Beyond the Brand

Welcome

2008-04-21T21:49:37Z

Hello and welcome to Beyond the Brand. I am Barbara van Santen, and I have studied Graphic Design and Art History. At the moment I am studying Culture Sciences at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. I have experienced the gap between the creative practical world of Graphic Design and the theoretical world of Art History and Culture Sciences. I think it is important for designers all over the world to understand the theoretical side of visual communication. With this in mind I created this weblog for young designers who are interested in knowing more about the world beyond the logos they design.

Consumers are like Brainwashed Sheep

2007-05-30T12:06:03Z

The Brand Channel features the ongoing Brand Debate, and visitors are asked to take sides: one is either Pro Logo, and believes that consumers manipulate brands, or No Logo, and considers that brands manipulate consumers. Chris writes on the forum that:

Long ago in a shop far far away there were two piles of soaps, both smelled nice and looked the same. Then Soap A decided to call their soap Rainfresh and wrapped the soap in blue paper, they created a brand to separate them from the other soaps. People would feel special purchasing it and they could remember it by name, creating top-of-mind awareness of their product. And that's it! It's not a worldwide plot to exploit people, it's about choice. NO LOGO has NO POINT.

Naomi Klein and the Adbusters would not agree. Adbusters subvertisement Follow the Flock ]]> No Space, No Choice, No Jobs Naomi Klein’s No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs has been called ‘the bible’ of the anti-brand movement worldwide, despite the design of the title on the cover looking like a hip brand in itself. She argues that corporations are concerned with marketing their images and lifestyles through their manipulative brands. Branding, over the years, has changed radically. “Whereas 25 years ago a brand meant boxes and bottles, packets and cans, today the term can equally as well be applied to utilities, football teams, political partners and charities” (Clifton). Klein uses Phillip Knight, a spokesperson of Nike, as an example, who stated: “We are no longer a sneaker company. We are selling the idea of empowerment [...] we are enhancing people’s lives through sports and fitness, and keeping the magic of sports alive” (Klein, 2000, p. 23). Klein believes that our public spaces, such as our streets and schools, have been taken over completely by billboards and other branding manifestations of multinational corporations. These multinational corporations impose a homogenous culture on society through their brands. Richard Andrews writes on the Brand Channel that a “logo means we pay 500% more for the same badly made, sweatshop clothing compared to the same item without a logo. The only use of a logo is to appeal to our vanity and aspirations. It satisfies the basic human need to belong, to be part of a tribe.” Naomi Klein would agree with Andrews, she believes that brands are selling a kind of psuedo-spirituality, an artificial sense of belonging to a community. The ethical side of the working conditions of the multinational corporations is also examined in No Logo. Globalization has led to companies moving their production to the third world countries where they can extract more surplus value from labour, exploiting the workers in their so-called sweatshops. Multinational corporations create a situation where impoverished nations have to compete with each other as to who has the lowest minimum wage, and the lowest production costs (Camp Catatonia). Klein wants to ignite a global protest against the multinational corporations, symbolized by their logos. She considers society to be at “the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands” (Klein, 2000, p. 446). In contrast to Chris, Klein believes that No Logo has a point. Culture Jamming: Unswooshing America Culture jammers, a loose global network of media activists, believe that people have been thoroughly branded by multinational corporations, and no longer have access to a free authentic life in the multitrillion brand called America. Culture jamming is the “the practice of parodying advertisements and hijacking billboards in order to drastically alter their messages [...] Culture jamming badly reject the idea that marketing – because it buys its way into our public spaces – must be passively accepted as a one-way information flow.” (Klein, 2000, p. 280). Culture jamming is based on the Situationists idea of detournement, which is defined as “an image, message or artifact lifted out of its context to create a new meaning” (Klein, 2000, p.282). Kalle Lasn is the editor of the Vancouver-based Adbusters magazine, and wrote the book Culture Jam: how to reverse America’s suicidal consumer binge – and why we must, declaring war on billion-dollar brands. Adbusters are the self-described ‘house organ’ of the culture-jamming scene, and they believe that we exist in a culture ‘addicted to toxins’ that are poisoning our bodies, our ‘mental environment’ and our planet. Adbusters hope to eventually spark a ‘paradigm shift’ in public consciousness (Klein, 2000, p. 286). The Adbuster’s Culture Jam manifesto states that:

We will take on the archetypal mind polluters and beat them at their own game. We will uncool their billion-dollar brands with uncommercials on TV, subvertisements in magazines and anti-ads right next to theirs in the urban landscape. We will seize control of the roles and functions that corporations play in our lives and set new agendas in their industries. We will jam the pop-culture marketeers and bring their image factory to a sudden, shuddering halt. On the rubble of the old culture, we will build a new one with a non-commercial heart and soul.

Adbusters use the exact same communication tools as their enemy, namely advertisements and commercials, to manifest their idealism. This is a remarkable development, because idealism in graphic design has slowly vanished since the eighties. The time when there was faith in progress, and when art, social engagement and political awareness all came together in a single formal principle, has passed. There is no longer a clear division between left and right, and good and bad. However, the theory that the present generation of graphic designers is without idealism is too simple, and Adbusters demonstrates that idealism has not completely vanished from graphic design today (Ten Huis & Haase, 1999, p. 283). Adbusters subvertisement Joe Chemo Adbusters subvertisement Absolut Impotence Adbusters subvertisement McDeath * Clifton, R. (2002). “Editorial: Brands and our Time”, in Brand Management, Vol. 9, No. 3. * Lasn, K. (1999). Culture Jam. New York: Haper Collins. * Klein, N (2000). No Logo: no space, no choice, no jobs: taking aim at the brand bullies. New York: Picador. * Klein, N (2004). The Persuaders. Interviews: Naomi Klein. Frontline. * Ten Duis, L. & A. Haase (1999). The World must Change – Graphic Design and Idealism. Amsterdam: Sandberg Instituut. * Camp Catatonia

Consumers are like Immune Cockroaches

2007-05-30T12:02:52Z

Not all people agree with Naomi Klein, myself included, and don’t consider branding “a company’s manipulative attempt to white-wash over third-world production, horrible labor practices, monopolistic distribution, and consumer brainwashing” (Brand Channel). Michel Chevalier and Gerald Mazzalovo, in their book Pro Logo: Brands as a factor of progress, and Sameena Ahmad, in her article called Pro Logo: Why Brands are good for you, critize Naomi Klein’s No Logo, and give another, refreshing, side of the branding story. In the words of Chris Raab, written on the website of Brand Channel: “Brands sometimes guide consumer decisions; decisions consumers make guide brand decisions. The relationship is reciprocal, not unilateral”. ]]> Why Brands are not the Enemy Michel Chevalier and Gerald Mazzalovo wrote in their book Pro Logo: Brands as a factor of progress, that brands are considered the ideal scapegoat by radical anti-globalization activists who are inspired by Klein’s No Logo. According to the activists, brands equal commerce and capitalism, and are considered as the symbol of a future where people will become machines, only programmed to consume. However, Chevalier and Mazzalovo regard brands neither good nor evil in themselves, and consider them a “force for progress to the degree that they are well managed and that the consumer behaves responsibly” (Chevalier & Mazzalovo, 2004, p. 4). Why Brands are Good for You The Economist published an article written by Sameena Ahmad called Pro Logo: Why brands are good for you in September 2001. Ahmad critizes the arguments presented in Naomi Klein’s No Logo, and finds them exaggerated and inaccurate. She perceives Klein’s arguments to be based on the assumption that helpless consumers are seduced by powerful multinational corporations through alluring brands, symbolized by their logos. This picture of passive consumption does not match reality: according to studies consumers have become very fickle. Thus, if big brands make more noise, “it is out of desperation” rather than out of arrogance, they can be seen as the victims in this situation. Ahmad points out the “wrongheadedness of the ‘anti-brand’ movement, and highlights the broad economic and social benefits of brands” (Clifton). She wrote that:

Brands began as a form not of exploitation, but of consumer protection. A brand provided a guarantee of reliability and quality [...] The flip side of the power and importance of a brand is its growing vulnerability. Because it is so valuable to a company, a brand must be cosseted, sustained and protected. A failed advertising campaign, a drop-off in quality or a hint of scandal can all quickly send customers fleeing.

The association of brands with a lifestyle rather than with a product quality makes corporations more vulnerable, not more powerful, as consumers “will tolerate a lousy product for far longer than they will tolerate a lousy lifestyle” (Ahmad). Jonathan Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum wrote in their article Talking to Today’s Cynical Consumer that:

Consumers are like roaches. We spray them with marketing, and for a time it works. Then, inevitably, they develop an immunity, a resistance.

Ahmad concludes that companies use brands to influence consumers, but that in turn, consumption is a reflection of the influence of the brand has on the consumer. The New Coke Fiasco A good example of the influence the consumer has on a multinational corporation is the introduction of New Coke in 1985 by the Coca Cola Company. In the beginning of the eighties, the Coca Cola Company was losing the cola war to the Pepsi Cola Company. Studies showed that people preferred the taste of Pepsi. This was confirmed by the popularity of Diet Coke, which tasted more like Pepsi. The Coca Cola Company then created New Coke, based on Diet Coke. Taste tests showed that people really liked the new drink, and found it to be better than either Coca Cola or Pepsi. The Coca Cola Company decided to discontinue classic Coca Cola, and only sell New Coke. This was a fatal mistake, millions of surprised Americans were outraged that this traditional soft drink was taken off the market. The passion for the original Coca Cola was stronger than the company had anticipated. The Coca Cola Company then returned the original drink on the market, and this product gained popularity again, defeating Pepsi in 1986 (Mikkelson). As spokesman of the Coca Cola Company said after the failure of New Coke; "today we discovered we do not own the brand, the consumer does". Of course brands create a world around their product through advertising to sell it more effectively, thus influencing the consumer. But to regard consumers as passive factors in the world of powerful multinational companies is a mistake, which the failure of New Coke can prove. * Ahmad, S. (2001). “Pro Logo: Why brands are good for you”, in The Economist, issue 08-09-2001. * Clifton, R. (2002). “Editorial: Brands and our Time”, in Brand Management, Vol. 9, No. 3. * Chevalier, M. & G. Mazzalovo (2004). Pro Logo: Brands as a factor of progress. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. * Mikkelson, B. Knew Coke. Retrieved at http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/newcoke.asp, 30-05-2007. * People’s Weekly World * Campt Catatonio

A Truly English Romantic Comedy made with American Dollars

2007-05-21T11:51:22Z

The romantic comedy image of Bridget Jones Diary has been superbly marketed. As a brand identity, the term ‘romantic comedy’, despite its vagueness, carries a great commercial potency for distributors and reviewers, as these films have been incredibly popular in Hollywood, and with audiences, over the past two decades (Krutnik, 2002). Bridget Jones Diary is a great example of a romantic comedy, a ‘chickflic’, whose charm is enhanced because of its British appeal, and a sympathetic full-figured heroine with everyday embarrassments, and this led to the production of a sequel. ]]> Hollywood Loves England From the mid 1990s onwards, the US became more interested in romantic comedies imported from England and Australia. This was a result of the international success of Four weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. Both films featured a big British star (Hugh Grant) and a popular American actress (Andie McDowell and Julia Roberts respectively). “The remarkable success of Notting Hill encouraged Hollywood involvement in such co-productions as Bridget Jones Diary which similarly capitalised upon the exotic appeal of British cultural and scenic milieus” (Krutnik, 2002). At the end of the trailer of Bridget Jones Diary it is stated that this film is from the makers of Four weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, accentuating the ‘Britishness’ of the film. The producers did not want Bridget Jones’s Diary to be Americanized in any way, despite the fact that Renee Zellweger (who plays Bridget Jones) is American. The loss of Bridget Jones’s British trademark vocabulary, for instance, 'fuckwittage' and 'v.g', would change the whole film, and this had to be avoided at all costs. For fans of the scenic English locations of Bridget Jones Diary, you can find them posted online. Bridget Jones Diary was shot mostly in London, and in the English countryside, including the Cotswold Hills, the stone-built village of Snowshill, London's Holland Park and Notting Hill restaurants (The Observer). Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason The film company, Working Title, has seen Bridget Jones Diary shoot to the top of box offices on both sides of the Atlantic. A senior source at Miramax told the press:

We think Americans will go in a big way for Bridget and we could be into a three-part series [...] It's a Hollywood tradition; a good, old idea is usually better than an untested one. If a movie is a blockbuster, or sometimes if it just turns a profit, studio executives usually aim for a sequel.

A sequel was produced: Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason in 2004, also based on a No.1 best-seller by Helen Fielding. Renée Zellweger, was convinced to put on quite a bit of weight the second time around, as she was payed $11 million, instead of $4 million. The budget for the film was also larger, $70 million, and was also a huge success. The metaphorical thirst of women everywhere was quenched by Bridget Jones Diary in 2001, as they were longing to see a rolemodel who was more like them and less like Claudia Schiffer. It seems a logical step, in a marketing perspective, to use the same formula again in 2004: a funny, clumsy woman in a romantic comedy, with the exotic appeal of British culture, how can women resist such film? They could not... * Krutnik, F. (2002). Conforming Passions?:Contemporary Romantic Comedy. In S. Neale (Ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * http://hem.passagen.se/lmw/bridget_jones_news.html * http://www.visitbritain.com * www.theobserver.com

An Old Fashioned Love Story with a Feminist Touch

2007-05-21T11:49:23Z

Bridget Jones Diary can essentially be seen as a film made by women for women. By using Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as an inspiration, the makers try to evoke the old-fashioned romance of the past. Bridget Jones Diary has a female director, Sharon Maguire, and its three producers were all women, as well as the script supervisor (Helen Fielding, the novelist herself). Bridget Jones Diary belongs to the woman’s film genre, which can be defined by the “centrality of its female protagonist, its attempt to deal with issues deemed important to women and its address to a female audience” (Hollinger, 2002). ]]> Returning to the Classics In the 1990s there was a great increase in women’s involvement in the film industry, as well as an increase in the number of female stars involved in film production. These developments changed the film industry, and one of the women induced results was that the film industry underwent a ‘return to the classics’ movement. Classic woman’s literature was used as a source of female-centred plots of characters, and the films were, to a large extent, directed towards women. “This new women’s ‘return to the classics’ movement relies heavily upon female film-makers not only to push to get the films into production, but also for a refashioning of their nineteenth-century heroines in accord with twentieth-century feminist ideas, recapturing, for a contemporary female audience, the distinctive voices of prominent women of the past, either real or fictional.” (Hollinger, 2002) An important part of why the image of Bridget Jones Diary became so successfull is that part of its strength is derived from a likeness to Jane Austen’s novel. Many parallels can be found between Bridget Jones Diary and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, because Helen Fielding based her novel (on which, in turn, the movie was based on) on this 19th century masterpiece. The leading males have the same names, they are both called Mr. Darcy, and have the same character traits. The relationship of Daniel Cleaver to Mark Darcy (in Bridget Jones Diary) parallels the relationship of George Wickham to Fitzwilliam Darcy (in Pride and Prejudice). Also noticeable are the similarities in personality between Bridget's and Elizabeth Bennet's (the protagonist in Pride and Prejudice) mothers and fathers. Colin Firth, who playes Fitzwilliam Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is also casted to play Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones Diary (Wikipedia). Pride and Prejudice Bridget Jones Diary An Old Fashioned Love Story Frank Krutnik writes that the current trend in the woman film genre is that it invokes the old-fashioned romance of the past. These films are seeking to bridge the gap between the past and present, “identifying love as something from a long-lost era that needs to be validate their ideal of romantic intimacy, the new romances insinuate that rather than being something that simply happens between people, love is essentially the product of aesthetic fabrication” (Krutnik, 2002). William Paul writes that “one of the most powerful conventions of romantic comedy in the past is the sense of spiritual grace in romance”. When this sense of spiritual grace in romance is combined with contemporary issues, and marketed correctly, it usually becomes successful. For example, Pretty Woman of 1990, cleverly manipulates the old and new conventions, but retains the spiritual grace in romance (Paul, 2002). In the climax of this film the prince (a millionair) climbs a tower (a flat) to rescue the princess (a hooker), in a fairy tale set in modern day Hollywood. Bridget Jones Diary tries to invoke the old-fashioned romance of the past, by using Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as an inspiration. However, the film is obviously set in the 1990s, and clearly shows the struggle of a woman trying to make sense of her professional and romantic life in the post-feminist era. A good example of this is one of the last scenes of the movie. Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy are standing outside in the snow kissing, in a classical Hollywood way. Bridget, a woman of the 1990s, is only wearing sneakers, a tanktop and a pair of tigerprint panties (as she had to run after Mark after a misunderstanding), and Mark Darcy is covering her up with his jacket. This exact contrast, of an independant woman in tigerprint panties finding classical romance, is what makes this film so successful. * Hall, S. (2002). Tall Revenue Features: The Genealogy of the Modern Blockbuster. In S. Neale (Ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * Hollinger, K. (2002). From Female Friends to Literary Ladies: The Contemporary Woman’s Film. In S. Neale (Ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * Krutnik, F. (2002). Conforming Passions?:Contemporary Romantic Comedy. In S. Neale (Ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * Paul, W. (2002). The Impossibility of Romance: Hollywood Comedy, 1978-1999. In S. Neale (Ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute. * www.wikipedia.com

Bridget Jones: wanton sex goddess with a very bad man between her thighs

2007-05-19T14:42:12Z

]]> A Thirty-Something Singleton The successfull film Bridget Jones Diary was released in 2001. It had a budget of $26 million, and in the United Kingdom the film grossed a very impressive £42 million, and in the United States the film made $71,5 million. It was one of the most successful British film ever made. Bridget Jones Diary was based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name. Fielding’s novel was based on Jane Austen’s famous novel Pride and Prejudice, which was first published in 1813. Bridget Jones (played by Renee Zellweger) is the heroine of the film, a woman in her thirties, who is struggling with her many imperfections, such as her weight, her age, her drinking and smoking, and her status of “singleton” in a world of “smug marrieds”, who treat her like an outcast. She is surrounded by her surrogate "urban family" of friends Sharon (Shazzer), who is a feminist, Jude, a successful business woman, and Tom, a gay ex-singer (Wikipedia). Bridget Jones’ appeal is that she’s a regular woman who triumphs over common embarrassments and indignities. She is a comical, clumsy, neurotic, semi-single woman, who is able to mock herself. Shanna Wendson describes this accurately:

Bridget Jones Diary was a breath of fresh air. She is such a delightful bundle of true-to-life quirks that every woman could find something of herself in Bridget, whether it's obsessive calorie counting, creative interpretation of popular diet plans, grand daydreams of happy endings or annoying maternal interferences.

Bridget Jones, just like the ladies of Sex and the City, is not old-fashioned or unemancipated, but a woman of the 1990s, accepting that its allright to be interested in physical appearances and finding a man, and seeing the humour in all this. (Wensink). This is illustrated very well by the quote that appears on the website, along with Bridget’s voice stating that:

I truly believe that happiness is possible even when you’re thirty three and have a bottom the size of two bowling balls.

Marketing Bridget Jones The trailer’s voiceover states: “There is one question... that brings fear... into the heart... of everyone who is single: How’s your love life?” The voice continues: “For Bridget Jones it was always the same old story... [trailer showing daily life embarrassments] but everything is about to change... [trailer showing fragments of Bridget’s affair with Daniel Cleaver] Now Bridget needs to decide between a man who seems too good to be true... [trailer showing fragments of Daniel Cleaver] and a man so wrong he could be right...” [trailer showing fragments of Mark Darcy]. Bridget Jones Diary is marketed as romantic comedy for women, about a single, clumsy, full-figured woman, who is sympathetic and with whom women can easily identify. Bridget finds true love in spite of her flaws, and her knight in shining armour, Mark Darcy, tells Bridget that he loves her just the way she is. This film tells women that it is possible to be happy and find the right man even if you “have a bottom the size of two bowling balls”. * Wendson, S. Revisiting Bridget Jones's Diary: Why Chick Lit is Here to Stay. Retrieved 21-05-2007 from http://www.shannaswendson.com/bridget.html * Wensink, H. (02-02-2007). Wie is er bang voor Bridget Jones? NRC Handelsblad, p. 27. * www.wikipedia.com * www.bridgetjonesmovie.com

I'm a Carrie

2007-05-14T10:28:13Z

Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.

- - - Carrie Bradshaw ]]> Single and Sexy Sex and the City, the famous American series, is based on Candace Bushnell’s book of the same name, and deals with the changing role of women in society in the late 1990s. It is set in New York City, and focusses on the lives of Carrie Bradshaw (the narrator) and her three friends, Charlotte York, Miranda Hobbes and Samantha Jones. “Together Carrie and her friends represented a cross-section of contemporary American women” (Wikipedia). In the show, the foursome frankly discuss their sex lives, fantasies, and their relationships, as well as the status of being single versus being in a relationship. Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones) said:

Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you; now it means you're pretty sexy and you're taking your time deciding how you want your life to be... and who you want to spend it with.

Lipstick Feminism This generation of young woman accepted that it was allright to be interested in their figure, and finding a man, next to their education and career. The quest for the right man was no longer old-fashioned or unemancipated, and these ladies acknowledged that it was an important part of their life, and have been able to make this quest a humorous one. It seems as though this generation distanced themselves on purpose from intellectual preoccupation and the generation of feminists preceeding them. It is a statement: we are smart and independant women, but we also want to be attractive for men, the so-called lipstick feminism (Wensink). Marketing Sex and the City Sex and the City was incredibly succcesfull, and the original broadcast ran from 1998 until 2004, featuring six seasons. It was produced by Darren Star (who has also produced Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place), and nominated for over 50 Emmy Awards, winning seven of them. It has also been nominated for 24 Golden Globe Awards, and won 8. Sex and the City was sold to more than twenty countries, and became a cultural phenomenon, the icon of the urban sexually independant woman (Van der Velden, p. 10). Georgie Binks describes how she feels about the show: “There were things in the show that rang so true in many women's hearts that it slid into our lives very comfortably" (Binks). Sex and the City comes from a tradition of female friendship films, which became popular in the 1970s. Those films were “stimulated by women’s movements emphasis on the importance of relationships among women, the female friendship film, with its focus on the intimate bonds emong two or more female friends, developed numerous cycles, heightening its wide appeal to different types of female viewers.” (Hollinger, 2002). Sex and the City’s marketing strategy was clever: it was selling sexual independence and self confidence for women, and ingeniously assigned the four women with different personalities, so the viewers could identify with at least one of them. The “I’m a Carrie” t-shirt became incredibly popular with fans all over the world, demonstrating the success of the marketing campaign of Sex and the City. * Binks, G. (25-03-2004). Sex and the City, CBC News Viewpoint. Retrieved 13-05-2007 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_binks/20040325.html * Hollinger, K. (2002). From Female Friends to Literary Ladies: The Contemporary Woman’s Film. In S. Neale (Ed.), “Genre and Contemporary Hollywood”. London: British Film Institute. * Van der Velden, I. (2007). “Na Sex and the City”, VPRO Gids, n. 18. * www.wikipedia.com * Wensink, H. (02-02-2007). “Wie is er bang voor Bridget Jones?” NRC Handelsblad, p. 27.

Walking in the Muddy Snow

2007-05-14T10:03:59Z

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, in the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland. Every year in November a feeling of melancholy comes over me when I see the first trucks arriving at the Vrijthof in Maastricht. This beautifull medieval square gets taken over by a Christmas fair, the Winterland, every year for a devastating one and a half month. Busloads of tourists come to visit the fair and pollute the whole Vrijthof. Winterland is sponsored by Bavaria, a beer company, and is open every day from 11.00 to 22.00, and its loud presence in the heart of the city cannot be ignored. It consists of an iceskating rink, traditional food and drink stalls, cafes where you can drink Glühwein and warm chocolate, a Giant Wheel, and more than fifty Christmas stalls selling all sorts of Christmas knick-knacks. ]]> www.winterland.nl), the Dutch word “sfeervol” is a common adjective, describing the stalls, decorations, and sometimes the entire Winterland. This word ironically denotes an attractive and positive atmosphere. The website states that at the winterland you are able to get great ideas for your own “sfeervolle” Christmas decorations at the Christmas fair, and that you are guiranteed to always find a suitable presents for your loved ones. There are also “sfeervolle” handmade Christmas products, like candles and statues, as well as children presents, such as wooden toys and goodies. For people who want to sell their goods at the Christmas market, there is plenty of information on the website, such as the cost of renting a stall for a month. But there are also options for companies who want their names attached to the fair! They can have their name on a billboard for 6 weeks straight on the iceskating rink. This year it has become possible to show 20 seconds of commercials on the flatscreens of the Cafe Winterland, where companies can promote their products and themselves. Last year the Winterland had almost had one million visitors, thus meaning that having your logo posted on a billboard will reach a large audience and will be extremely profitable for your company. This whole Christmas charade makes me sick to my stomach. The Christmas as we now know it has become completely commercial, and is promoted by songs describing this holiday as the most wonderfull time of the year, where people are happy and sleigh bells are ringing, while the snow is glistening... But I don’t see happiness radiating from the faces of the people walking in the muddy snow of the Winterland, frantically buying gadgets no loved one actually needs or wants. And the only ringing I hear is of the Giant Wheel signalling its ready for a new load of people. The Winterland tries frantically to disguise the grim reality, which is that the merriness and the “sfeervolle” gadgets its selling are just a mask for what the whole fair is really about: money, and nothing besides.

Walking in the Simulated Space of Flows

2007-05-13T11:43:37Z

When going for a walk in Maastricht in wintertime, at a time when the Winterland, the Christmas fair, is set up on the Vrijthof, the contrast between the city itself and the fair becomes evident. But why is this contrast so great? Both Mark Gottdiener and Manuel Castells have explanations for this phenomenon. Winterland = Disneyland The contrast between Maastricht and the Winterland can be understood when we look at a similar situation, namely that of Disneyland and Los Angeles. Mark Gottdiener, in his book Postmodern Semiotics, describes Disneyland as a

utopian urban space [...] It is a built environment that entertains, part of the growing and increasingly pervasive entertainment culture of our society that is manifested in material forms [...] it is a spatial representations of capitalist ideologies, a consummate, three-dimensional work of populist art entertainment for the masses

In contrast to real cities, Disneyland (as supposed to Los Angeles) and Winterland (as supposed to Maastricht), are simulated urban spaces, myths of small-town America, the “happiest place on Earth", places "devoid of the many pathologies common to actually existing cities in our society” (Gottdiener, p. 103). These make-believe cities are different from actually existing cities by nine codes of signification: transportation, food, fashion, architecture, entertainment, social control, economics, politics, family (Gottdiener, p. 104). Space of Places versus Space of Flows According to the Sociologist Manuel Castells, the author of the Network Society, Maastricht, and especially the Vrijthof, can be considered a space of places, an actual physical historical place. The Winterland can be considered a space of flows, transcending the space of places, which attain their identity by the network which they are part of. The flows can be in the form of capital, information, technology, organizational interaction, images, sounds or symbols, which flow from one place to another (Castells, p. 412). The space of flows, together with timeless time, which substitutes normal clock time, produce the culture of the real virtuality, which is a system which is "fully immersed in a virtual image setting, in the world of make belief, in which appearances are not just on the screen through which experience is communicated, but they become the experience” (Castells, p. 373). The winterland, the space of flows, thus becomes immersed in this virtual image setting, the make belief commercial Christmas world. Gradually this space of flows will take over the space of places, Maastricht, and together with timeless time produce real virtuality. However, these spaces still exist side by side at the moment, and it is possible to take a walk from one form of space into the other, and this contradiction creates the contrast. * Gottdiener, M. (1995). Postmodern Semiotics. Oxford: Blackwell. * Castells, M. (2000). The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Volume I: The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford: Blackwell. ]]>

The Supermarket Lady

2007-05-07T16:13:02Z

The American artist Duane Hanson critizes the consumption society through his work, and his sculpture The Supermarket Lady clearly visualizes Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality. Duane Hanson, Supermarket Lady, 1969]]> The Human Being as Subject Matter Duane Hanson was an American artist (1925-1996), who sculpted lifesize realistic works of workingclass citizens, cast in various materials, including polyester resin, fiberglass, and bronze. He said in an interview in 1981 that he was “mostly interested in the human form as subject matter and means of expression for my sculpture. What can generate more interest, fascination, beauty, ugliness, joy, shock or contempt than a human being?” Hanson realistically visualized the tragic of people trapped in ‘the American way of life’. He transformed unremarkable people going about their daily life business into works of art. The sculptor gave these overlooked, generalised people a singular identity, highlighting their activities and societal roles, showing every tired frown, every ugly wrinkle. Because his sculptures are so realistic, the division between reality and illusion, and real art and an artificial world, becomes obliterated. The sculptures have become lifesize threedimensional snapshots of the American daily life, sometimes hard to distinguish from the spectators themselves (Kunstbus). Duane Hanson, Drug Addict, 1974 Hyperreality Portrayed Hanson’s sculptures are critical of the American consumption society. His Supermarket Lady of 1969, is a sculpture of a fat middleclass woman in a supermarket. She is the symbol of the consumption society, symbolized by her overflowing shopping cart with products. Consumption is not, according to Jean Baudrillard, the French social theorist, “something individuals do and through which they find enjoyment, satisfaction and fulfilment. Rather, consumption is a collective phenomenon, a coded system of signs that is external to and coercive over individuals [...] The use of that system via consumption is an important way in which people communicate with one another.” (Ritzer, 1998, p. 15). Hanson’s work can be considered hyperreal, which is described by Baudrillard as “the generation by models of a real without origin or reality” (Porter, 1993, p. xi). The hyperreality is composed of simulacra, which are not copies of the real, but a truth by themselves. This is the reason why the sculpture of the Supermarket Lady provokes the spectator to think about the obliteration of the division between illusion and reality, and question whether, in Baudrillard’s words, we “modern human beings now inhabit an artificial, hermetically sealed pleasure dome, where nothing is constant, where everything reflects everything else in a theatre of dazzling simulations dominated by the proliferation of the sign” (Porter, 1993, p. 2). * Baudrillard, J. (1998). The Consumer Society. Thousand Oaks: Sage. * Rojek, C. & B.S. Turner (1993). Forget Baudrillard? London: Routledge. * Porter, R. (1993). “Baudrillard: history, hysteria and consumption”. In C. Rojek & B.S. Turner, Forget Baudrillard? London: Routledge. * Ritzer, G.. (1998). “Introduction”, in J. Baudrillard, The Consumer Society. Thousand Oaks: Sage. * http://www.kunstbus.nl/verklaringen/duane+hanson.html * www.wikipedia.com

Living in a simulated world: the Madonna hyperreality

2007-05-07T12:14:49Z

One may remember Madonna’s Confessions tour last year, where she was singing hanging from a glittery cross wearing a crown of thorns. She outraged Christian leaders all around the world. A Church of England spokesman said: "Why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?" David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance told the Evening Standard: "It is downright offensive. Madonna's use of Christian imagery is an abuse and it is dangerous.” Madonna has however insisted that it is not "anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous", and she said “I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today he would be doing the same thing." (BBC) ]]> Selected Writings (ed. Mark Poster). Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Riter, G. (1998). "Introduction" in The Consumer Society by J. Baudrillard. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. * Unknown Author (20-10-2006). NBC cuts Madonna 'crucifixion'. Retrieved 08-05-2007 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6069260.stm

Living in a material world: the Madonna brand

2007-05-02T17:29:46Z

The brand Madonna triumphed when she won the case for the domain www.madonna.com. Madonna's brand, including music, clothes, merchandise and even wine, was now able to reach her fans in a much more efficient way, and she gave the concept of branding a whole new meaning by succesfully reinventing her image herself every couple of years. ]]> Cybersquatter evicted from madonna.com In October 2000, Madonna won her case against Dan Parisi, a New York cybersquatter. A cybersquatter is someone who registers famous names as domains in the hope of a quick profit. Parisi was the first to register the Internet adress www.madonna.com which was initially a porno site, and he was ordered by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization to transfer the site to Madonna. Madonna argued that the porno site damaged her name and trademark, which she had used professionally since 1979, and Parisi, a website developer, could not prove he had legitimate interest in the domain (CNN, 2000) The battle for domains As domain names have become more valuable with the meteoric rise of the Internet, a market has emerged for opportunists to grab addresses in the current system, which is largely first come, first served” (CNN, 2000). Companies that have won back their domains from cybersquatters include Christian Dior, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft and Nike. Also celebrities, such as Julia Roberts, and rockband Jethro Tull, have succesfully evicted their cybersquatters. However, British pop star Sting did not succeed in getting the domain sting.com, because the World Intellectual Property Organization regards sting s "a common English word" (CNN, 2000). The branding of Madonna Madonna’s victory over Parisi is important for the brand Madonna, as the Internet is an excellent way for her to reach her young target consumer group. The queen of pop is a genius is branding herself, succcesfully reinventing herself when her image becomes wary, and creating controversy for publicity’s sake. Jack Yan writes in his blog that “in a branding sphere, few rebrands work so well because companies are hampered with an existing image. Madonna took care of that by shocking people early on and each rebrand is expected to cast away the remains of the last, something that organizations, generally, cannot (but maybe could?) do.” (Yan). Naomi Klein states in her book No Logo that “if brands are about ‘meaning’, not product attributes, then the highest feat of branding comes when companies provide their consumers with opportunities not merely to shop but to fully experiencethe meaning of their brand” (Klein, 1999, p. 146). Madonna, has reached this highest feat of branding, the meaning of her brand has become more than the products she is selling. Her products include, apart from her music, H&M clothes, t-shirts, keychains, and even Madonna wine, costing more thna they would in stores seeing as they have the Madonna label on them. Even Madonna’s own looks are products of Madonna, and her fans can fully experience the brand Madonna by a whole other dimension beyond her music. * CNN (2000). Madonna wins domain name battle. Retrieved 02-05-2007, from http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/10/16/madonna.cybersquatter.reut/ * Klein, N. (1999). No logo:no space, no choice, no jobs: taking aim at the brand bullies. New York: Picador. * Yan, J. Madonna, Branding Genius. Retrieved 02-05-2007, from http://www.jackyan.com/blog/2006/07/madonna-branding-genius.html

Benetton: a complete absence of social conscience?

2007-05-01T00:15:35Z

Scott Adams predicted in his hilarious book The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st century, that it will be totally unnecessary in the future to have an actual product in order to sell it. He wrote:

All you need is a good demo and a complete absence of social conscience [...] In the future it will be easy to find customers who are gullible enough to buy any product, no matter how worthless and stupid it is.

- - - Scott Adams ]]> Oliviero Toscani, cover of Colors, 1985 Toscani was breaking the rules of traditional advertising, promoting its social issues instead of its products. Benetton published the magazine Colors, which adressed people as inhabitants of the Global Village, and kept them informed on topics such as religion, war, food, and fashion. Some designers, such as the Dutch designer Ootje Oxenaar, were outraged when they saw covers like the one shown above, depicting an AIDS patient. He called it a disgrace to our society, and said that “the saddest and most saddening images of our society are being used to sell shirts […] the ethical side of it is absolute garbage. Whats next? A nice Auschwitz series for women’s underwear?” (Ten Duis & Haase, 1999, p. 235). The Benetton campaigns can be seen as pragmatically ethical, considering all the benefits and consequences of a given action, namely an unorthodox advertising campaign, in order to provoke people, adres social issues, and promote Benetton. Ethically it can also be seen as utilitarianist, which concerns using ethically questionable means in order to promote a worthy goal, the core principle being that one should do more good than harm (Simons, 2001). In this campaign the means are definately very questionable, AIDS patients are used to sell Benetton clothes. However, the end justify the means, and the end can be considered, by some, as showing society's greatest social problems and provoking people to think about them. Toscani’s impact on the world of advertising was huge, and influenced graphic designers all over the world to start asking questions and adressing prominent social issues again. Although Dilbert would have considered the Benetton campaigns "a good demo and a complete absence of social conscience", they were the beginning of a new kind of graphic design. * Adams, S. (1997). The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st century. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. * Ten Duis, L. & A. Haase (1999). The World must Change – Graphic Design and Idealism. Amsterdam: Sandberg Instituut. * Simons, H.W. (2001). Persuasion in Society. Thousand Oaks, etc.: Sage.

Utopia: just down the road and the third street on the left

2007-04-26T11:59:30Z

Simons’ concept of reframing is manifested in the graphic design collective of Wild Plakken of the 1970, who felt that the world needed to change. H.W. Simons writes in his book Persuasion in Society that a “frame is one among a number of possible ways of seeing something, and a reframing is a way of seeing it differently; in effect changing its meaning.” (Simons, 2001). A reframing of the conceptual identity of graphic design took place at the end of the 1970s, when Wild Plakken was founded. This movement consisted of campaigners and lobbyists, and was involved in the struggle against unemployment and unequal rights, supported the squatters, and highlighted the housing shortage as well as the growing dissatisfaction in society. It “revealed the Achilles heel of the Dutch welfare state and visualized the growing dissatisfaction in society” (Ten Duis & Haase, 1999, p. 181). Wild Plakken, “Woman against Apartheid”, 1984 ]]> Wild Plakken designed posters and leaflets for leftist activist causes, and graphic design was ideal for teaching people a new way of thinking, and thus, for reframing society. Rob Schroder, a founding member of Wild Plakken, said that “posters had a tremendous influence in the city. We put them up ourselves, hundreds of them. It was the medium”. (Ten Duis & Haase, 1999, p. 182). Posters were cheap and quick, and were be considered the poor man’s channel of communication. The designer collective used, in order to find a progressive form for their progressive message, the visual left-wing language of the graphic design of the 1920s and 1930s, such as work by the Dutch graphic designer Piet Zwart. The posters of Wild Plakken have references to this era, such as big solid typography and primary colors, with diagonal lines and photographic images (Ten Duis & Haase, 1999, p. 182). Piet Zwart, advertising leaflet for "radio yearbook", 1932 Wild Plakken persuaded, and tried to “influence the autonomous judgement and actions of others” (Simons, 2001), by their cry for solidarity, anger, action, resistance, and demonstration. Lies Ros, a founding members of Wild Plakken, said “The world had to change, and graphic design was a means to that end […] Utopia was just down the road and the third of the left” (Ten Duis & Haase, 1999, p. 187). Wild Plakken succeeded in reframing of concept of graphic design, and although the founding members have become less idealistic over time, they have successfully contributed to the struggle for their political and social ideals. * Ten Duis, L. & A. Haase (1999). The World must Change – Graphic Design and Idealism. Amsterdam: Sandberg Instituut. * Simons, H.W. (2001). Persuasion in Society. Thousand Oaks, etc.: Sage.

Reframing 'Real' Beauty

2007-04-26T11:04:21Z

Dove, a beauty concern that sells skin, body cleansing and hair care products, has recently initiated its “Tijd voor echte schoonheid” campaign (translated: time for real beauty) in the Netherlands. This campaign shows ‘real’ women with a healthy figure. This way Dove has tried to reframe the beauty industry, by emphasizing the negative self-image women have due to all the skinny models they continually see parading around in commercials. Dove describes their campaign on their website www.tijdvoorechteschoonheid.nl:

Every day we are being bombarded with hundreds of retouched photographs and images of ‘beauties’... Images that influence the way we regard our bodies and ourselves. Who determines what beauty is? How can we relieve this enormous pressure? How can we help the girls and women to regard their bodies in a positive way? We need to take action!

Time for Real Beauty campaign ]]> Time for Real Beauty, and information for women. Dove’s booklet Truth & Dare, meant for girls between 12 and 18 years old, shows, and questions, the artificial beauty imposed by society. Dove also initiated a photo exposition called Facts & Photos, the reflection of beauty’ in Amsterdam. Its theme is the contemporary beauty ideal, and how this influences the self-image of women. Only 2% of 3000 women questioned world-wide describe themselves as beautiful, and one in two women feel that the beauty ideal, as visualized in commercials, is unrealistic. Women often have a negative self-image, and Dove wants to change this through the Time for Real Beauty campaign, visualizing multiple definitions of ‘real’ beauty. In a commercial of Dove we see women describing their imperfections, their ‘ding dong thighs’ or ‘apple bottoms’. Dove was inspired by the tendency of women to joke about their physical imperfections. Almost every woman has an area that she is insecure about physically, such as her stomach, hips or thighs. By enlarging the small imperfections of the women in the commercial, Dove hopes to encourage more women to feel comfortable in their own bodies. Marit Kievit works at Dove, and she describes her feelings on the website: “It is a pity that often women don’t regard themselves as beautiful, and have low self-esteem. I think it is better that a more varied image of beauty is promoted, and that society lets go of the stereotype. Dove hopes to close the gap between the ideal (what is beauty?) and the reality (am I beautiful?)”. With the campaign Time for Real Beauty, Dove wants to give more self-confidence to girls and women in society, and make them proud of their bodies instead of always comparing themselves to thin models. Insecurity, low self-esteem, and sometimes eating disorders can be considered the result of a beauty ideal that promotes women with an unhealthy weight. Dove feels that every woman and every girl has the right to feel beautiful, and puts this into practice by reframing the idea of beauty itself. * Simons, H.W. (2001). Persuasion in Society. Thousand Oaks, etc.: Sage.