Killing Us Softly 3

Kilbourne’s central argument is that advertisements not only sell products but concepts of society and normalcy while, at the same time, depict people, such as women, as objects available for purchase.

Absolut Adbustin

The “Absolute Hangover” ad is selling abstinence from alcohol.

According to “Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Desire,” this is the central difference between anti-ads and actual ads: the message. The chapter says that advertizing is not just asking individuals to consume products but consume semiotic meanings. It also calls anti-ads like Adbuster’s “Spoof Ads” examples of culture jamming — jamming different messages in consumer culture through “detournement,” or rerouting messages to create new meaning. In these anti-ads, mainstream values are questioned, bad labor practices are exposed, or negative effects of a product are shown. In the case of the “Absolute Hangover” ad, the negative effects of Absolut vodka are portrayed. The ad plays on the Absolut vodka bottle shape with a noose, clearly giving off the dangerous and suicidal ramifications of binge drinking. The semiotics, “Absolute Hangover” is both a play on the vodka’s brand name as well as a play on the image. The image of a noose implies “hanging” as the form of death, but the word hangover adds the more likely danger of feeling sick the morning after drinking. The spoof ad also lacks the bottle itself, therefore it lacks the “desirable” object in the normal ad. The actual Absolut ads are known for being “art,” according to the reading, and thus we as consumers seek Absolut as a form of “coolness and hipness.” The spoof ad therefore, also is going against the Absolut message by saying you don’t need Absolut to achieve this desired trendiness.

Adbusters

I chose the "Obsession for men" ad, with the man looking down his underwear. An actual ad may be selling the lifestyle of a well built guy who is that way because of his underwear or cologne choice. This one, however, is selling men poor self esteem and inadequacy on account of the size of their penis. Whereas a real ad would deliver the message that one's confidence/ self esteem/ penis size would be increased by buying the product and the lifestyle attached to it, this fake ad only delivers a message of shame, humiliation, and self consciousness. Whereas an actual ad would bluntly attempt to sell a product and subvertly sell a lifestyle and mindset, this fake ad sells only insecurity and absolutely no product.

Spoof Ad

This spoof ad shows a noose in the shape of a vodka bottle, which is the usual bottle shape used for Absolute Vodka ads, but in this case it is selling the idea of having an “Absolute hangover”. One essential difference between this anti- ad of Absolute Vodka and an actual ad promoting it is that the anti- ad lacks something that we as consumers “seek” or “desire”. In the actual ad Absolute Vodka has turned their “ad campaigns into art”, and have “established their brand as arty, original, and culturally informed. These are adjectives that us, as consumers, would like to be associated with or as. When we view the Absolute Vodka ad we “seek” wanting to have a good time, yet at the same time be culturally informed. While oppositely this anti- ad creates the idea that if we drink Absolute Vodka we will have a hangover, which will essentially be so physically painful it will feel as if we are getting hung by a noose. The anti- ad produces something that no one seeks or wishes to obtain, creating us to think twice before reaching for the bottle of Absolute Vodka.

Adbusting: Obsession Man

The spoof ad “Obsession Men” is a statement that the ad for underwear is really selling obsessive insecurities.

The essential difference between this ad and the ad which is mocked is the forwardness of the message. The viewer is aware of what the mock ad presents: they are consciously thinking about insecurity. However, when viewing the real Calvin Klein ad, they understand this message of insecurity on a subconscious level. This is an essential problem with advertising: their effectiveness is not direct. It is not a conversation between the advertiser and the viewer, but a subliminal messages received from the advertiser to the viewer. They aren’t selling a product. These ads are not about underwear. They are selling us the subtext of whatever ever ideal their underwear represents: You cannot look like this, but we can help you get closer than you are.

Blog 7 - Advertising Consumer Cultures Desire

In the spoof ad of "Reality for Men" the product that is being sold is the true image of men that is more realistic than Klein's model. This ad mocks the idea of consumerism which tells its people that there is always room for improvement in your life, whether it be your physical appearance, intelligence, and social life. In fact, you can buy all of the things that you are lacking in your life and these products are constantly being updated so that you are able to buy more and more of them. We buy these products thinking that will truly fulfill what we need in our lives but they surely don't and we continue to buy more because we want to find that product that doesn't exist. With the brand, Calvin Klein, we feel that since this brand is so popular we go buy the product because of the lifestyle and image it sells even though the product is often barely in the ads and are normal garments we can buy for cheaper. We are only paying for the brand. This ad goes against everything that Calvin Klein stands for which is being this physically fit, handsome, hairless man which as you can see is not reality.

Killing us softly, very softly, 3

Kilbourne argues that advertisements sell ideology, not just products or images, including an idealized female body that virtually does not even exist, which slowly causes the objectification of women.