Unannounced Cult
In Culture Jam, by Kale Lasn, the founder of Adbusters magazine, attempts to show the reader what our mass media has been doing almost without our awareness. When the average American thinks of consumerism, we believe it is the promotion of the consumer's interests. What Lasn believes is that we're being told what our interests are and to buy into those false interests. We've become disconnected with ourselves and our own interests to fit those that our corporations have designed for us. He writes that we should prioritize the earth as number one, and get back to the basics of feeling that the earth is one with us. It is clear the those are well deserved critics of the American culture, yet learning how to balance the array of options we have at our disposal and becoming conscious consumers is still better than avoiding TV, computers, etc, which are undeniably beneficial to our contemporary world.
One would hardly argue we use excessively technology, and that Americans are avid consumers, always wondering what will be next in their purchasing lists. The level of addiction and alienation has taken the nation by storm. As Lasn points out, in the example of a family that left on vacation to the forest for some alone time to brave the elements and come closer as a family, only a few hours into nature caused the children extremely boredom due to lack of technology, experiencing signs of grief and withdrawal. And it doesn’t stop there, as Lasn once again describes “The cult rituals spread themselves evenly over the calendar: Christmas, Super Bowl, Easter, pay-per-view boxing match, summer Olympics, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween. Each has its own imperatives – stuff you have to buy, things you have to do”.(55) Perhaps we need to relearn to survive without so many gadgets, products and role models dictated by the media. But, limiting that exposure, in first place, should be America’s parents’ responsibility, by rescuing family values and changing their own outlook onto consumption. I remember that, as a child, I wouldn't change a day outdoors for any television show, and that, although videogames seemed to be a fever amongst my closest friends, I would rarely exchange the joystick for a good book. Those are values and balance taught in my family, and like many other habits, one tend to replicate what is learned throughout his life.
Hence, if the solution to relearn how to consume does not reside in looking for answers where they were not found in first place, we need to take the lead ourselves. We ought to become critical thinkers able to analyze what’s in front of us, unbiased. If our parents or schools have not filled in that gap, it is up to each individual to search a comfortable place where they can turn off the buzzed world and replicate experiments like the Zen TV Experiment, that enable one to start questioning the role of this massive brain invasion media and technology play in our minds.
The truth is, life without technology and mass produced goods would be very difficult to manage nowadays. Even Lasn seem to contradict himself while promoting one his “Buy Nothing Day” campaign, as he calls people into action “Anyone with a PC and a modem could go to the Media Foundation’s website (…), download a Buy Nothing Day poster and a T-shirt template, and view quicktime versions of the Buy Nothing Day TV campaign”. (132) While Lasn criticizes the corporations because of their manipulative nature, it looks like we need another one (Adbusters alike) to teach us values our parents and society have failed in doing.
Television and Culture
Reality Check
The most recent reality television dating shows lights up the fantasies we first learned from fairy tales: castles and fortunes, true love and romantic destiny, and above all that most perfect storybook union, the ''fairy tale wedding”. In The Bachelor, a dating reality television show aired by ABC, a man (bachelor) is in search of his potential wife among the twenty five female participants, who are just as eager to become the elected bachelor’s mate. Beautiful and, not rarely, exotic surroundings help setting the romantic ambiance to this show, needless to say, the pre screened participants are too, good looking women. Perhaps the fact that is more intriguing is that, besides beauty, career wise, these women not necessarily comply to what is expected in our culture. While the majority of the participants are professionally oriented to take on careers typically feminine (to list a few, there is a NBA dancer, a teacher, a nanny, a waitress), women whose career could be considered male territory are also represented amongst the participants (and there we have an entrepreneur, a commercial pilot and a National Guard captain). Despite the professional preference contrasts, what levels out the participants is the goal of finding love and live happily ever after. But the misleading nature of reality television dating shows causes detrimental effects in real life individuals, affecting mainly women and the way their perceive themselves and their present or future relationships.
So, how real is what we see on reality TV? Most of us have bills to pay, jobs to perform and, not everyone can count on five weeks of vacation to go find love in paradisiacal places; in fact, few people have more than three weeks of rest per year. Thus, it is evident that what is called reality TV isn’t part of many individuals quotidian. According to Catherine Gourley, author of “How Real is Reality TV?”, in order to achieve a compelling drama show, editing scenes is necessary, and this is what makes the shows exciting, yet, steers away of what is supposed to be real. Hence, reality TV can’t be considered a portrait of our society with its inherent occasional boredom and routine, rather a sequence of events mounted to appeal to its viewers.
Subsequent to the concept of reality TV, in order to understand the impact of reality TV dating shows in its female audience, it is necessary to understand why people watch this sort of shows. In his article, “Why Reality TV is Good for Us”, James Poniewozik debates the positive aspects of watching reality TV. He starts out by pointing the tangible nature that is what really attracts us on that TV genre, “There you have the essence of reality TV's success: it is the one mass-entertainment category that thrives because of its audience's contempt for it. It makes us feel tawdry, dirty, cheap-if it didn't, we probably wouldn't bother tuning in.” The fact many of the feelings and reactions performed by anonymous people, hence any of us, confers reality TV a connection that other TV shows may have failed to achieve, and the proof is the rising number of new coming reality shows. Although Poniewozik recognizes that there’s very truth or reality presented by reality TV, he observes, it seems that the plot doesn’t let people down while identifying their desires and experiences with the characters in the shows; “Reality shows don't just reach tens of millions of viewers but leave them feeling part of a communal experience”. That way, offenses, cursing, humiliation and embarrassment occasions showed in this TV genre does not seem alarming to its viewers, instead, it just helps growing the connection established between the show and its spectators. Illustrating this author’s ideas, sordid elements are often part of The Bachelor fairy tale story. In recent episodes of The Bachelor, the woman chosen by the fairy tale prince look alike was accused by other Bachelorettes of “shaking her boobs” to win his heart, while other woman in the show formed interest groups, aiming to outcast some considered stronger candidates. Not such a glamorous conduct by the contestants, yet, the formula seems to work in order to attain its targeted audience, namely, women.
Likewise, the desire for status through automatic fame is another element that triggers the high audiences of the reality tv dating shows. In “Why America Loves Reality TV”, authors Steven Reiss and James Wiltz conducted a survey of 239 people to uncover the reasons why they watch reality TV shows. One of the conclusions of this study was that, the actual reality TV spectators were both intellectually and non-intellectually driven individuals. In the search for common ground on this type of TV watching, Reiss and Wiltz identified “Reality TV allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through immediate fame. Ordinary people can watch the shows, see people like themselves and imagine that they too could become celebrities by being on television”. In fact, the reality show The Bachelor sends out a message that any woman could instantly become an eligible candidate to the single gentleman who is looking for love, when in fact, the candidates are pre screened and selected according to the portion of personal drama they can add to enrich the storyline.
Perhaps one of the main negative consequences of watching reality tv dating shows resides in the fact that, in order to be eligible to deserve one’s love, a woman ought to comply to predictable beauty standards. That not only is untruth, but it can cause the women who do not fit into that stereotype to relentlessly search for unattainable perfection. Yet, is our human nature need for aesthetic sensations that keeps us watching a program that can deteriorate our self esteem. As described in Common Culture, author Jib Fowles points out fifteen basic appeals that the advertising industry exploits in order to manipulate and generate interest from feasible customers. Parallel to the appeals used by the advertising industry, the media also seems to borrow those tools to establish a stronger connection with its viewers. That way, the need to escape comes into play as an often relief to our tribulated lives; “…the desire to duck out of our social obligations, to seek rest and adventure, frequently takes the form of one-person flight”.(82) The major problem happens when reality dating show, like The Bachelor, recalls fairy tale settings and the prince is a handsome and financially stable man, but it doesn’t quite portray the contemporary single woman looking for love. By presenting a version of reality distorted by editing, the television program perpetuates problematic stereotypical images of appropriate female demeanors and goals. Career wise, while the women in the last season of The Bachelor seemed to represent a fairly good amount of female contemporary job occupations, physically they were all slim and beautiful, magnifying the focus of the socially acceptable lenses on females who share those physical attributes as potentially the ones to find true love. Despite the increasing popularity of reality TV, watching those programs can have a negative impact in the way woman perceive themselves and their body image.
The consequences of believing that reality TV is, in fact, a reflection of our reality, affects not only women’s body image and imminent compromise of forged expectations toward present and future relationships. Assiduous viewers also seem to be leaded to leave their financial and professional destiny on hold, while keeping focus in this sort of shows. According to Cynthia Frisby, author of “Getting Real with Reality TV”, the main reality TV spectators are reportedly adults, from 18-49 years of age, with average income of $75,000 or more, thus a pretty good income earning group. As the data shows, the majority of reality TV viewers are people in the peak of their economically productive lives, with an average income that doesn’t seem too humble. This data leads to a big hole in our culture and economy, as our future leaders, writers, doctors, researchers and other important professionals appear to be hectically busy watching a series of unrealistic dating games with a succession of gossip and backstabbing events. The negative impact of this source of entertainment shall not be visible or even measurable, which makes more difficult to take any action to preventing these shows from being labeled as reality.
Similarly detrimental to a woman’s sense of worthiness can be the effect of the inversion of values presented in other reality TV dating shows, as seems to be the case of Millionaire Matchmaker, a television series produced by Bravo network, and presented by Patti Stanger. The premise of the show is to match single wealthy people, all claiming to be certified millionaires, with potential spouses. The reason many people seem to like this show is due to its social comparison nature. According to Cynthia Frisby, the social comparison is a key factor that keeps us interested in watching this type of program, “Social comparison theory postulates that individuals have a drive or need to compare their abilities and opinions to others.” Following that need, many individuals fall into the often unconscious need to follow what’s going on with the character or reality tv person they mostly identify with. In the case of Patti Stanger’s show, woman who watch the series are potentially comparing themselves to the ones selected to take on dates with the eligible millionaire customers. In one episode, a client codenamed Sextoy Dave is looking for his one true love, a beautiful woman who looks like Paris Hilton and who will love him and his stripper pole. For Dave, the stripper pole is a deal breaker. He loves it so much that he's taught himself a few moves on the pole. Even when the Millionaire Matchmaker tries to convince Sextoy Dave to move the pole to his basement, he refuses. The Millionaire Matchmaker paired Sextoy Dave with a Harvard recent graduate who didn't seem to mind the stripper pole, but she decided not to pursue the relationship. Once again, the reality TV dating show signals to women that, independently of a successful career or education, “real” love seems to dwell far away from the academic life, negatively inferring that education does not guarantee absolute happiness.
Reality television has been known as the lowest form of entertainment, a threat to intelligence, and exhibition of the most unflattering of human instincts. Yet, reality TV dating shows, for instance, rank among the most watched. Perhaps it is time to review some of our values and close the fairy tale books, and do a reality check, and perhaps, there will be more room for the exploration of the real effects of the “unreal” television.
Works Cited
Fowles, Jib "Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.”
Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture.
Ed.Michael Petraca & Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson, 2009. 71-88.
Frisby, Cynthia M. "GETTING REAL with Reality TV." USA Today Magazine 133.2712 (2004): 50-54. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 17 June 2010.
Poniewozik, James, et al. "WHY REALITY TV IS GOOD FOR US." Time 161.7 (2003): 64. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 June 2010.
Reiss, Steven, and James Wiltz. "WHY AMERICA LOVES REALITY TV." Psychology Today 34.5 (2001): 52. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. EBSCO. Web. 16 June 2010.
Culture Jam - Summary and Reflection
In Culture Jam, by Kale Lasn, the founder of Adbusters magazine, he attempts to show the reader what our mass media has been doing almost without our awareness.
When the average American thinks of consumerism, we believe it is the promotion of the consumer's interests. What Lasn believes is that we're being told what our interests are and to buy into those false interests. We've become disconnected with ourselves and our own interests to fit those that our corporations have designed for us. He uses an example of taking your family to the forest for some alone time to brave the elements and come closer as a family, but after only a few short hours
becoming so bored that you begin self-destructing due to lack of technology. Our children have become so reliant on consumerism that they can't possibly enjoy any of the senses you have to use in your most primitive state. After only a short while, they show signs of grief and withdrawal. He writes that we should prioritize the earth as number one, and get back to the basics of feeling that the earth is one with us. We've learned that buying creates happiness, and most of the time, we're living in a world we've created for ourselves through the consumer process. We became compulsive shoppers when we're bored with our lives, and we look for outside factors to fill those gaps.
Corporations show us these shocking and appalling images in order to jolt our minds into a way of feeling, and over time we just become numb to them, forcing the media to come up with another "drug" to feed to us in order for them to achieve the same success. After reading the book, it became clear why there is so much to criticize in the American culture, but I believe learning how to balance the array of options we have at our disposal and becoming conscious consumers is still better than avoiding TV, computers, etc.
Technology and Culture - Post Essay Reflection
I think this essay provoked a lot of reflection from my side. Surrounded by technology we often forget to live our real lives. We become easy targets for any type of media manipulation and this is becoming part of our culture.
After receiving feedback I believe my essay was going in the right direction as far as development and keeping in mind the use of quotes as coercive arguments and supporting ideas to my thesis (statement), helped me.
After receiving feedback I believe my essay was going in the right direction as far as development and keeping in mind the use of quotes as coercive arguments and supporting ideas to my thesis (statement), helped me.
Technology and Culture
Technology: For Better or for Worse?
A couple of years ago, when listening to a friend vent out her frustration about a situation with her boyfriend, I was intrigued by how she had incorporated terms, otherwise used in the computer world, into her language. I understood she was very upset at how her boyfriend stood her up for an hour before taking her to a concert, yet, I couldn’t be more surprised by her unexpected statement; she had said the episode was enough justification to “delete” him from her life. “Disconnect” was the term that followed when she tried expressing the impossibility of changing her mind. That situation remained in my memory, and as I think about how we cope living in a world surrounded by technology, a deeper question intrigues me: “Have we gone too far in allowing the way technology is entering our lives?”
The French women seem to know the secret to maintain a healthy weight, even living in a culture where fatty foods are present in the daily menus; eat a little bit of everything, always in moderation. And adding an extra pinch of wisdom, the norm of controlling what you eat, not allowing what you crave to control you seems to bring their moderation philosophy into full circle. Alike food, technology also ought to be consumed in moderation. In “The Judgment of Thamus”, author Neil Postman speaks of how a technology must be admitted to a culture with "eyes wide open" (365). Such statement makes sense, given the speed of upcoming technologies and the even higher speed we incorporate those into our lives, consolidating its existence into habits, and ultimately, part of our culture. When the new Apple Ipad was launched, many were the speculators giving thumbs down and betting on the innovation’s eminent market failure. But in its first week of sales, no Ipad could be found in stores, given the high volume of purchases and preorders. Postman seems to focus on the negative aspects of different technologies rather than ways in which they can be used to benefit. For example, criticizes the use of television in schools, since that could diminish teachers’ work or importance. His approach on criticizing technology deserves attention, but I don’t see how a well directed, controlled and moderated use of technology can harm our society. We have seen longer benefits of solar power into generating an alternative power source; we have experienced corporate web conferences, allowing companies to save tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses; many of the residents in the US have relatives still living abroad, and resources such as chat and video chat has enormously contributed to make people less depressed individuals. It depends on each person’s control and interpretation of technology to make the best use of it in their lives.
Equally polemic are arguments of writer Kalle Lasn, who in Culture Jam, points out how some individuals have become extensions of their created virtual lives, either through games, chats, etc; as he states “...is the hazardous fallout from an over mediated world, where nothing that happens becomes real until you can make it fit into the spectacle, or make the spectacle fit into it.” (45) As Lasn further explains, technology in the sense of enabling instant communication has already been incorporated as part of our culture. I believe we can no longer retract to past mental and developmental stages after trusting our computers to store extensive personal data, our cell phones to allow fast and timely communication, and many other devices that came into our lives to make routinely tasks easier, thus saving time and allowing us to dedicate more time to the people or things that really matter. However, moderation should come into play when setting the limits of the use of technology. Neither our friends need to be solely virtual, nor our communication a combination of acronyms.
Certainly, we need to question the effect that new technologies will have on our culture and society. Even when the negative effects are more severe, the best path is to try to find the unseen benefits, since the technology can never be put back in the box. It is extremely important to be aware of both potential hazards and benefits of incorporating technology into our lives, and the best way to do that, is to take it slowly, one step at a time.
A couple of years ago, when listening to a friend vent out her frustration about a situation with her boyfriend, I was intrigued by how she had incorporated terms, otherwise used in the computer world, into her language. I understood she was very upset at how her boyfriend stood her up for an hour before taking her to a concert, yet, I couldn’t be more surprised by her unexpected statement; she had said the episode was enough justification to “delete” him from her life. “Disconnect” was the term that followed when she tried expressing the impossibility of changing her mind. That situation remained in my memory, and as I think about how we cope living in a world surrounded by technology, a deeper question intrigues me: “Have we gone too far in allowing the way technology is entering our lives?”
The French women seem to know the secret to maintain a healthy weight, even living in a culture where fatty foods are present in the daily menus; eat a little bit of everything, always in moderation. And adding an extra pinch of wisdom, the norm of controlling what you eat, not allowing what you crave to control you seems to bring their moderation philosophy into full circle. Alike food, technology also ought to be consumed in moderation. In “The Judgment of Thamus”, author Neil Postman speaks of how a technology must be admitted to a culture with "eyes wide open" (365). Such statement makes sense, given the speed of upcoming technologies and the even higher speed we incorporate those into our lives, consolidating its existence into habits, and ultimately, part of our culture. When the new Apple Ipad was launched, many were the speculators giving thumbs down and betting on the innovation’s eminent market failure. But in its first week of sales, no Ipad could be found in stores, given the high volume of purchases and preorders. Postman seems to focus on the negative aspects of different technologies rather than ways in which they can be used to benefit. For example, criticizes the use of television in schools, since that could diminish teachers’ work or importance. His approach on criticizing technology deserves attention, but I don’t see how a well directed, controlled and moderated use of technology can harm our society. We have seen longer benefits of solar power into generating an alternative power source; we have experienced corporate web conferences, allowing companies to save tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses; many of the residents in the US have relatives still living abroad, and resources such as chat and video chat has enormously contributed to make people less depressed individuals. It depends on each person’s control and interpretation of technology to make the best use of it in their lives.
Equally polemic are arguments of writer Kalle Lasn, who in Culture Jam, points out how some individuals have become extensions of their created virtual lives, either through games, chats, etc; as he states “...is the hazardous fallout from an over mediated world, where nothing that happens becomes real until you can make it fit into the spectacle, or make the spectacle fit into it.” (45) As Lasn further explains, technology in the sense of enabling instant communication has already been incorporated as part of our culture. I believe we can no longer retract to past mental and developmental stages after trusting our computers to store extensive personal data, our cell phones to allow fast and timely communication, and many other devices that came into our lives to make routinely tasks easier, thus saving time and allowing us to dedicate more time to the people or things that really matter. However, moderation should come into play when setting the limits of the use of technology. Neither our friends need to be solely virtual, nor our communication a combination of acronyms.
Certainly, we need to question the effect that new technologies will have on our culture and society. Even when the negative effects are more severe, the best path is to try to find the unseen benefits, since the technology can never be put back in the box. It is extremely important to be aware of both potential hazards and benefits of incorporating technology into our lives, and the best way to do that, is to take it slowly, one step at a time.
Advertising and US - Post Essay Reflection
This essay was very close to my heart. While dissecting a hot dog ad, I couldn’t help but to relate to possibly thousands or millions of working mothers who also study while trying to take care of their families the best possible way. In analyzing the ad, it became clear that every single aspect of it, color used, characters/models in the photo and each word used to advertise the product were specifically picked to better place and sell the product. Overall, we tend to overlook those details, since time is a rare commodity nowadays.
Learning more about sentence structure and utilizing the concepts of PIE and paragraph development really helped me to be able to write a better essay. Another aspect that contributed greatly to support many points of this essay was the reading selection used to prepare for this work. Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, by Jib Fowles was instrumental while analyzing the ad.
Learning more about sentence structure and utilizing the concepts of PIE and paragraph development really helped me to be able to write a better essay. Another aspect that contributed greatly to support many points of this essay was the reading selection used to prepare for this work. Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, by Jib Fowles was instrumental while analyzing the ad.
Advertising and Us
Guiltless Mothers: Can it Get Any Better than This?
It is around 5:30 am when I wake up to get ready for work. After an eight-hour journey, I leave work to pick up my daughter at day care, and so my day is at its half. Between grocery shopping, prepping and cooking a healthy meal, the guilt for not dedicating more of my time to my offspring pushes me a little further to entertain her or take her for a walk, followed by bath time and, finally, storytelling and sleep. Then it is time to focus on myself; nevertheless, share “me time” with homework and more assignments. This often exhausting routine is not unusual to many working mothers, and along their physical and mental exhaustion, it comes guilt for apparently not doing enough for their loved ones. The reality among busy mothers who juggle to manage their careers, families, educating and raising their children, is that time has become a rare asset, and the slight idea of cooking a healthy meal that may take away another hour of their days, can be easily filled in with the promises of a healthier fast food alternative. And with so many options on the prospects worthy filling up our children’s tummies, the food industry and its advertising campaigns seem to know exactly how to appeal to their more avid consumers, namely women.
In the U.S., traditional gender roles assume that the woman is the caregiver, the homemaker, even when working in a full time job, while men are typified the autonomous, powerful and aggressive individuals, which would normally infer they are the decisions makers when considering the purchasing decisions in a household. However, as Businessweek magazine illustrates through the article “I Am Woman, Hear Me Shop”, in study by the Boston Consulting Group, "Today's woman is the chief purchasing agent of the family and marketers have to recognize that” (qtd. Michael Silverstein). Adding to this statement, data from the U.S. Department of Labor, shows that the influx of women in the workforce reached out almost 60% of in 2004, helping us to infer woman have also earned financial means to consolidate the decision making power when considering overall purchases. As household managers, women supervise the budget for and purchase of many items consumed by their families, and within those, is food. Because women traditionally engage in more of the family food shopping, and are the routinely the ones preparing the family meals, they are consistently aware of what constitutes a healthy meal.
The food industry and its advertisers are aware of such informed consumer and their respective deciding power. The evidence is that food ads in magazines are mainly targeted to women. In ad extracted from Parents Magazine, assuming that its audience is, in fact, parents, men and women, isn’t difficult to find out women are more likely to develop a further interest for what affects their children and families. I assume that, because in my household, after discussing what publication could help guiding raising our daughter, my husband and I decided to subscribe to the magazine. While I was the one actively looking for options and making the purchase, I noticed that, even after the first publication arrived at our home, my husband only took a glance at its cover.
Not surprisingly, when looking through the pages of May’s Parents magazine, an ad from Oscar Mayer, a very well known meat and cold cut production company famous specially for its hot dogs, therefore not the healthiest meal options one could conclude, calls my attention. It shows a boy apparently six years of age, appearing to be a happy and healthy child on his normal weight as he voraciously eats a hot dog, expressing a certain delight while savoring his meal. In the ad’s background, figures a barbecue pit under the rain, in what seems a day that could’ve been a bad one, except for the hot dog that saved meal time. Attached to the ad, the message “100% chance of smiles. Introducing Oscar Mayer Selects hot dogs. Made with 100% pure beef and no nitrates or nitrites except those naturally occurring in celery juice.”; in the sidelines, as a slogan for the ad (possibly a campaign?), it says “it doesn’t get better than this”, and “Let it rain all it wants”, make me reflect on why that ad seemed so appealing. The answer, or at least a significant part of the explanation for it, is that the women have a natural need for nurturing, and that comes into play as an appeal that helps selling fast food, dismissing any possible guilt homemakers or full time working mothers may face against themselves. Suddenly Oscar Mayer hotdogs made with 100% pure beef could be the winner of lunch or dinner marathons. Yet, the sole fact parents are givers may contribute to “healthy” fast food selection when it comes to simply feed their little ones, as Jib Fowler points out in his article “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals”, “Akin to affiliative needs is the need to take care of small, defenseless creatures – children and pets, largely.”(78) Thus, a hotdog ad may just be enough to unite both worlds, the fulfillment of the nurturing need and the practicality modern life demands from parents.
Equally important when analyzing the ad, and following Fowles’s approach, is the ad appeal using the need for autonomy. In exercising autonomy by feeding their children hotdogs, mothers can delegate the meal elaboration to the makers of this product, namely Oscar Mayer hot dogs. The enforcing aspect of the ad, the guarantee that the mouthwatering item is made with 100% pure beef, free of neither nitrites nor nitrates, facilitates the mother’s’ decision on making the right choice when feeding their children. According to Fowles, “An appeal to the need for autonomy often occurs with one for the need for escape, since the desire to duck out of our social obligations, to seek rest or adventure, frequently takes the form of one-person flight.” (82). And, again, such statement seems perfectly obvious when the selling product is fast food. Inevitably, mothers become their children’s heroes, pleasing their palate with an all timer kid’s meal favorite. Women are also, in this ad, everybody’s heroes, since the setting, a rainy day where barbecue was supposed to be the meal, is substituted by a hot dog that doesn’t necessarily demands cooking or grilling, assuring the entire family happy day.
The actual fact the hot dogs are a handy meal to have at home, can also be explained by the need of feeling safe. One more time, Jib Fowles is assertive when stating “We take precautions to diminish future threats.” (83). As natural nurturers, women want to be certain of their families’ well being, and food availability is a key element that allows the exercise of feeling safe.
Hot dogs do not only satisfy the need of feeling safe, but this hot dog ad specially, also goes beyond an alternative meal that allows women to escape, to nurture. The vivid red color of the hot dog, topped with more red (ketchup) and yellow (mustard) help emphasizing the focus of this ad. But also the blue of the boy’s shirt, indicates the character in evidence, and more intriguing is that the boy’s ethnicity in, isn’t easily identifiable. According to the author of “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals”, “Advertisers know there is little chance of good communication occurring if an ad isn’t visually pleasing.”(83) The choice of a neutral looking child, since the little one in the ad could be Middle Eastern, Hispanic, white American, yet original of many different ethnical groups, provides the magazine reader with a non-threatening image, where the aesthetic sensations are satisfied
When we look at a cute child, in an apparent regular weight, devouring a hot dog that pledges the use of better and more natural ingredients, takes all the possible guilt away from busy parents. “It doesn’t get better than this”, says the ad; and advertisers know it doesn’t.
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