Consumerism: Persuasion, society, brand, culture
Aims
- Analyse the rise of US consumerism
- Discuss the links between consumerism and how it trades of our unconscious desires
- Brief look at the work of Sigmund Freud
- Also looking at Admund Bernays
- Question consumerism as social control
Content derived from two sources- Century of self (2002) and no logo (1999)
Sigmund Freud
- New theory of human nature, father of psychoanalysis
- Hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts which need controlling, sexual and violent desires that can lead to chaos and destruction.
- The interpretation of dreams (1899)
- The ego and the ID (1923)
- Beyond the pleasure principle
- Civilisation and its discontent
Freuds model of personality structure
Civilisation and discontents (1930)
- Fundamental tension between civilisation and the individual, incompatible with society (strong desire for violence and sex but we can't act out on it) Society implies laws to keep a harmonious world to stop these desires. To a certain extent human will always be unhappy, they'll be released somewhere else, repressed desires
- The pleasure principle- If our desires are allowed, if we can act out our desires in a socially acceptable way, momentarily we're docile and happy/content.
WW1- Was a testament to Freud's theories, it's the nature of societies repressed desires, he found the world incapable self government and became depressed in later life.
Edward Bernays
- Press agent
- Employed by public information during WW!
- Post war-set up 'The council on public relations' birth of the term PR
- Applied Freud's principles to big businesses in US to market their product
- Used to link spiritual desires
- Employed by tobacco company to get women to smoke because it was socially unacceptable to smoke at the time, paid debutants to wake in the middle of a parade in new york, when the photographers were near the lit a cigarette. News called them suffragettes and a political stunt against the repression of women in society. Women wanted to smoke because it became a symbol of power, status and sex appeal. Attaching something meaningless to a desire
- Politicians get on board after noticing his successes and employ him
- He creates product placement and celebratory endorsements.
Fordism
Henry Ford, transposes Taylorism to the car factories of Detroit. Instead of making a car with a few people who know how to make cars you apply an assembly line enabling you to rapidly build cars. Standard production models built as they move through the factory. Requires large investment but increases productivity so much that wages increase and reduction of costs.
Prior to Fordism the brand was just simply just a name, commodities were just traded in plain packages but as mass production occurs 1000's are on the market so you need to make it stand out from all the other brands, a USP (unique selling point) Personalisations of the product by using a figure.
Aunt jemima pancake flour was pre mixed but didn't sell well because housewives felt they weren't needed, but by changing the mix so that an egg was needed it satisfied the desire of housewives to provide.
Instinctual desires are attached to things off the back of Bernays Oldsmobile ad shows a desire of owning a car, it brings power and status. Same with the cadilac advert in the background you see a grand house showing affluence and power. Products become more based around desires as opposed to needs. But then there could be a crisis of over production is don't have the desire people won't buy anything else because they'll already have one. It's based on a false sense of need, a desire.
The hidden persuaders
Marketing hidden needs, selling emotional security, reassurance of worth, ego-gratification, creative outlets, love objects, a sense of power, of roots and immortality. Markets realised that if you traded on self worth you attract the business of housewives, emotional desire of self worth. Fashion reaffirms a delusionary sense of who we are. Birth of a really exciting moment in creative advertising.
Anew elite is needed to manage the bewildered herd, 'manufacturing consent' culture developing where they think they can satisfy desires through purchasing new products even though they gain no social power etc.... Points to a new way of society and could stop wars, if we can feed the bewildered heard that all their desires are satisfied we're managing society.
Russian revolution- sharing of wealth, threat to capitalism.
Black tuesday- biggest stock market crash, loads lost job, economy went boooooom, start of the great depression. Governmental control came in, Rooservelt brought companies in line caring for safety of Americans
World fair New York 1940- giant exhibition seemingly about all that's great about American culture. Inside they Futurama- a model of what the world would look like if consumerism was allowed to continue. 'you can only be free if you start spending and buying again'
Conclusion
- Consumerism is an idealogical project
- We believe that through consumption our desires can be met
- The consumer self
- The legacy of Bernays/PR can be felt in all aspects of 21st century society
- The conflicts between alternative models of social organisation continue to this day
a