GEOGRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF ADVERTISEMENTS

Why is place so important in ads? Many ads use a special setting to promote the product This is very rarely the most likely setting in which to use the product Wild, natural environments are popular

What are the functions of place in ads? Forms a link between the product and its user This link says something about the personal identity of the user: his/her hopes, dreams, aspirations, values, etc.

Learn to “read” places in ads… What does it tell the consumer about himself/herself? If the place is hard to get to, what does that say about being there? Why show the product being used in a remote and wild place? What message is carried by the place itself and what message is carried by access to that place? Can you “read” the intersections between social class and access to place?

Ads and conflicting ideals People generally seek status in society People also generally dream of dropping out or escaping from society Ads provide images that reconcile these conflicting desires

What product is associated with this place?

View Hummer Ad

What is going on here? How is the consumer supposed to see himself/herself? What qualities of place are being evoked here? How does the product “carry” those qualities of place to the consumer? What is the user supposed to desire and how effective is the product in delivering that? What stands between the consumer and what he/she desires? There is another “invisible” place: the place of consumption. How does it fit in?

Generic place A place that could be many different places – The seashore – The city – The desert – The mountains – The jungle – Etc. Generic places are quite often gendered

What gender is the desert?

Don’t think men aren’t insecure…

What aspects of the desert reinforce cultural stereotypes of masculinity?

Environment as challenge Many ads that show “natural” settings present the environment as a challenge Men, in particular, are supposed to want to test themselves against this challenge Men are also supposed to believe that any kind of technological assistance in meeting this challenge is OK and does not invalidate the idea that nature tests (and therefore shows off) their manhood

What kind of place is gendered feminine? Earth Goddess – Luxuriant vegetation – Green & growing – Soft – Luminous – Not dry City Princess – Luxurious – Sleek – Sophisticated

A fantasy-place stands in for what other kinds of fantasy?

Other identity stereotypes in generic places The desert represents a masculine fantasy of toughness, ruggedness, and (dare we say it) hardness Both the garden and the city represent feminine fantasies of romance, seduction and sensual pleasure What about fantasy places for children?

What’s the impact of this? Ads intervene in place symbolism Place symbolism guides action So ads ultimately affect action (this must be true or advertisers would not pay for them) All human actions in some way affect large-scale systems of geographical interest Bottom line is increased consumption and increased alteration of natural systems: resource depletion, habitat loss, pollution and climatic alteration

The upshot of all this is… Consumption Ads sometimes work to deny this fact, creating other place images

Summary

Ads do various things Promote diffusion (that’s their purpose, put in our vocabulary) Use and reinforce certain generic place images – The beach – The big city – The wilderness – The small town – The farm – Etc. Use and reinforce stereotypes about men, women and children – Q. What about racial and ethnic stereotypes in ads? How do they use place?

What does an ad do? Ad creates links – Between a place or landscape and a product – Between a place or landscape and a particular identity (e.g. a tough and independent cowboy, a sleek and sophisticated urbanite, etc.) – Ad makers intend for these associations to linger in the background (unconscious) because people buy the product in order to take on the particular identity but the product can’t fulfill its implicit promise Ad promotes and denies the act of consumption – People are compelled to buy more and more products to satisfy their insecurities – This leads to a resource-intensive lifestyle with heavy environmental impacts that the producers would rather disregard or else actively deny