Adbusters take on Advertisements

The advertisements created by Adbusters are a play on the motives and agency of the brands who have made a name on their marketing and ads. They expose the label's namesakes and poke fun at the absurdity of their claims. Absolut, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein all have an enormous amount of power and agency in regards to society. Their presence has impacted media culture and the forms of marketing used. This uniqueness has only increased their agency.

Tommy Hilfiger has become famous for being the fashion label of "America;" however, Hilfiger's idea of middle America and the country is usually something that resembles the Hamptons rather than rural America. Adbusters version strips down the ad and cuts through the bullshit to show us what the ad would really look like if it were to portray the message Hilfiger attempts to deliver.

The Absolut ad debunks the myth that in an Absolut world, anything is possible. As we've all heard, excessive drinking can lead to male impotence. So why then do liquor companies display an image of a man who drinks a specific alcoholic beverage as a sort of pimp like figure? In Adbusters Absolut world, not everything is possible.

Calvin Klein's underwear ads are infamous for being raunchy. In fact, numerous famous people have gotten their start in Klein's risque ads. Usually the men in the ads are very well endowed, almost to the point where it's obviously fake. Adbusters ad, the man is looking down his underwear, perhaps astounded just as much as the people who consume the ads.

All three of these brands/labels displayed in the ads have chosen the type of image they'd like to convey to the general public. Their billboards are plastered along highways and on buildings and bus stops throughout cities. The perpetuated labels and connotations towards these brands exist because of the brands choices and actions taken. This is their subjective agency. They attain these labels and reputations because of their associations.

Review of Semester

It’s amazing to see how much academia effects the way in which we live our lives. It didn’t take me until this class to realize the major control academia had on our lives. From what we learn to what do we I am just completely amazed at the power of academia.

But is academia always "good" for us. I began to ask myself this question after a class we had this semester. What would happen if academia disappeared? In the end though you begin to realize that this is how we structured our society. We had a group of people who were considered elite and had them decide for us what would be considered of importance for our minds. And in the end you also begin to understand the way in which society as a whole works, including the subject you become.

Final Blog Post

Cultural studies has made me rethink a lot over the course of this semester, and frankly I am very happy it has. I came into this class a young ignorant sophomore, but am leaving with my horizons broadened and the seeing the world in a different light. Frankly, the thing that has changed most for me is my own lifestyle and goals. I used to be so caught up with materialism and money. But after we studied things week after week and how big corporations own everything and I realized how everything is culturally connected. It makes me want to continue what I am doing (to become a filmmaker) but to do it with the things we learned in mind. To help others realize that everything is a product of something else, nothing is just what it is. I began to think and change my ideas the second I entered the class. I knew it was going to be my type of class as I love discussion classes, immediately after our first session I knew that this class would change and shape my thought process. The whole theory tool box really was interesting, but the chapters on race, and popular culture really intrigued me. It helped me to shape this new meaning because it opened up different views on these topics I had thought I knew about, but after being introduced to these new ideas and theories I was able to see how intricate everything is, and nothing is black or white. Being able to look at the world with my culture analysis is such a great tool to have, I am able to think and question almost everything and not just take it as it is. This class and study is not just a good tool, but a lifelong experience I will keep with me.

Cultural Studies: A semester in review

I remember it was around the fifth week of class that I was thinking about some theory that I can’t remember and I found something that related to it really easily and then I found that it related to another theory as well. I thought, wow that’s a coincidence but then it drew in my mind that maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that I could easily relate something to multiple theories and ideologies but maybe just maybe everything was all connected. Maybe it wasn’t that it was easy to relate a bunch of things to a theory, maybe the theory was everywhere and that’s why it was so easy to find things that related to it Freaky.

It was shortly after that that made me question my previous assumptions and understandings. On discussion we had that gave rise to my reconsideration was the discussion on prom. That was pretty messed up. I also don’t like the Author System anymore. Sure, Academia may be a little more educated than I am but who are they to tell what’s important to study and trust to have cultural capital. That’s a choice I want to make myself. What I’ve ultimately come to understand from this class is that everything, and I mean everything is culturally constructed and thus can be changed and shaped in a true or false image. That’s pretty deep stuff right there and only a little scary.

what are these ads really saying?

The 11.1 ad for Absolute Vodka is ironic, here they are trying to sell their product yet they are reminding their customers that after a night of drinking they might be unable to perform the way that they want and feel.  This could be a good warning for thier customers, the perfect reminder that after a night of drinking you might not really want to go home and hook up with someone but the intensity one might feel after drinking would usually result in going home with someone.  How many times have you heard, i wish i wouldnt have had sex with someone last night, i was so drunk! But at the same time, everyone knows that if guys have too much to drink they might not be able to perform later that night when it comes down to that moment.  Either way i feel this ad is using irony to remind its customers and viewers that  drinking too much can result in many bad decisions, and embarassment, they want you to enjoy the night and enjoy your drinks but not go too far overboard.  As for ad 11.2 i really dont understand this one at all, im not sure if its tryign to say be a sheep and follow what others do and buy Tommy? Or because Tommy is known for being a very American brand, maybe with the flag and sheep and barn setting its reminding the viewer of the true Americaness of Tommy? im not sure i do not understand this at all.  As for 11.3, this one made me laugh right away, the ad has a man in just his underwear peaking where the sun dont shine, with the caption reading "OBSESSION." Men have always been obsessed with their male parts and size and how they perform with it, Calvin Kline is just reminding their customers and viewers with their underwear its will be a good obsession and that everyman will look and fill the underwear out perfectly and make not only them obsessed with it but everyone else!

Adbusters and Agency

The point of the three Adbuster ads might be to illustrate the subjective agency of popular ad campaigns by re-creating the ads with an ironic twist. Two of the spoofs are directed at the masculine force of advertisements and the male demographic the ads are aimed towards. The Absolut Vodka ad shows the subjectiveness of the idea of drinking alcohol. The one-sided glamorization of drinking hard liquor is challenged with the headline, "Absolut Impotence," under a wilting bottle of vodka. Cause too much drinking makes your dick limp just as the overuse of unjustified claims allows the advertisers to manipulate their viewer's perception of agency. 

The Tommy Hilfinger ad, showing a cluster of sheep under an American flag, plays off the all-American, hard-working, "God's Country", farmland images that are often a main theme for Hilfinger ads. I interpret the spoof as making an analogy between viewers/consumers of advertising to the follow-without-question stereotype of sheep. We lose the perspective that we, as consumers, posses choices when it comes to what we wear and where we purchase it. 

The Clavin Kline spoof ad has the image of a buff dude looking down his boxers at his penis, under the massive headline, "Obsession." What is Calvin Kline trying to say when they use white, muscular/masculine men in only their underwear to sell their products? Will it make my penis bigger? Or even help to create an image of myself that says I must have something in common with Marky Mark's muscular bulge if I wear the underpants he has on in an ad? It's subjective how someone might view an ad with a manly-man stripped to his undies. The gay population would view it much differently than hetero-bodybuilders. Anyone can make an attempt at shaping a person's concept of their agency, manipulating them to act a certain way. Or we can realize how subjective agency really is and enable ourselves by making more well informed, thought-out decisions.   

Adbusters

The first picture I saw kind of makes fun of men and is suggesting that liquor makes men have the feeling of wanting to have sex but can't really have sex because of the liquor. Thats a funny way to look at it. I would say that the liquor company is saying you shouldn't drink or that it is making fun of all the people that buy their product. I'm not absolutely sure what the liquor company is trying to do but it seems to work if its in the chapter. The picture with the sheep is probably just saying that whoever wears their clothed, they are wearing a piece of a sheep. Their doesn't seem to be any negativity except for that your stealing sheep fur which can grow back. It is a pretty cool picture so maybe that is why it works. The third picture is just creepy. I don't want to see a man in his underwear looking at his crouch. That company is just being weird. I don't know who the intended audience is suppose to be but it must work. Maybe they think that the world is ready to see this and that it should be acceptable. I don't know why it has to be an obsession like that, I'm sure that their are healthy obsessions