global warming saying it wasn't happening
through western history
have to define ourselves by demonising other people
at the same time implicitly justify your life and the way you live your life
manipulative media system
very subjective
nothing to do with reporting the reality of the world
mass media has incredible power of shaping peoples lives
movie - realised the power of cinema to effect peoples decisions
own propaganda wars
competitive enterprise institution
spend loads of adverts
trying to say carbon dioxide is good or the planet
'they call it carbon dioxide, we call it life'
solutions to buy your way out and to recycle
whats the point if every massive company is dumping its toxins in the water
capitalism is a system - in order to stay it needs to expand and expand
more and more markets
how can you have sustainable growth
this fuel that meant to save the world - biofuel
cheapest place too do it
working class district - kicked people out of house, built up massive factory
created noise pollution, polluted river
social and environment harm
make there products look greener to get people to buy it - feel more eco friendly
mcdonalds from red to green
thought it would make them appear greener more eco
the car less effective and more pollutive
marketing technique
no way you can save the world through buying
reckless desire for things
radio you could listen to from junk and run on elephant dump
can't be mass produced because theres no profit
kleenex culture - society of instead of having handkerchief and use repeatedly and last a long time rather buy something really cheap and throw it away
unattainable
bamboo bikes
adbusters shoe
cultural jammers
use the media
activism
the power the media and the opinion of the people want change
Globalisation & the Media Richard Miles 2013
„Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends,
the term “globalization” has quickly become one of the most fashionable
buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debate. In popular
discourse, globalization often functions as little more than a synonym for one
or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal (or “free
market”) policies in the world economy (“economic liberalization”), the growing
dominance of western (or even American) forms of political, economic, and
cultural life (“westernization” or “Americanization”), the proliferation of new
information technologies (the “Internet Revolution”), as well as the notion that
humanity stands at the threshold of realizing one single unified community in
which major sources of social conflict have vanished (“global integration”)‟
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/globalization/
„If we are talking about the “cultural”, we are concerned with the symbolic
construction, articulation, and dissemination of meaning. Given that
language, music, and images constitute the major forms of symbolic
expression, they assume special significance in the sphere of culture ... Yet
cultural globalization did not start with the worldwide dissemination of rock „n‟
roll, Coca-Cola, or football‟
Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A very Short Introduction, page 69
„American sociologist George Ritzer coined the term “McDonaldization” to
describe the wide-ranging sociocultural processes by which the principles of
the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of
American society as well as the rest of the world‟
Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A very Short Introduction, page 71
„Does globalization make people around the world more alike or more
different? ... A group of commentators we might call “pessimistic
hyperglobalizers” argue in favour of the former. They suggest that we are not
moving towards a cultural rainbow that reflects the diversity of the world‟s
existing cultures. Rather, we are witnessing the rise of an increasingly
homogenized popular culture underwritten by a Western “culture industry”
based in New York, Hollywood, London and Milan‟
Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A very Short Introduction, page 70
Key Concepts
Global Village
Globalisation
Cultural imperialism
Ecologism / Deep Green ideology
Bibliography
Steiger, M. (2003) Globalisation: A Very Short Introduction
Chomsky, N. (1988) Manufacturing Consent
Hughes, J. (2000) Ecology and Historical Materialism
McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding Media: Extensions of Man
Also, watch
Dir. Guggenheim, D. (2006) An Inconvenient Truth
Dir. James, E. (2011) Just Do It
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