Essay 2 - Lens Analysis PDF

Preview

Summary

You had to choose an advertisement and analyze it using Jack Solomon and Jeffrey Jerome Cohen....

Description

Noshin Azimi Professor John Wang English 110 5 November 2019

Modern Frankenstein Advertisements exist to create desire. In my Frankenstein ad, the monster is visible to the eye, but it also has implicit meaning. Ads tend to have underlying intentions to manipulate the viewer into purchasing the product. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Jack Solomon’s ideas in their writings of “Monster Culture” and “Masters of Desire” help to solidify the claims about the frankenstein ad and how it uses a monster to create desire. By analyzing the Frankenstein ad through Cohen and Solomon’s lenses, the meaning behind everyday ads becomes a little clearer. Fear and desire are like yin and yang, and the same can be said about attraction and repulsion. My ad is an Italian sponsored Halloween Heineken poster from 2003. The ad shows Frankenstein, who is a monster, holding a Heineken bottle. The logo and slogan of Heineken is apparent in the upper right corner along with the text ”Halloween Night, sounds good”. On the bottom in Italian it states that Heineken is an official Halloween sponsor. Frankenstein’s facial expression is an important element of the advertisement. He does not look scary or repulsive. He has a deep cut on his forehead along with metal connecting his “mask” to his head. He also has a large forehead and symmetrical facial structures. Frankenstein’s appearance shows that he looks groomed, there are no signs of anything gross or unappealing. His gaze is targeted towards the viewer. It is almost as if he is staring at you. Another element to note is his attire. Frankenstein looks dressed up and fresh. He is wearing a suit with an undershirt. His suit and undershirt are both black. His formal appearance creates desire.

Frankenstein holding and opening the Heineken bottle with his neck screw is another crucial element. The bottle is almost fully opened but there are no signs of the liquid spilling out. This adds to the element of fantasy and surrealism. The background shows bricks. They are not painted, it looks natural. It gives off the ambiance of a retro style bar. The photo is dark and it looks like he is underground. There is a triangular entrance behind him outlined with wood. Frankenstein is a creature created by Mary Shelley, an English novelist. Frankenstein was not “born” evil. Society viewed him as ugly, and he was rejected everywhere he went. People in society have a difficult time accepting someone that appears different from themselves. However, in the ad Frankenstein is the main attraction. Despite how he was viewed back then, now he is seen as someone desirable that you can enjoy a drink with. Alcohol is monstrous because it is linked to domestic abuse and car crashes. The ad is stating that people have monstrous parts of themselves they can’t get rid of, but by dressing up and drinking beer you can become desirable despite that. Drinking alcohol is used as a way to escape reality. By adding the fictional creature Frankenstein, the ad takes its fantasy to the next level. It is appealing because people enjoy escape, no matter how temporary it may be. It arouses the thought that everyone has had at some point: “What if I could be someone else for a night?” The marketers used Frankenstein for numerous reasons. They want to appeal to older viewers to tell them that Halloween is not just a holiday for kids to go trick or treating, it can be fun for adults too. Since this is a European ad and the drinking age there is lower, it can also favor teenagers who are too old to go knock on doors for candy. Frankenstein uses his captivating appearance to signal to the audience that they can have a Halloween party and enjoy themselves no matter who they are. If you are a teenager who gets bullied or an adult without plans that night you could just put on a costume and have fun. Considering Frankenstein’s background, it

can be inferred that the creator of the ad wants the viewer to know that no matter what you look like, you can still have a good time with Heineken. Jack Solomon is a semiotician who wrote “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising.” His thorough studying of modern American advertisements all connect to the greed and manipulative methods of marketers. Solomon emphasizes how Americans have a desire to keep wanting more. Since there’s always someone with more money and power, Americans want to be able to be as rich and powerful as that person. Just like imperialism, too much is never enough for the average American. Advertisers psychologically appeal to the inner desires of consumers by exploiting their fears. “The demand for status symbols, for the objects that mark one off as a social success, is particularly strong in democratic nations— stronger even in aristocratic societies, where the aristocrat so often looks and sounds different from everyone else (3).” The demand for symbols that show off your wealth is desired by people that care for materialistic things. If a person is a millionaire, they usually show that off by having the nicest car, the nicest clothes, and the biggest house. That shows everyone else that they earned their lifestyle and they’re flaunting their status. People want to feel important and by purchasing items that could make them appear important or rich, they will grab at any chance to do so. Just like how people buy the newest iPhone every year and get their car waxed and polished, they want others to know they have money. Solomon goes into depth regarding the thinking behind ad creators.”The sexual explicitness of contemporary advertising is a sign not so much of American sexual fantasies as of the lengths to which advertisers will go to get attention (5).” Many ads use sexual appeal to capture the attention of viewers. Solomon speculates that the makers behind ads know and understand the desires of people. They know what people wish for, and how to make them succumb to their

desires. If an ad seems boring or unattractive, adding sexual appeal to it will immediately transform it into something that will capture attention. Advertisers use this thinking to their advantage by exploiting people’s desires for sex, or to be more attractive. Alcohol ads are usually associated with sexual appeal in order to promote drinking their brand. Marketers are greedy and they see no problem with turning an ad inappropriate in order to gain more profit. It can be inferred that Frankenstein is the star of this ad in order to show that even “ugly” men can appear attractive when drinking Heineken and attract mates. Cohen wrote “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” to point out how monsters are everywhere in our society. They were in the past and in the present, and will be in the future too. Monsters tend to be cultural, political, racial, economic, and sexual. Advertisers take advantage of consumers by appealing to their inner desires. Monsters are desirable and can not be classified. Monsters are the people in power. “One kind of difference becomes another as the normative categories of gender, sexuality,national identity, and ethnicity slide together like the imbricated circles of a Venn diagram, abjecting from the center that which becomes the monster (11).” Cohen emphasizes how things that are considered taboo are monsterized. People in the past that were homosexual or anything else were considered to be possessed by the devil. People monsterize what they are unfamiliar with in order to protect themselves from the unknown. Cohen also states that monsters embody and symbolize our fears and desires. Even though people fear the unknown, that doesn’t mean they don’t like to explore it. Fantasy and monsters create excitement and help people escape from reality. Cohen dedicates an entire thesis on how desirable monsters are. “Times of carnival temporally marginalize the monstrous, but at the same time allow it a safe realm of expression and play: on Halloween everyone is a demon for a night (17).” People are known to fear

monsters and the unknown but when it comes to Halloween they purposely dress up as them. Humans are empathetic creatures and when they’re told to stay away, they don’t listen. This is why in movies characters are seen to make friends with the monster because the monster is viewed as an outcast. People naturally want to understand other things, and monsters are definitely one of them. Since Frankenstein is a creature that was treated as an outcast, choosing him as the star of an ad can provoke familiarity and connection. Cohen states that no matter how much we fear monsters, we can not shut away our desires or curiosities for them. Solomon’s idea of fantasy and desire help explain why Frankenstein was chosen for the Heineken ad. Solomon states, “By reading the signs of American advertising, we can conclude that America is a nation of fantasizers, often preferring the sign to the substance and easily enthralled by a veritable Fantasy Island of commercial illusions (4).” Solomon’s idea that fantasy is desirable can be applied to the Frankenstein ad. Fantasy is popular because people love to imagine realms outside of our own. Drinking alcohol allows people to indulge in their deepest desires. Frankenstein depicts these desires by appearing so comfortable and inviting. This fictional character creates excitement and arouses the imagination for the consumer. Cohen dedicates an entire thesis on how monsters create desire. “The same creatures who terrify and interdict can evoke potent escapist fantasies; the linking of monstrosity with the forbidden makes the monster all the more appealing as a temporary egress from constraint.(17)” Frankenstein looks handsome and ready to have a good time. His gaze is friendly and almost seductive. This is monstrous because he seems appealing and appeals to escapist fantasies and desires that people have. What seems unlikely makes it more desirable. People want to dress up and they want to be with someone without having to be bound to social norms. Nobody wants to feel constrained. Monsters are unknown, versatile, and unpredictable. That is what makes them

so desirable. Frankenstein is a fictional monster that is depicted as a handsome gentleman cracking open a beer bottle. This appeals to consumer’s constant craving for fantasy and escape. Solomon emphasizes how Americans allow themselves to be manipulated because they want a symbol to indicate their wealth. Advertisers use fear to create desire. They make people feel guilty if they do not purchase a product. Cohen connects to the meaning behind the Frankenstein ad by stating that people instinctively want what they can not have. People use fantasy and alcohol to create an escape from reality. Advertisers know and understand what the public want, so they naturally use manipulation for their gain. The message in the ad is that you might think Halloween is for kids but adults can have fun too. If you feel like a monster or an outcast you can just put on a mask and drink some beer. “Even monsters have a place here.” Even though Cohen mentioned that monsters generally have no classification in society and nowhere to be placed. The thorough analysis of the Frankenstein ad through Cohen and Solomon’s lenses allows for a clearer perception of everyday advertisements....