Media is everywhere in our society. The large mass of media that surrounds us goes almost completely unnoticed. Everywhere I look there is an advertisement. When many people hear the word advertisement they assume its something like a 30 second infomercial on television or a colorful billboard, but they come in other sneaky forms. Many of these sneaky advertisements come in small forms like the name Honda on the front of your Accord or the Starbucks symbol on the cup holding your mocha cappuccino. Every company puts their name on every product they make for distribution. The advertising world turns us, the consumer, into walking billboards. Their products that we wear or hold or carry are all being advertised by you.
"Why would they have turn to the consumer to advertise" you ask.
The masses of advertisement cause us to form an immunity to most of the most basic forms of advertising. It has become such a part of our lives that we don't think it any more abnormal than having 10 toes.
I'm not saying i have never fallen victim to this world of advertising.
Everyone knows the telltale moose that Abercrombie and Fitch puts on all of their clothing. Whenever you by their over expensive clothing, you are not paying for the cloth used in making that shirt. However you are paying for that little moose that sits in the bottom corner of your shirt and advertises abercrombie clothing to everyone you see that day. At the beginning of seventh grade, I was perfectly fine with my clothing i would get from target. I had no care for fashion or what other people thought and would wear plaid shorts almost everyday of the week. After a few weeks in middle school i began to be conscious of what other people thought about how i dressed and suddenly my target clothing wasn't good enough. You weren't cool unless you bought your clothes from Abercombie or Hollister. I suddenly would myself paying hundreds of dollars to buy a few shirts and shorts to add to my wardrobe. I became a walking advertisement everyday of the week. I realized after the initial euphoria washed away that there was nothing special about their shirts except that they said the name of the store across the front.
Since my experience i realized that everywhere i will always be a walking billboard.
Great post Alexa! I had never really given much thought about all the little logos' effects on the consumer, but now I've realized just how often I, too, have "fallen victim" to this form of advertising.
ReplyDeleteThese little logos can be surprisingly effective. When we see others wear or have a certain brand, we begin to desire it, too. It's definitely a subconscious thing.
I love your Abercrombie and Fitch example, as this was true in my experiences as well. Especially when a brand or logo has that strong of a meaning to people (reification!), we feel the need to buy their product in order to feel “cool” or part of an elite. Just as these logos brand their companies, we are labeled by others when we wear or have the brand’s name plastered on the front of the product, and that makes us want their merchandise even more.