Study Task 2

In In this analysis I will be looking into the idea of consumerism, and how advertising and marketing affects how we perceive and get on with our everyday lives. ‘In the cities which we live, all of us see hundreds of publicity images every day of our lives. No other kind of image confronts us so frequently’ (Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp. 129. Looking at what John Burger is suggesting about how we are involuntarily being exposed to images and videos which are subliminally being taken in and provoke the desires and needs which most companies try to sell along with their products or services. The fact that we see so much of it is why we most of the time don’t consciously take notice of it, but most adverts and posters are now designed to work in this way.

One of main reasons as to why we subconsciously do let these false needs and desires which are being sold through the advert work and play on our minds is explained well using another quote by John Beger, ‘Money is life. Not in the sense that without money you will starve. Not in the sense that capital gives one class power over the entire lives of another class. But in the sense that money is the token, and the key to, every human capacity. The power to spend money is the power to live. According to the legends of publicity, those who lack the power to spend money become literally faceless .Those who have the power become loveable’ (Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp.143)’.

‘Glamour cannot exist without personal social envy being a common and widespread emotion. (Berger,J.(1972) “Ways of Seeing, pp 148). In support of Bergers theory looking at the image below, the use of the couple and this idea of exclusivity ‘Are you on the list?’ is basically saying that buying this very aftershave will give you this sense of status and power and to mention attraction from the opposite sex.

‘The pursuit of individual happiness has been acknowledged as a universal right. Yet the existing social conditions make the individual feel powerless (Berger,J.(1972) “Ways of Seeing, pp 148). This sense of powerlessness that people feel about being happy is express once again through the use of the couple saying that wearing that perfume/aftershave will get you that guy or that girl, so then you can eventually be happy together.

‘Publicity principally addressed to the working class tends to promise a personal transformation through the function of the particular product it is selling.’ (Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing, pp.145). In conclusion, the advert is selling a sense of identity, power and sexual attraction all at the use of that very aftershave/perfume. From the way that they have packaged it,, gold automatically implies wealth and status to the what they have called it, ‘212 VIP’.