The Power of the Consumer and Image Analysis - Essay Example

Image Analysis The power of the consumer is widely recognized as the only force capable of making or breaking a company. If a brand is considered to be ‘in-style’ or ‘hot’, it can do virtually anything and get away with it through the use of a catchy slogan or big-name endorsers. Whether we care to admit it or not, there is a great deal of truth behind the statement that we are what the media tells us we are. Modern media outlets are designed around the product or brand first and then disguised to suggest other objectives. This is not necessarily the fault of the media, but is instead a part of the reality of our system. Twitchell suggests that the human condition is one in which we have been inherently materialistic making us susceptible to the images we see. “We have always been desirous of things. We have just not had many of them until quite recently, and, in a few generations, we may return to having fewer and fewer” (Twitchell 471-472). However, in this material culture, where so many things are mass-produced in a variety of forms and substances, it is helpful to have some sort of guide to help us determine which things should be accorded the highest value and which things are not so great. This is where advertising enters the scene and helps us to define just what is valuable and what kind of meaning or history a particular object might have. It takes advantage of this natural human tendency to want to be comfortable and to have stuff to own, trade, protect or produce. However, despite our desire for increasingly more ‘stuff’, we nevertheless insist on being entertained if we are to pay attention to the message or the products it’s associated with. As a result, if advertising is to be effective, it must first appeal to the consumer in an entertaining or meaningful way, such as in the image taken by Peter Knapp in 1971. A basic description of this photograph reveals a greater than expected complicity. Upon first looking at the image, one is able to recognize a very pretty dark-haired girl with somewhat unusual features looking out of the page with an unfocused expression. Her face is heavily made up in what probably is underdone for the 70s generation. Her hair falls below her shoulders with somewhat messy curls gathering on her upper chest, but it does not extend longer than her armpit area. She has rich, peacock blue eye-shadow covering her eyelids which makes her seeming lack of eyebrows more prominent. She also has spots of pink rouge covering her cheeks in a way that looks less clownish and more innocent of where her cheekbones are supposed to be. Her pose is leaning slightly forward as she brushes her teeth with a red toothbrush. Although she is brushing her teeth with her left hand, this hand is positioned in a way that her arm is forced to cross her chest area like a beauty queen banner and yet the hand doesn’t block even the smallest portion of her face. She seems to be leaning on her right hand as her right shoulder is positioned higher than her left. She is topless, but her left breast is covered by her arm, giving only a hint of the colored nipple area and allowing the right breast to be fully exposed. Her slender figure tapers seemingly naturally in a gentle curve to low-riding black pants with an unidentifiable silver buckle. The background is filtered and reduced to its most generic form, with a white wall, white door and small vase filled with an unidentifiable redness apparently sitting on a white counter. A white toilet with a fuzzy white cover sits just behind her and an unidentifiable and still filtered shape can be seen in the background within the crook of her right arm that mimics, in larger form, the circular area of her exposed nipple. The woman is not completely without adornment, though, as she wears a glittering butterfly chocker necklace, a large glittery and silver bracelet and a tremendously large cut glass ring on the index finger of her left hand. There is actually very little definitively known about this image other than the basics. The photograph was taken by Peter Knapp in 1971 with the intent of publishing it in Vogue magazine (Gloria, 2007). No hint is given of the advertiser. This may be the result of the unique approach the magazine takes toward its advertising in which the consumer is typically kept guessing until they see mention of a featured product or designer somewhere nearby in the magazine or it may be the result of the image being cut from the magazine before any further work was put into it. The model in the image is Cathee Dahmen who achieved success because of her unique appearance at a time when most models were obviously white and typically blonde. Although she is ethnically half-German and half-Chippewa (Gloria, 2007), it is clear that the image is intended to appeal to upper and upper-middle class values not only in her jewelry, but also in what information can be gleaned from the designer bathroom behind her. “Broadly speaking, the media exist in a very close, sympathetic relationship to power and established values. They favor a consensus view of any problem: they reflect overwhelmingly middle class attitudes and experience” (Hall, 1974). Because of the combination of non-traditional model and small bathroom with designer decorating approach and sparkling jewelry, this image seems to attempt to suggest that middle class girls who are pretty do not have far to go to reach the upper class. As a result of the general lack of information regarding the purpose and intended use of this image, it is necessary to assess it based on inductive reasoning rather than fact. “Inductive reasoning takes a specific representative case or facts and then draws generalizations or conclusions from them. Inductive reasoning must be based on a sufficient amount of reliable evidence, in other words the facts you draw on must fairly represent the larger situation or population” (Weida, 2007). It is known that Vogue is a magazine that generally takes itself very seriously, but that it has a strong appreciation for innovation and shock value. The idea of presenting a fashion model, who is always supposed to appear at her best, with a foaming mouthful of toothpaste seems intended to inject a healthy dose of reality and humor into the publication. “Humor has a great way of defusing our critical faculties. Not that it’s bad in itself; it should just raise a red flag lest we go too far down the garden path on which someone wants to lead us” (Myers, 1999). Although the image and what is known about its intended context may be an attempt to encourage readers to envision themselves as having an equal opportunity to enter the same kind of high-class world occupied by the glamorous models and magazine producers, there are plenty of hints that this is not the case. To begin with, no one can retain an ever-lasting 20-year-old status and slender frames are not gifted to all. The glittering jewelry marks her as belonging to the elite class, but the ring seems to weigh heavy on her finger, the bracelet seems to be a permanent part of her much in the nature of a shackle as she wears it even before donning a shirt and the necklace at her throat could be seen as choking her voice, an idea that is reinforced by the mouthful of foaming toothpaste. In this sense, then, the image could as easily be interpreted as a warning regarding the hazards of entering this world and the things one would be expected to give up. For me, the image is absolutely amazing. There are many ways that it still works as a contemporary image and I love the way it remains open to straight interpretation as well as deconstruction. The filtered appearance of the background really allows her color to dominate the image without losing the concept of a small space behind her. I love its combination of class and normalcy, relaxed casual attitude and upscale pretension. Dahmen gives us a sense of the irreverent punk style popular today as well as an idea of the sex kitten she could be. Her unique look and unusual situation certainly works to grab the attention even if the intention is unknown. Overall, the image is successful because of the many levels on which it works and yet unsuccessful because it was never used. Works Cited Gloria. “Unseen Vogue & The Teen Vogue: Libraries #2.” Love Life, Love Style. (June 29, 2007). November 30, 2009 Hall, Stuart. (1974). “Black Men, White Media.” Savacou, Journal of the Caribbean Artists’ Movement. Vol. 9/10, (1974). Cited in “Revealed: How UK Media Fueled Race Prejudice.” Chronicle World, 2001. Myers, Gene. “Persuasive Words, Logical Fallacies and Intent Signals.” Rhetoric. Washington: Huxley College of Environmental Studies: Western Washington University, 1999. November 30, 2009 Twitchell, James. The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture. Columbia University Press, 1996. Weida, Stacy. “Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion.” The Owl at Purdue. Purdue University, 2007. November 30, 2009 Image: Read More