Ads, Movies and Music are all huge contributors to the Media world. They are extremely useful and influential media tools used in our society today. These mediums have been used to sell not only products but a lifestyle of the "new" American dream. Today it's not enough for people in our society to just want a nice car, a good job and the white picket fence to the 2 story house that holds a family of five. People today are now so driven towards having their dream job and living a carefree lifestyle that isn't as geared towards settling down and raising a family like generations before us. Our generation wants the grown up the responsiblities and salary that belongs to the ultimate dream job but we don't want to grow up. This could be attached to several contributing factors that all are bottom lined down to we don't want to make the same mistakes that generations before us have made. We don't want to get married to quickly, we don't want to settle into a boring nine to five job like generations before us. We want more than that. We want time to actually have hobbies and a life outside of earning money. We want the whole package and the media world is becoming increasingly aware of of our demands and have catered to our outlook on how we want life to be. Several ad
vertising agencies, movie production companies, and music artist today have focused on our generation. They are selling our dream lifestyle.
Ads:
The Calvin Klein ads are a great example. They have been notorious for their provacative ads. The ad shown to
the left is a classic example that "sex sells"; every ad that Calvin Klein puts out into media sources like magazines and billboards contain the message that if you buy our product you are buying a lifestyle of beauty and sex. You will feel empowered, feel more beautiful and sexy and you will get laid by a hot ass man/woman if you wear our jeans, put on our fragrance and live the Calvin
Klein lifestyle.
Movies:
"There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors..." Jim Morrison
The Doors (1991)... such a great movie. This film is a great example of trying to hold onto the past for the fear of the future. It's ironic that there are so many popular films out today that are a recreation of a past movie or that are about a historical event because it seems that our generation is so set on being different from generations past. The Doors is all about drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Right now in pop culture it's all about drugs sex and rock and roll. It seems that there has been a quiet revival of the carefree 60's and 70's free love attitude. Our culture has an obsession with wanting to be a rock star or being in the spotlight period because with that lifestyle comes a sense of having the dream job as well as having the sensation of not growing up. Reality shows such as American Idol are perfect examples of America's obsession with wanting to make it on the delusional road to fame.
Music:
The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails
This song is about love or lust invoking the same kind of sensation and addiction that a drug would. The music video for this song is great, it has a twisted Alice in Wonderland vibe that goes with the lyrics of the song perfectly. In the video the lead vocalist, Trent Reznor, drinks absence and then the video goes green and gets pretty trippy.
This song/ music video is yet another example of the desire to escape past generations action of settling with the classic 1950's american dream.
3 comments:
I agree with you, Calvin Klein is all about sex. I even know people who deliberately ware shorter t-shirts so that when they raise their arm or bed….. their Calvin Klein underwear with the Calvin Klein name printed on them shows. They totally buy into the whole image.
I agree that CK is very keen on the notion that sex sells, because it does. They have been very successful in the past for their racy - almost pornographic ads. The controversy then gives them publicity in the end on much more media outlets (ie. the news, newspapers and so on) that they end leads people into thinking that they are now buying into a counterculture - or at least something taboo. I'm just glad they are using adults now rather than the creepy commercials terry richardson made for them in the 90s ... see:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/ethics/calvin_klein_case_study.cfm
ps. he is doing it again...
http://commercial-archive.com/node/132638
-jason
I agree that media of today is not selling as what you said, "a nice car, a good job and the white picket fence to the 2 story house that holds a family of five." Their target audience, which mean our generation ages of around 16 to 40 is more looking for some sensation satisfaction. Sex, drug,trippy atmosphere, and fantasy are good souces to promote products in ad, those are things that can really catch our attention, and it also reflected that our generation don't like to face the reality.
Post a Comment