STUDY TASK 2: CONSUMERISM

For our task we were assigned to use the text Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing', to write one critical analysis of an advert which, in your opinion, reflects the logic of consumerism, or the social conditions of consumerism, discussed in the lecture 'Consumerism'. Use at least five quotes, referenced according to the Harvard system, in support of your argument.

Source

In this critical analysis I will identify the ways in which consumerism is used naively by consumers, based on  a male perfume advert that portrays the idea that if they buy into the products that are advertised they are promised a false sense of security and that their needs for power ,desire and love by a woman are met by buying these products, through the theory of John Berger.

This is a Calvin Klein advert promoting it’s new fragrance Encounter, the image of the male model counteracts the actual image of the fragrance making the advertisement focus on selling a lifestyle. A lifestyle that proposes that to obtain masculinity and desire from the opposite sex, you will need to buy this perfume to fulfill these preconscious desires that come to their attention through what is displayed.  (Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp.130) states “we are now so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact” suggesting that the consumer has become desensitised by the manipulation in advertising. The effect it has not only disrupts their esteem but also encourages needless consumerism to try and fill a void in their life, that wont be sustainable because there is always something new being produced to portray these wants “publicity speaks in the future tense and yet the achievement of this future is endlessly deferred.” (Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp.146 ). 

Consumers often aspire and look up to people with power “he lives in the contradiction between what he is and what he would like to be”( Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp.148). Calvin Klein solidifies this statement through the use of celebrity endorsements, which was introduced by Bernays to make the consumer trust and desire a brand in the late 1920‘s through the celebrities values. They have done this by using the actor Alexander Skarsgard, who is an actor that plays roles that women fall for and men look up to and uses this persona that the consumer can identify with.

Freud suggests that humans have hidden 'sexual forces and animal instincts' that need to be controlled. The advert plays upon these sexual forces through the need to be desired and loved, in the image of the man holding the womans face, looking at each other seductively. Berger states “Publicity increasingly uses sexuality to sell any product or service. But this sexuality is never free in itself; it is a symbol for something presumed to be larger than it: the good life in which you can buy whatever you want.” Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp. 144). Suggesting that the consumer can have these false needs and think the answer to solving these needs is through buying a product when in actual fact it’s merely a mirage in their subconscious that is elevated by the clever depiction through an advertisement. In reality when you buy this perfume, that is all you will obtain from it.

This advertisement also plays on the class of it’s consumers, Calvin Klein is a house hold name that holds a lot of respect and austerity in a consumerist society. The advert in particular uses a secret and exotic location which is reinforced through the waterfalls in the background. “Middle - class publicity promises a transformation of relationships through a general atmosphere created by an ensemble of products (The Enchanted Palace).”Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp. 145). Through creating this picture it creates a ideal that middle class consumers want to experience and that by buying into this product their surrounding and relationships will become happy and radiant. 

In conclusion the advert depicts the idea of power, desire and love in a redundant way, and consumers have a desensitized view to it by the influx of adverts like this before. The play upon selling a lifestyle to a consumer to fulfill their false needs and sexual forces for them to feel better within themselves.