I am the rules

A year ago it was “the revolution of you”. Now we’ve moved to a first-person narrative with “I am the rules”. Either way, “you” and “I” are, of course, no other than constructed characters by the authors of these stories, i.e. the advertisers.
In this sense, what strikes me the most about this type of advertising discourse is how perilously blurred the distinction between fiction and reality has become; how by sheer repetition, over-exposure, and persuasive enchantments, the audiences of these advertising messages might end up ‘forgetting’ that those “you” and “I” are not really themselves.

Remember there was a time when marketing was mainly about the marketed product? Nike, for example, are experts at having moved on from that stage. Certainly, they still sell actual shoes (or sportswear in general), but what they effectively market is attitude, values and identity. I’d struggle if I had to explain this to my grandfather; yet, I’m in wonder that this fact has become so incontrovertible these days.

Most perverted of all is the appearance today that power has been given to the citizens, now christened as the new agents of capitalism. But this, it seems to me, is rather the product of a narrative device, a story that it’s being told by a narrator’s voice which has made its way inside of us; a voice saying stuff like for instance “I am the rules”; a first-person narrative voice which we risk taking for our own.

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Nike / Foot Locker: I am the rules
Euston Station (LU)
London

Flaunt those jeans

Can you still find a curvy, busty yet slim young sexy woman dressed in red as the main content of a piece of advertising today? Yes, you can and you don’t need to be looking at an engine oil poster in your petrol station: it’s Special K cereals putting forward that image as an object of desire; in particular, women’s desire to become such an object of desire: the desire to be desired.

Ultimately, whether there is nothing or a lot wrong with it, most of us have been taught to seek and to enjoy being desired: it could be, among many instances, for our curvy, busty and yet slim figure; for our clever and sharp commentaries; for our buying power; for our authority and ability to dominate others; even, in a twisted way, for our absence of worldly desires and thus our moral superiority over the rest of mundane poor souls.

In this case, Kellogg’s (note the subtle absence of Special K's parent brand from the ad) has gone for quite a simple, classic denomination of desire; enough for them, they hope, to increase the sales of their cereal flakes.

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MySpecialK.co.uk: Flaunt those jeans
High Road, N22
Wood Green, London

Who is Salt?

Every morning I used to walk past this poster on my way to work and every time I thought to myself what a profoundly uninspiring poster it was, even giving it the benefit of the possible subliminal reading of the shape of hands and gun as Angelina’s so much desired genitalia (you just need to squint your eyes and adopt a reasonably suspicious attitude). Even with that, there is nothing to the poster but the stale old-school star-system appeal of a famous and arch-sexy Hollywood actress.
Maybe because of that, maybe a bit self-aware of their dullness, the creators decided to enhance the poster a bit by throwing in that explicit question: “Who is Salt?”. But I could only agree with the answer a fellow citizen scribbled on the actual display: “who cares?”.

Incidentally, I could not help to grin at the fact that someone –maybe someone whose intelligence felt defiled– had decided to ‘intervene’ with the ad, an intervention which I find to be an illegal but surely legitimate act: does not the public space belong to the public after all?


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Columbia Films: Who is Salt?
High Road, N22
London

HIV is a virus. It has no race, gender or sexuality

It’s rare to find instances of not-for-profit advertising, but this is one. Cases like this make up for a more legitimate use of the public space than the general abuse imposed by advertising; here a public service is the main aim.

Quite eye-catching, yet a bit obscure, this poster made in a style reminiscent of the propaganda posters of the early 20th century raises awareness about the discrimination suffered by people infected with HIV, black gay men in particular, so it seems.

Apart from this HIV specific topic, the address of the issue of cultural identity based in sexuality, gender, race, etc, presents itself as a remarkable artefact of our space/time; those are the parameters we use to define ourselves today (and also the ones we challenge).

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Big Up & GMFA: HIV is a virus. It has no race, gender or sexuality
Leicester Square Station (LU)
London

Bringing the facts to life

This ad by the private TV channel ITV raises the issue of the cost of alcohol misuse for the National Health Service as an example of the factual and uncompromised information that ITV provides. However, it seems to me that the prevalent message conveyed by this eye-catching close-up image of three pretty girls enjoying their friendship, having fun and willing for more (supposedly after having 'misused' alcohol), is rather one of glorification of alcohol misuse.

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ITV News: Bringing the facts to life
Finsbury Park Station (LU)

Van & Man or Woman

 

I caught sight of this one on the window of the local dry-cleaner's, where there's usually a wide range of ads.

The ad itself is simple, though it's got the charm of the self-made. But what I found most interesting was the "or woman" bit, an activist twist to the classic Brit 'van & man' combo, defying euphony as well as traditional gender roles.
Looking forward to some day a 'van & tran'.

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Van & Man or Woman: Van & Man or Woman
Wood Green, N22
London

Cool Japan. Fusion with tradition

The Japan National Tourism Organization, the Japanese governmental institution behind this ad, knows well how much geishas are liked over here, that’s why it’s geishas they give us.

How many tourist brochures, articles in travel magazines, guidebooks on Japan, covers of Japanese novels, souvenirs, etc., feature images of geishas! And yet, how few actual geishas will average Japanese people ever encounter in their lives these days.
But, hey, geishas are a well-established symbol, widespread, recognisable and unmistakeable; in many readers’ minds ‘geisha’ (or maiko, or for that matter any girl dressed in a fancy kimono) = Japan; quite a temptation for advertisers. At the same time, it is worth noting that the symbol ‘geisha’ renders a particularly exotic, erotic and feminising representation of its object, i.e. Japan, with all the discursive implications involved in such process (on which I won’t go about here).

This said, these geisha girls in the picture do not seem very serious geishas to me; one could think they might actually be just posing as geishas, playing at being geishas, phoney geishas; they are geishas with a twist. And I reckon such twist must be close to what this “cool Japan” brand is all about. “Fusion with tradition”, they say. Rather, I’d say, a re-invention of that tradition; recycling with a marketing agenda; ‘tradition’ reshaped to fit around the commodity mould.

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JNTO: Cool Japan. Fusion with tradition
Waterloo Station (LU)
London