Deodorant is purchased on the grounds of
masking ones body odors that the body naturally produces, by masking these
odors not only does it make us accepted amongst society, it boosts the
confidence of man. Lynx have taken this factor along with Freud’s ‘pleasure
principle’ and created a strong brand through a series of campaigns over the
past decades.
In the 1920 essay ‘beyond the pleasure
principle’ Sigmund Freud talks about the unconscious, impulsive psyche that is
the source of basic impulses and desires such as sex and violence. This idea of
the pleasure principle has been developed over the years and applied to
consumerism, the action of purchasing can somehow satisfy these needs and
desires. By purchasing Lynx you are ‘satisfying’ these unconscious needs for
sex because Lynx implies their brand makes the user irresistible to the
opposite sex.
‘The purpose of publicity is to make the
spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the
way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that if he buys
what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved
alternative to what he is.’ The advert does exactly this, the footprints on the
advert are coming from different directions which implies spontaneity of sexual
encounter with what would seem a stranger because of the irresistible lure of
his Lynx scent. The spectator of the advert then questions his life amongst
society and why this has never happened to them, and by questioning this point
shows they have these sexual desires that Freud talks about and consumerism
feeds and satisfies this desire.
‘Publicity as a system only makes a single
proposal. It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives,
by buying something more. This more, it proposes, will make us in some way
richer – even though we will be poorer by having spent our money’ By using Lynx you are indeed changing your life and falsely making your love life richer, when in fact all you are doing is making yourself smell like an adolescent boy or a teenage physical education changing room. How this can make you irresistible to women I'm unsure, in fact it should make women run a mile from you. But the adverts show society a different side of Lynx, a side that appeals to a slightly more gullible, lazier side of society by manipulating them into thinking this single product can make them happy and satisfy their sexual needs 'Publicity is about social relations, not objects. Its promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness: happiness as judged from the outside by others. The happiness of being envied is glamour.'
The image shows that if you use Lynx your life will be like that suggesting the viewer isn't already using Lynx and doesn't have a life anywhere near the image. What is on offer is constantly out of grasp, we never get what we're promised but we still, the fantasy realm dissolves into ether 'The act of acquiring has taken the place of all other actions, the sense of having has obliterated all other senses.'