Pop Palimpsests

A palimpsest comes from the ancient Greek palimpsesetos, literally meaning “scraped clean and used again.” Archeologist Paul Basu used the notion to express how the constructed past is a projection of our present mindset: “practical and discursive memories from different periods become intermeshed such that one period is remembered through the lens of another.”

The History Channel's latest ads dabble in similar ideas: different times in same spaces are superposed suggesting we forget but need to remember, as well as marking how the black and white past is a creation of the colourful present.

Basu, P. 2007. ‘Palimpsest Memoryscapes: 

Materializing and Mediating War and Peace 

in Sierra Leone’ in F. De Jong; M. Rowlands 

(eds), Reclaiming Heritage: Alternative Imagina-

tions in West Africa, Walnut Creek, CA: 

Left Coast Press p. 234.

Two Images in the New Yorker

This is the layout of last week's pages 38-39 of the New Yorker. The article is about sports, marketing, stardom and money. The New Yorker's illustration for the article is a photograph of a Banksy street art piece; it reveals the writing's main thesis. In an uncanny echo, page 39 presents a wonderful Gillette ad which, with similar cues (fence, black man, physical activity involving height, etc) let's you know what's up: just buy deodorant.

Purposefully or not, I think this is great.

Pigeons, Doves, and Magic

Buying Individuals, Data Collections and Online Ads

From the great article A Guide to the Digital Advertising Industry That's Watching Your Every Click, published in The Atlantic by Communications professor Joesph Turow.

The Friendly French Province

Source: National Geographic, April 1964

Greenpeace Toys with the Innocence of Childhood

After the publicized success of Ken's breakup with Barbie earlier this month - the revelation her packaging contributes to tropical deforestation annihilating all the lust left in Ken's heart, - Greenpeace has again used the joyful innocence associated to childhood to better reveal environmental horrors. If their use of Barbie was entirely their initiative, their campaign 'Dark Side' is based on Volkswagen's latest ad for their new Passat. In the Greenpeace campaign the young endearing Dark Vador trying to animate everyday objects gets swapped for a young yet evil Dark Vador backed by a float of polluting earth killers that must fight an adorable group with young Leila, young Luke, young Droids, young R2- D2, young C-3PO, young Chewbacca and more...

Pretty cute and pretty successful at attacking a brand with a four start branding history (Volkswagen) and a toy every girl under the age of 60 has played with (Barbie):

Stella and Heineken: The New Beer Drinkers

Stella Artois has long tradition of advertising itself as the la bière pour les hommes à femmes. In their past ads women and Stella Artois bottles are interchangeable because both are light and straight out of the 60s, and the male characters are handsome Frenchmen with perfect-fitting suits and ravishing taste. Their latest ad keeps to their manicured nostalgia but changes the narration making the girl the one who switches the boy for the Stella.

Heineken seems to be wanting to go somewhere somewhat similar by presenting an ad with a lovely couple, a touch of humor, choreographed eye movement and 60s beats that calls anything but "beer is exclusively for men who like sports, bawling and junk food."

Girls, not feeling those sugary Smirnoff Ice delicacies any more, well both Stella and Heinken are thinking of you:

The Wonders of Human Associations and The Benefits of Digital Stalking

Deux des Meilleures Pub Pour Préservatifs

Le Poisson Rouge de Cédric Klapisch

Zazoo Condoms

What Was the Hipster?

I recently finished a book published by n+1 entitled "What Was the Hipster? A Sociological Investigation." In three parts, the first transcribes the New School's spring 2009 symposium on the subject matter, the second is three written responses to this panel and the final third (and by far best) part is composed of four essays discussing hipsterdom with expressions like "Williamsburg Year Zero," "the polaroid palette," and "behind and above them, Animal Collective."

I didn't find the symposium and its responses particulalry interesting (although the Jace Clayton aka DJ Rapture's Peruvian observations on neo-colonialism in the music biz was great), but the last four essays are really hilarious and informative. Robert Moor refers to his dictionary and thinks about the differnce between the douchbag and the hipster. Dayna Tortorici looks at the role cameras and blogs have in creating the female hipster aesthetic (a thin palette of muted ambers and blues and lo-fi rawness rooted in basement porn and crime scene photography to reveal a bored-looking deer-in-head-lights pouting female's sexy authenticity). Mark Grief does a great job using a whole bunch of humor and insight to question the viceness of Vice, the irony of the ironic t-shirts, the significance of turning 30 and gentrification. While Christopher Glazek compares Hasidim to Hipsters and uses Williamsburg's bike lane controversy as it's main point.

Really great stuff! And on that note here's a pretty good add on the subject matter:

The Phenomenology of White: Trying to Think Differently About Bleached Models and Real Estate

Last week Cathy Horn, fashion writer for the New York Times, argued that the fashion world gets off the idea of pushing boundaries, when actually there aren't any to push (nothing new under the sun, Foucault said similar things about Western sexuality some fifty odd years ago), and uses Givenchy's latest advertisement featuring Stephen Thompson - an albino model - as an example. 

Although he may never have produced melanin ever, seems like overall low melanin secretion isn't a bad thing when it comes to success in fashion. And Miu Miu's winter bleached eyebrows campaign, Lara Stone's pigments or Thompson's apparently just as melanin-less co-model in the ad aren't going against the phenomenon. Which got me into thinking why? What does white have that the other colours don't?

The study of colour value and colour perception is an old one that, with the advent of post-modernity's concerns for societal causes, went out of politically correct and academic style. For centuries this field followed Plato’s distinction between mind and body. Similarly to René Descartes' ideas, it was understood that the world of appearances was one of allusions as opposed to the world of thought in which ideal and universal forms existed. For Descartes accordingly the perception of colour was like any other experience of tangible substance: an automatic process itself worth studying but insignificant in the greater pursuit of selfhood and truth.

While this Cartesian dualism has received severe criticism because equating 'objective' colour seeing to 'physical' measurements (such as the Munsell chart, NeCoSyn or the Swedish Color System) excludes the less tangible implications informed by culture and context (problems of objectivity basically), the opposite end of the purely quantitive pendulum is close to a similar intellectual dead-end. What anthropologist Daniel Miller coined the tyranny of the word - a theoretical stand point in which all material things are studied and understood as projections of something else. As a result white doesn't 'just' exist in itself, it is standing in for something else - the biased aesthetic standard of a European colonizer, or the pre-pubescent innocence of childhood and birth (because of things like the 'universal' colour of breast milk and sperm). In other words these two approaches deny "the emotion and desire, the sensuality and danger and hence the expressive potential that colours possess themselves" (Young: 174). A kind of phenomenology of white.

What are the emotions attached to white? Albinos are killed in Tanzania, white hair is dull in Canada but aristocratic in Guatemala. White also reminds me of wedding dresses and real estate. White wedding dresses appeared under the Victorian era. Real estate because I read an ethnography in which London apartments with white walls sold for more than the ones equivalent in size but with, say, girlie pink walls and green bathroom wallpaper. The author/anthropologist argued that white on the market makes for a better sale because it is easier to identify to something that lacks the presence of past occupants. Which brings us back the wedding dress (remember the whole virginity thing?) - a historical construction.

So I don't know, really, is what it comes down to. Beyond ideologies rooted in biased universalist aspirations or in over-exploited identity politics, is there an agency to white? Something that intrinsically belongs to it that results in low melanin secreting people being more appropriate models (and better sellers of things)?

Benetton "Tribe (Albino)" 1992. Photography: Yves Gellie, Advertising: Oliviero Toscani

What Does the Man Want? Negotiating Gender in Ads

According to Old Spice, the man wants a girlfriend. According to Argentina's best selling beer, Andes, the man wants a girlfriend. What both brands also agree on is that by their very nature women will only want to be girlfriends if men can comply to a multitude of qualities that men (by their very nature) will never have. 

It's a tough situation. Luckily brands are here to help us negotiate our gender differences and expectations:

Step 1 - to 'get' a girlfriend fool the female olfactory sense into believing you are the perfect man (which translates as simultaneously a motorcycle owner, kitchen maker, beach showerer, cake cooker, forest adventurer, swan diver).
Step 2 - once the girlfriend acquired continue to perpetuate the lie by answering her phone calls in a manufactured audioscape to dupe her into thinking you are unable to see her because of a terrible situation beyond your control (diarrhea, hospital emergency, bar mitzvah, traffic jam, karate class, babysitting).

I think it's a an interesting demonstration of cowardliness and fear of solitude which is rarely reserved to men. In many ways these ads are more representative of human traits ( which applies both men and women) and our high hopes that things might hide these aspects of our kind than gender specifics. Although undeniably prince charming fantasies and men lying to the ones they consider themselves the closest to make for funny (selling) situations.

Demonstration:
June 2010 - Old Spice Deodorant

January 2010 - Andes Beer (Del Campo/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Buenos Aires)

Could Gucci be Going Metaphysical? Attending a Gucci Marketing Brainstorming Session

I was reading October British Vogue (dedicated to stars, stardust, stardom, astrology and sparks it ironically took ten long pages to describe their cover girl Emma Watson as a laid-back easy-going not-bitchy celebrity normal 20 year old) last night when I discovered this.

This is the Gucci Cruise 2011 Ad Campaign.

As one can see there is a subtle Gucci self-reference: you are looking at a Gucci ad in which another Gucci ad is placed. Both ads have the same two models  (Raquel Zimmermann and Nikola Jovanovic), the same GUCCI white font, the same blue sky, the same weird stares and the (subjective  judgement) poorly acted out 'act as a model' stances.

So is Gucci being witty, critical, ironic? Clearly the slightly clunky Baudrillardian hyper-reality argument whereby reproductions of the real are more real than reality, is well illustrated here. However I'm pretty sure this overwhelmingness of tackiness in a frame was simply the result of big egos, lack of imagination and yet again a simple rehashing of old ideologies and aesthetics. Like the Althussar argument that the capitalist state apparatus ideology hails us into desiring things - the Gucci team must have figured that if they had two 'hailing apparatuses' they could double the chances of doubling their profits. And John Berger's insight that all these advertising images promote better ways of living suggests that the Gucci Cruise 2011 Brainstorming session went something like this:

- Nic: so guys what are we going to do this time? key words - empowerment,  urban vibe, ultraglamorous, military uniforms
- Jennifer: oh my God Raquel is still so empowered, urban and ultraglamorous, we totally need to use her again. But where?
(silent contemplation at Gucci's old ads archived under empowerment, urban vibe, ultraglamorous and military uniforms)
- Jasper: well like John Berger said advertising images create desire like real reality can't. Real reality can't compare to the ads we've been creating for Gucci in other words. So using our own amazing past work as backgrounds would actually be more efficient at convincing people to buy a Gucci bag than real reality...
- Alison: ... oh my god so let's use our own amazing billboards as backgrounds with Raquel so urban and so ultraglam in front!
- Nic: wow, that's totally genius. We're totally amazing guys.

PS note the use was the "Château Marmont" sign at the bottom right corner.

Ways of Seeing by John Berger (1972) - Authenticity, Images, Advertising, Reproductions and Happiness

I just discovered these 1972 television treasures by John Berger.

Till now I only knew of the end result - the wonderful book "Ways of Seeing." A semi-cult read in cultural/visual studies, in it he rethinks what seeing is - what advertising does, what art means, how reproductions affect the act of seeing and the way which visibility is a subjective process. The originality is that he does this by using images, reproductions and collages as much as words and text. Similarly in the televised version of "Ways of Seeing" he uses editing techniques (as if switching channels) and particular frames (filming the film crew filming him) as much as his voice-over to get his questions across.

Here is a wonderful articulation of the absurd adoration western culture has for authenticity:

In this particular extract Berger looks at (pun intended) ideas of hyperreality and consumption in the world of advertising. At times a little simplistic (forty years have gone giving the issue a bunch of new ways to think about it) but his questions are still just as relevant today as they were 40 years ago:

CNN Turkey and Jacques Villeglé

CNN, an American info channel, might have been in need of refurbishing it's image in the somewhat Middle Eastern country of Turkey (aka we are American but we don't take sides), and as a result CNN Turkey has come up this advertisement campaign with tagline ''Stories with the full background'' (found at Wooster Collective). 

I don't know if the ads aptly represent the media company's stance in the country, but I find the images to be great.

They remind me of Jacques Villeglé (Rues Desprez et Vercingétorix - “La Femme”, 1966):

Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson Commercial: Branding the next Pabst Blue Ribbon

What beer comes after Pabst Blue Ribbon's underground cheap appeal withers? After the Pabst Blue Ribbon drinker gets a job, a vespa and a bachelor pad in Paris? Stella Artois seems to think it should: once the hipster blooms into a full grown (childfree) bobo (bohemian bourgeois), he will want Stella (and date French cute women). mon amour: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Stella Artois.

Lineups, Feeling Different and Dumping the Disc: Apple Marketing 101

Today Apple introduced the world to its redesigned iTunes symbol. Someone in their marketing department decided it was time to get rid of the CD that's hiding behind musical note. Who's uses CDs these days? Jobs doesn't.

Because I'm still not entirely over how the marketing geniuses that managed to create lineups for their new iphone came up with this boring logo, here's the totally iconic 1984 ad by Steve Hayden. 

It came out in 1984 to introduce the first Apple Macintosh personal Computer. A 'different' computer from the PC... Now people are lining up to be different. Which makes 1984 iconic and ironic.

Nike Air Max 90 Ad: An analysis of the Shoe Collector's Core Values

After "Write the Future," Wieden and Kennedy launched a new commercial for the Nike Air Max 90 shoe in the UK. Entitled "I am the Rules" this is a one minute film of clean, concise, energized and assured images. If the symmetrical geometry of each frame and beat-based music are powerful factors to this effect, the colours are just as important: the six colours of the exclusively designed for Footlocker shoe are used throughout the ad, with black, grey and white as base, and colza, red and violet as decorative highlights.

If at first the whole thing feels like a mish-mash of rule-breaking attitude, it's unsurprisingly filled with stereotypical ideas (that sell) about tradition, innovation and respect. How are these materialized?

During the first few seconds of the clip we are introduced to the very majestic notion of time and history - somewhat of sports, but also in general with the a shadow clocking away, the iconography of kingdoms lost and of traditions forgotten (aka the projection of the colosseum). Then, skipping through a few centuries, we are facing present-time sport brands' favorite athletes - the consuming shoe collector - commanding the video with his remote control. From then on things get a little crazy, when intercutting slow motion and rapid shots of various activities paralleled with statements about defying tradition (by dancing hip hop or being a girl boxer), expectations (screaming at microphones/media) and stereotypes (wear Nike instead of suits) are presented. The guys who created hip-hip might be 60 by now and blowing up in front of media not so revolutionary (or appreciated by brands like Nike see Tiger Woods or Les Bleus), but these ideas look great. The weirdest thing is when the ad turns to illustrating how to defy prejudice via Nike shoes. They come up with two Brian Jungenian masks, a DIY time machine from Japan with flags waving and lighting fire crackers over an athlete in front of the projection of the amphitheater. 

Really defying your idea of prejudice, right?

"I AM THE RULES"

The nonsensical advertisements before a Dicaprio Blockbuster and French McDonalds is said to have Macaroons

I saw Inception last night at the MK2 Odéon. The plot-line - a dream within a dream within another dream - was a genius marketing move broadening the range of the flick's target audience exponentially (from Matrix lovers to chick flick freaks) and the characters were as flat (a wannabe James Bond stud and a miserable Japanese version of the evil turn good guy) as much as their relations improbable (Juno as therapist?).

If that could have been expected, if not calculated, it's actually the advertisement and preview period before the movie that was the best and most disconcerting experience of my time in front of the screen. It reminded me I was paying to be sold things, and gave me the shitty feeling that either I should have downloaded it or that I was suppose to be a sexually open-minded 13 year old geek with a love for green-conscious fast food.

Demonstration:

Targeted towards teens, preferably geeks, the first ads are by SFR and promote their phones' games with animated Princess Peach and her other forgotten gameboy friends. Check here. I might be totally out of the loop but what in the world is it promoting? good friendships? SFR's lack of cool? Nostalgia for Mario World? Not sure? Me neither. After seeing three versions of that same concept, McDonalds kicked in with their new bio friendly image: lush tomatoes collected meticulously by a McDo employer and brought in every morning fresh in a wooden box merged with happy meal boxes entering a miserable city filled with miserable black puffy things who, by the mere presence of happy meals, change into colorful dancing puffy things:  



What's going on? Is it really that straightforward: buy a happy meal and you will be happy? Is it for parents? Rare McDo eaters? Rare to never McDo eaters (I didn't leave convinced)? Kids? Sad people? After that and my neighbor telling me McDo menus have now salads, biological yogurts and also macaroons (which by shape is just like a hamburger), this soft porn artsy indie Mexican preview played. If most likely American censors would have banned it from the eyes of any adult under 21, what is weirder is that someone must have thought that placing it after Princess Peach animations selling games on cellphones and happy meals' happiness was a good move.


 
and then bam Dicap was in a dream.

Branding Auras: the Charity of Painting

While working on an ethnographic project for a marketing firm on young adults' relation to new media, we observed obvious things like cellphones kept on at all times out of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), but also realized how very knowledgeable young westerners are about the mechanisms of advertising.

They are hyperaware of how branding works and the extent to which brands need them to consume - and as such want something in exchange. This exchange isn't based on the actual material product (aka comfortable shoes, an efficient computer or quality beer) but rather on the immaterial aura the product discloses: Vans'  authenticity, Appel's creativity or Milwaukee Dry's freedom from branding. While brands are freaking out about the end of television, many are seemingly loosing precious time on creating new auras.

A not so recent but beautifully executed campaign to give a rather unglamourous product a new meaningful aura is the British paint company Dulux and its Let's Colour Project.

Now instead of just painting your kitchen you can also feel like your partaking in an International Development Studies action. In a similar way as success story  Toms shoes, the brand has put the idea of charity and community empowerment into consumption. While I'm far from critiquing brands that have a social consciousness, there is something slightly uncanny about enhancing a product's aura by appropriating a community's poverty.

Either way here is a beautiful and powerful rendition of how something as simple as paint can do more than colour walls.