Passions
can be driven by political or emotional forces, but they
are increasingly influenced by commercial and outside persuasions.
The apparent need to represent ourselves with certain identifying
material objects and to categorize ourselves via the individuals
with whom we associate often comes directly from suggestions
in advertisements. Often we don't even know what we want
until we see it on TV, in a magazine, in the window of
a store, in people's home's or even on their body. We continually
turn to advertising, the very source of the production
of desire, to discover and determine our passions. The "good
citizen" buys the right things to represent himself or
herself -- whether a radical with a unique vision or another
wannabe who looks the same as everyone else. In a consumer
culture, citizens are obligated to assist the economy;
any shortage of consumption is equated with bad citizenship. The
Passions of the Good Citizen considers the desires
implicit in consumer choices and how media and advertising
drive those desires. The artists in the exhibition subvert,
challenge, and in some cases succumb to advertising's successful
marketing methods.
Sometimes we go
shopping to buy mere necessities, other times we are looking
to fulfill a deficiency or to reward ourselves for our
hard labor. When shopping, we get pleasure in the many
stages of consumption beyond ownership: the anticipation,
the browsing, and the purchase itself are all gratifying.
Ester Partegàs references the things we say to ourselves
while the register is printing the receipt. Her phrases
are often excuses we use to justify our purchase: "I am
worth it." "I should motivate myself." "I need a break." "Sacrifices
start tomorrow." Advertisers know our weaknesses. They
have scouted us out and know how to direct our impulses.
Successful advertising and marketing executives look past
what we think we want now and start selling us what we
will inevitably want in the future. When we don't know
exactly what we need, but have that desire to consume,
we look outward to discover what to buy. Consumption presents
a cyclical phenomenon: the more we consume, the more we
crave consumption -- we are always searching for what's
missing. We are never quite satisfied. This increase in
consumption can become an addiction. Corporations, brand
names, and images become equivalent to drugs, creating
rituals, diversions, and in some cases a sense of community.
Using an LCD screen in Times Square to project her classic
plea "Protect me from what I want," Jenny Holzer exposed
masses of people to a phrase using a method of dissemination
typical of advertising. Holzer warns onlookers of the dangers
of consumption and to use caution when feeling the urge
to buy; perhaps suggesting that, like many things in life,
accumulation of commodities should be taken in moderation.
As modern-day
good citizens we give back to our community by swiping
our credit cards through the machine at the checkout. Consumption
is made easy. The more familiar chain stores are, the easier
it is to purchase products. In Hello and Welcome,
Claude Closky shows how we look for friendly familiarity
when shopping - the welcoming gesture provides a comfortable
state in which to consume. Focusing on the stereotypes
we see in advertising and the repetitive nature of many
commercials, Closky points out our dulled awareness of
how we unconsciously try to fit into the models our society
produces.
In the early 1990s,
Sprite, a soft drink division of the Coca-Cola Company,
began an anti-marketing campaign aimed at teenagers who
were hip to the marketing "enemy." As years progressed,
these youngsters became skeptical of such promotion. This
resulted in a great deal of market research and Sprite's
transition from selling their product to selling the fact
that they understood the culture and, further, to selling
a part of a lifestyle. Sprite now promotes the hip-hop
lifestyle, where in order to fit in one needs baggy pants
as much as a Sprite in hand to complete the hip-hop identity.*
Large corporations have found more success persuading consumers
to make purchases towards an identity than buying an actual
product. In her video Everything You've Heard is Wrong,
Carey Young challenges the notions of what makes a successful
marketing campaign, as she stages a skills workshop on
corporate communication at Speaker's Corner in London.
In front of a background of other speakers with large audiences,
Young captures the interest of a small crowd of onlookers
who listen for short periods as she reveals how to hold
an audience's attention. Her action parodies the model
of corporate advertising where marketing departments are
only as successful as the numbers of people they convince.
Kristin Lucas
portrays both sides of the ever-watchful eye of the media
in her on-line therapy session mixing day-time TV with
surveillance camera footage. The character in Host looks
to the media to be reprogrammed in order to become more "standard." The
voice of the kiosk announces many options for advice, overwhelming
the character with choices. Marketing departments often
pay consumers to reveal what they desire through questionnaires,
yet we look outward for a sign that what we are doing is "right," or
at least similar to the way others do things. Advertising
looks to us and we constantly look back, maintaining the
cyclical structure. We form our personal identities in
many ways, including what we buy, use and wear. In the
fashion world, a "go-see" is when a potential model visits
a photographer in hopes of assuring a contract. Juergen
Teller invited young women to his studio for such visits,
and over the course of twelve months he documented the
many who came. These young women appear to be something
between sophisticated model and innocent girl. They clearly
look to the media to get an idea of how they should look.
They allow themselves to become commodities of desire,
using their beauty to mirror the very ideal they seek to
attain.
Consumers - good
citizens - create their identity based on what they buy.
We're not simply a passive audience aimlessly buying what
is handed to us, although it might often appear to be the
case. It is precisely that we know what the store and its
products signify that we patronize specific places. We
put our money where our mouths are and gain our identity
and, in the meantime, ascertain our power over specific
corporations. Michael Bevilacqua embraces consumer culture
and paints layered landscapes filled with icons that define
him as an individual. In GABBA GABBA HEY, 2002,
we gain a sense of who he is by his cultural influences:
the designer Steven Sprouse, the chain store Target, the
actress Nicole Kidman, the band Liquid Sky, his sons' scribble
drawings, and Japanese candy. Even if we don't know the
exact references, we recognize the signs of mass culture.
In our consumer
oriented society, we are progressively bombarded with ideas
and perceptions of what we want from the mass media. We
create our identities using symbols from advertisements
and rely on media to complete our personal statements.
Always slightly ahead of the game, marketers will continue
to do all they can to make us buy what it is they have
to sell, using whatever method it takes - from extremes
of realism or fantasy to the glorification of the simple
pleasures of life.
Heather Felty © 2002
*See transcript
of PBS's "The Merchants of Cool: A Report on the Creators
and Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers" http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/
The exhibition
title comes with permission from an essay
by Aldo Mosca, whose article discusses Aristotle's
concepts of emotions. "In Aristotle's vision, the emotions
are integral to a flourishing mind." |