Aesthetics

Levi Strauss Co. has been the innovation leader in apparel since 1873, the year they created the world’s first blue jean. They didn’t stop there. They’ve had an impact on every decade since, from activewear for women in the early 20th century, to leading the casual businesswear revolution of the 1990s with the Dockers® brand, to providing everyday values with the Levi Strauss Signature® brand.

Being a leader in corporate citizenship is just as important to them as being an apparel innovator. Levi Strauss himself started this tradition and they’ve been keeping the spirit of his commitment to corporate citizenship alive. They opened integrated factories in the American South before it was mandated by the government, they were the first to create responsible product sourcing guidelines and pioneered policies to help employees with HIV/AIDS.

What rationale isn’t there for this research project? This compnay used every radical change they made in history in their ads and emphasized independence to appeal to the American public. This country is based on a foundation of revolution, so this tactic works very well.

The research tools that I will use are listed in my previous entry.

1.When I took a Theory Of Knowledge class in high school, I had to be “conscious of being conscious” because we questioned what was knowledge, our perception, and our experiences. From the beginning I had to be conscious of two different worlds. I had to know that the actual world was slightly different from what we perceived it to be. Freire wants students and teachers to approach the classroom with this idea in mind. Don’t look at just the text book world, question what it warrants as fact. This experience made me think outside the box and become more creative with my school work.When Freire speaks of the spectator vs. the re-creator, he is saying that for a student to truly understand the subject, he must take what he has learned and mold it into his own view on it. Memorizing facts is not nearly the same as understanding why the capital of Virginia is Richmond. That opens a whole other basin of historical content.

2. Freire is clearly a lefty, in that he is Marxist. His extreme views cause him to say that the student is alienated by the teacher because the teacher allows only a one-way communication; the teacher tells the student what to do. The new praxis, or practical application of a branch of learning, that he proposes is essentially an open ended dialogue. The teacher and the student talk back and forth, stating arguments and asking questions.

3. Freire poses ans answers his own questions. He compares the current educational system to the lifestyle of necromancy. He is extremely radical and consequently extremley convinced that his views are right. He is the depositer, and he deposits his views into me when I read his essay. “No oppressive order could permit the oppressed to begin to question: why? While only a revolutionary society can carry out…revolutionary leaders must dialogical from the outset.”

He is a true Marxist with that statement. The leaders of a revolution should not be stagnant and say that they will do something, or tell the public what to do, instead they must act on what they say to tell the public what the revolution is about. He tells the reader what he believes and leaves no room for argument. He doesn’t even mention any counterpoints.

I would like to explore why jeans have survived so long and how they came to be. They have a close tie to America and its industries since the Industrial Revolution and the GoldRush. I want to explore the historical context of the product and how it influences the ads that are shown today for Levis Jeans.

1. Title- Jeans: a cultural history of an American icon / by James Sullivan.

2. http://www.levistrauss.com

3. Title- Blue jeans / by Lorraine and Jerrold Beim

I will concentrate on Levi’s jeans for my research project, a company that has been around for more then 150 years. The company, through its ads, displays very political messages that help sell the product.

Each ad campaign deals with a liberation of some kind: independence  of women, freedom from the rules of the Axis Powers (World War II), civil rights, rebellion of “punks”,  the rebellion of rockers (against the vietnam war), and finally we get to the present “a style for every story” which tells the consumers of 2006 that they should state their own individuality by offering variety for their personalized style.

1. The strategy of more-rather-than-less can work for writing, but only to a limited extent. Bordo made it work because she divided the long essay into subsections. She also had a tendency to go in depth about history (ie WWII and civil rights) to describe the changes in advertising techniques, which was a little over substantive.
2. The first section of the essay is the loudest and possibly the most eye-raising. She uses explicit words to get the point across, and has no hesitation towards talking freely about her sexuality. It definitely makes the reader pay attention until the drawn out sections delving into less playful issues come about. The subsections mark stages because it goes from describing our societal behavior towards sexuality, to describing the underlying factors that influence the ay we think.
3. Many things influence a subject position like gender, race, ethnicity, age, stereotypes etc. Everyone has a certain factor that affects them because humans are social animals. We thrive on attention, on being embraced with love. Everyday we are not convinced we are important unless someone else verifies it for us. Every time we pass a stranger, look at a magazine, look at a bus, or talk to someone we are comparing ourselves to others.

Old BMW Film
BMW Film Star

Here are two video advertisements for BMW vehicles. The first one is a commercial from Italy in the late 1980s and the other is from 2006 and involves Clive Owens and Madonna. The striking difference between the two is that in one the female is being rescued and in the other the female is being taught a lesson.

In the first ad, the driver of the BMW uses his skills to rescue the damsel in distress from her crazy mother who is driving the truck. During this time, helpless women wanted a knight in shining armor in her life. Movies either placed the men in a heroic position or displayed a woman in a sexual way. Here the advertisement hit two birds with one stone, a female is portrayed as a bad driver, and the woman is dependent on the man to drive. Either way, the man uses the BMW as an object of power.

At the beginning Clive Owens, a classy chauffeur is hired to punish a famous rock star for being basically a brat. He takes her on a wild ride not to impress her with his skills, but instead to battle his power against her power. In an age where women are gaining more power, the bitter men in this formerly male-dominated society are the perfect audience for this ad. What would be better than a man finally regaining his “rightful” place in society by using the BMW as his weapon? Martha Stewart, anyone? A woman stripped of her corporate power because she was made an example over a stock market tactic which is pulled off by hundreds of men everyday?

Both ads poke at the same goal by placing a woman in a helpless position. Whether it’s giving her a manly shoulder to lean on or stripping her power away from her, the female always comes out as the underdog. This shows that in both societies the female image of power has not been accepted yet, even though in the more current period the option for a woman to become independent is acceptable.

Before me two ads are presented for Kotex napkins. Both emphasize the protection, and “safety” that pads are supposed to give a woman; but the two convey the message in two different ways. Let’s examine the historical context fueling the aesthetics of the ads in order to conclude how and why their marketing methods are so different.

The first black and white cartoon ad probably was published during the 1950s. The caricatures certainly convey the “perfect life” idea that was stamped into the brains of the American citizens of that era. A country ready to bounce back from the upheaval that resulted from World War II attempted to erase its troubled past by making reputation and presentation the center goal. A prosperous image was consequently manufactured of a perfect family, wealthy life style, and flawless life. The ad strikes at this societal ideal by presenting four scenarios where there are a set of rules that are to be followed in order to preserve the quintessential image of this 50’s. So, what does a woman do when she finds herself “leaking” out her flaws (pardon my pun)? She must hide them of course and pretend they don’t exist with the ad’s self-proclaimed “poise-preserver” Kotex napkins; effective and logical perhaps, but slightly sick. Women don’t have periods, or cramps, or flaws in order for the rules to be properly followed in this ad. The marketers delve into this rich pool of societal conformist crap and sell it to the public. This is what Susan Douglass does to ads. She deconstructs them by determining what makes the method work. In other words what societal and historical context allows the aesthetic message to work so that the product is sold?

The second ad is a drawing as well, although slightly less “cartoonesque” than the first, of Cybill Sheperd, a prominent media figure during the 1960s. The ad is full of color and Sheperd is wearing a low-cut, sexy outfit. Along with the sexy undertone, Sheperd is surrounded by a swirling and possible drug-induced vision of a cloud. Yup, this definitely emphasizes the message of the Peace, Love and Harmony Era. Again, America during the 1960s was a response to the violent and seemingly pointless Vietnam era, where uninhibited sex flourished and drugs were repeatedly used. These antics were a rebellious (and fun) response to the senseless conflict abroad. Anything that felt good was condoned regardless of the consequences. The message of the ad “Be a question. Be an Answer. Be a beautiful story. But be sure,” embodies the mentality of the public during that time. Feel however you want, just accept whatever comes your way, but be sure to use Kotex napkins. Get rid of any worry in order to reach the ultimate hippy-like state. The marketers saw the negative reactions that the young public displayed towards the war and they banked on it. They went to town selling a product that would exploit a politically-favored message. Also, ignoring the political implications, let’s think about why else the hippy lifestyle was promoted. Who wouldn’t want to be able to participate in every vice known to man, after all its only human nature. Finally, society said it was alright to be promiscuous and to be quite literally “out of one’s mind” with the use of drugs.

Two very different ads selling the same product have different messages caused by the same problems. It’s fascinating to see that a response to a war could be so different just based on analyzing how the marketers chose to approach the campaigning of the product. One era embraced rules to create harmony, and the other era banished them. Both radical approaches have negative consequences, but both were very affective for advertising.

1.Susan Douglass seems to talk about women who are protrayed in societal commercials in a negative way. She snidly remarks that the sculpted thighs and cellulite-less bums are unrealistic as a portrayal for what women really should strive for. The average women should be a size 8, but in today’s society a size 0 is seen as “perfect”. Susan stresses the importance of embracing oneself. She says to stray away from being Narcissistic; she just wants the average woman to embrace her curves. A real woman is not totally selfless but not totally self-indulgent. She also thinks a woman should be curvacious. In the ads, woman are only accepted if they are respected by men, narcissitic, and stick-thin. Douglass tries to disparage this image, and try to stress the importance for being happy with whatever a woman was born with.

2.  The media is responsible for vomiting up images of the “perfect” body. What  is at stake for manufacturing these inrealisitc images is that no money would be made if women didn’t want to improve themselves. Make-up products, exercise videos, and clothes are all meant to help a woman improve herself. Why would she spend money on these things if she was happy with what she looked like? The media must invest on the insecurities of women in order to profit.  This is a disgusting idea, but it also keeps our economy going. This is almost a necessary evil in some ways.

This image was found on Dove.com. This ad challenge’s Susan Douglas’s  idea of what today’s typical ads because this allows women to be proud of their diversity. The importance of tiny waists and cellulite-free legs are no longer present, and this ad from Dove tells the public to appreciate their curves through saying “this product tested on real curves”. This gives legitamacy to the ad. There is no emphasis on women being narcisisstic, it just gives a real approach to life.

This ad for the Gap uses a strong celebrity image to sell its product. But it does not make the product sexy, nor does it concentrate on Narcissism .This ad is about bringing back a classic with good ol’ fashioned fun. The need to keep up impressions to others is not empasized. On  the contrary this ad talks of a “release” to act like you feel.

This ad for Nike proudly displays the horrible “thunder thigs”. They are shown as a sign of strength. This ad strays from the norm.It does not scream “put yourself first”, “be envied”, “keep up face”. It instead commands respect for the differences in body types. It concentrates on the positives on the so- called negative  body types.

All of these ads don’t alienate women from their faces and bodies. It instead says that a women should identify with herself and with that confidence she will command the respect of others.  She is not taught to feel worthless if she is not repsected by men or does not have “ideal” model looks. These ad campaigns are much more positive.

1. John Berger views history as a method of correctly viewing the past.The knowledge of history is not merely knowing the events of the past, but it is the understanding of the outlook people had of their surroundings. The painting someone creates cannot be analyzed soley by interpreting the colors, this makes the painting become a record of how a person had seen the work of art. The artist’s creation becomes mystified in this way. Berger’s complaint is that the way art is defined is through the perception of a small group of individuals. He claims that a “privileged minority is striving to invent a history which can retrospectively justify the roles of the ruling classes”. So called “experts” try to convey that the emotional basis comes from the painting itself. This takes away the painter’s component. An artist creates a work of art in order to convey emotions that cannot be said in words. He creates it while being motivated by something. If you look for what the painting is tryng to convey by just looking at the painting and ignoring the history, then you’ve mystified the “art of the past”.

2. John Berger believes that the individual who looks at a painting has been stripped of their sovereignty because they look to the expert to interpret what it means. There is no real way to define what is art. It can be significant because of a political message behind it, a radical new style, or just artistic talent. It all depends on the perception of the viewer. Even Berger’s way of seeing art is biased. Who is to say that the history is the only thing that explains the painting. He wasn’t there, he didn’t know what was going on inside the mind of the artist at the time that his brush slid across the canvas. He knows that art is only interpreted and processed and handed out by a minority of the population. He doesn’t believe that his perspective is right, he just wants to convey to the population that there needs to be a stop to the mystification of art. More people need to put in their input.