Merry Consumerism!

It’s that time of year again (excluding Easter and any other excuse to push products down customers buying throats)….. yup… CHRISTMAS!

I hope you haven’t forgotten to buy your gifts, and remembering what Christmas is all about… presents exchange! (not some religious guy’s miraculous rebirth).

Now I’m not religious at all, buy I’m pretty sure when I was young, and at High School this is what they teach us about the real spirit during this festive time.

It’s interesting at how much society and consumer spending has transitioned with the propelling nature of advertisements and companies pushing their products in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Let’s not forget extending trading hour’s at all major shopping centres either. How joyful!

Merry Consumerism… and have a happy new year!

Final Thoughts

To wrap up a wonderful semester, here is my final posting on my chosen topic on culture jamming.

Firstly, I just want to thank you Roumen for a great final semester at UWS (for the both of us!), and it has been a pleasure studying under your expertise for the past three years. I wish you all the best and hope we cross professional paths one day.

Now, to my post.

From my research, I trust that you all have learnt about, or even more about this subject.

I originally asked how advertisements work to ‘control’ how we position brands/products in our minds and how it helps in the search for perfection. I also asked the difference between North American and Australian consumer cultures, and the existence of culture jamming within them.

To tackle the first point, we’re surrounded by thousands of ads each day – some we realise, some we don’t – there is such a heavy emphasis on ads it’s insane with billions of dollars being spent each year. It’s with this constant feed of products of companies trying to sell a product; it’s features and benefits and how you as a consumer fit into this ideal. Ads hook us in, and its hard to find a way out since our humanistic ways naturally tell us to takes things in, rather than question the masses. Companies fight for all of our ‘mindshare’ – they want a slice of their product/brand to be a permanent mark on your brain. Once it’s there, it’s hard to remove or replace which is a shocking thing to picture. I am a victim of this so called ‘mind share’ with Apple/Mac just one of the examples I highlighted in my post.

This also brings up culture jams in general – they exist, but we don’t necessarily notice them straight away. Sure, they’re satirical and make us chuckle from time-to-time, but the messages embedded in the distorted ads are the elements we need to focus on as consumers. It informs us of the real issues, history and true nature of the company – it is these that will enlighten us to make better consumer decisions.

As for the difference between nations, I personally think it comes down to the amount and type of ads in the consumer market place, as well as culture, values and peers. North America appeared more ad saturated (with billions more spent on ads), however their culture seem more informed, yet acknowledge the art of culture jamming and excess consumer spending. By reading comments from North Americans – like Canadian Jamie’s High School celebrated “Buy Nothing Day” a few years back. This would have never crossed the ocean to Australia and be implemented in a secondary education. I don’t think that this means Australians’ are less informed, but rather haven’t experience such a heavy consumer driven culture that they feel the need to take strong social action. The advertising industries and consumer culture histories are quite different as noted in an earlier post – and this would explain the two unique approaches to this term that relate directly to the whole consumer experience, from start (1800’s) to end/present.

At the end of the day however, I know I’m more informed, are you?

A brief history of advertisements and consumer culture

Consumer culture lies deep into history and the rise of advertisements that drive this movement. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the American business market changed in dramatic ways. From a steady rise in industry and formulation of a market economy, banking systems and wages, it created what is now known as a capitalist society. Around the 1840s, the concept of modern advertising emerged in American society, which predominately targeted women as the consumer good influences in the household.

The 1880s saw advertisements focusing on the “wants” and “needs” of the growing consumer population. By purchasing this product (i.e a stove), it would reduce the toil and labour of the kitchen providing more time to nurture a family. Through creating wants and needs to consumers, advertisements were instrumental in paving the way for successful capitalism in America, which is driven by large corporations advertising their products in all media forms.

Across the world in Australia during the 1800s , advertisements played the same role – to convince consumers to buy goods that will make their lives easier. These ads however painted a lifestyle of the “Australian life” surrounded by beaches, sun and playing outdoor activities, providing a more relaxed and ‘realistic’ variation of life.

Our histories show that ads capture aspects of our lives and how they can help make life easier. They drive us to think a certain way and purchase certain items that we believe we need and want. Consumerism encouraged by advertisements create an illusion of demand that likewise created an overabundance of supply in cars and similar products. And after decades of being told what to buy, culture jams act to reclaim the public space. We are what make society and know our wants and needs, and we have the power to speak/act back.

Take for example costly water bottles. You don’t really need them (spending up to $3 on 600ml is outrageous!) when tap water is perfectly fine [are somewhat free] to drink. Marketers draw us with words “natural”, “springs”, “pure” and “crystal”, making the water – a natural resource – appear almost magical and special. It changes how we think, and influences our purchase decisions even if we know what’s logical and the best for us.

Why in America and not Australia?

My ongoing question is the difference between the consumerist culture of North America and Australia, as well as why the term ‘culture jam’ is not commonly used here (in Australia). This blog will be in two parts. The next to follow shortly.

The term ‘culture jamming’ was coined in 1984 by American West Coast-based performance/activist group Negativland to describe a variety of activities. These include communication tactics as the alteration of corporate advertisements by the Billboard Liberation Front, the parody of corporate and nongovernmental organization (NGO) websites by the Yes Men, and the appropriation of consumer goods through shoplifting and rebranding by Yomano. Most of these activities are chronicled in the magazine, Adbusters.

For a term that has existed for nearly 30 years, it’s only something I’ve (an Australian) learnt about in the past 12 months! Interesting enough, I learnt about this term whilst studying an advertising course in North America. It shows that in today’s society, terms like these are embedded into North American curriculums as an everyday topic, acknowledging the negative impacts of advertising that American consumers seem to be aware of. Whilst my experience at an Australian university has only taught me the positive sides of advertising (to an agency/company) – increasing sales, product awareness/market share etc. But why is this?

Are Australians narrow-minded to think about what advertising does to us? Or is it that there is no need to respond?  (We realise what advertisements to listen to and not) and have control to what we believe. Of course I may be a bit biased, as deep down I’ll always picture North America as a consumer culture where products and brands heavily define how people identify themselves.

But again, this brings me to the point that why teach courses about culture jamming in North America (disguised as an innocent advertising class)? I’ll admit my professor was a bit, okay well, very anti-capitalist and ‘out there’. But she helped us all (the class) open our minds and think about what advertising meant to us, and to question everything we see. We shouldn’t take in every single message that comes our way as they’re one-sided and leave no room for information processing.

It wasn’t until this class, where I myself was enlightened and realised “wow, so what I’ve been taught back home doesn’t take into consideration how it affects consumer culture and influences peoples’ identities”. It was almost disheartening to learn as well, after 2.5yrs of learning how to plan/create an ad/campaign can ultimately mean nothing to culture jamming. I don’t think it’s a waste of time to learn one side or the other of advertising, but find it intriguing that Australia was pro, and this particular North American class was anti advertising in the classroom. This itself can appear as influencing how these cultures look at ads and the power they hold. As well as teaching vital tools (of both sides to ads) that us, as communicators should be aware of.

As previously referenced, Carly Stasko, a culture jammer said “I don’t condone this [jamming], but kids should know about it… not necessarily be encouraged to do it, but knowledge is power”.

Informed or idiot consumer?

One of the very first things I questioned about this topic is how strongly consumer driven American Society is, compared to Australian Society?. This is one of the reasons culture jamming appeals to me so much, as to my experience I believe both cultures are incredibly unique and react (or do not) in different ways. I find it fascinating how people from both countries position themselves and (depending on their own ignorance) how they see an advertisement.

In my first post, I stated American culture has a stronger desire to seek perfection, with brands and products having influence on what people construct as their identities. Note the word ‘stronger’. I do believe Australian Society still seeks the same perfection, but are a lot more aware of what advertisers throw their way. Perhaps this is due to less impact of ad space in consumer ‘mind share’. It could even be less frequency of the ad to an affected consumer, or something which I believe in as celebrity power where actors/musicians align their images to a particular brand product.

I thought it would be quite ironic displaying a culture jam highlighting idiocy

Leading Advertising expert, David Oglivy stated “the consumer is not an idiot. The consumer is you and me”. Well, Mr. Oglivy, I guess your statement can be somewhat true – consumers won’t purchase just anything without (usually) an informed decision. But I still think that there are a lot of consumers out there who only listen and purchase from what the masses do (i.e. copy a friend), instead of acquiring their own knowledge about a product/service. I don’t think there are a lot of people in the world, who have the time, or resources, to independently research about each individual product we are told to buy. Consumers only hear the messages (and product features and benefits) that advertisers are selling to them, so although consumers may not be a ‘complete idiot’, I still think they rely on fancy packaging and selling points, rather than knowing about where that product came from, or how it was made, god knows – even how many people died to make it! This was actually publicized recently after Apple INC CEO was made aware of ten suicides sparked by stressful working conditions at the company’s Chinese Factory, Foxconn (who manufacture Iphones and iPads) in lead up to the iPad launch. Do you think consumers of these products care or even acknowledge what went on behind the scenes in order for them to happily own one of these? Most likely not.

The advertising industry alone spends a US$400 billion on advertising each year in the world (with over US$200 billion in the USA alone). That is more than half of the world’s total! A clear indication how consumerism is pushed down the throats of society who are bombarded with messages they can’t help but take it in. It also explains a stronger desire to seek advertised perfection, as this ideal is constantly enticing them to reward their happiness with products.

Compare this to Australian figures recorded that traditional media advertising spending had fallen 10.5 per cent compared to a year earlier. I couldn’t find the exact spending figure, but this itself supports my idea/experience anyway, that Australian consumers may be more aware of advertising persuasion, as they have more space and time to read their environment and decide what and where they want to listen.

Of course how I decipher these hard figures is my interpretation but at the end of the day, it all draws down to the consumer, and how that product/brand fits into their needs and wants. It’s just a different pathway to how that consumer decides to purchase it. Be either they are an informed or idiot consumer. You be the judge.

Mac 1 – Ashleigh 0

We grow up living in an environment that appears natural to us – it’s something we’re used to so we don’t question a thing. I am talking about the existence of advertising that constantly shows us the way, what product to be interested in, what to buy and where to buy it through its permanent residence in our mind/world. It feeds us what information “we need to know” to pay attention and result with an action; usually a purchase. This is marketing and advertising, and of course us (Communication students) are now aware of this and the certain processes and models each product campaign follows to succeed.

Fast forward the latest phone and a mp3 player later, and we come to realize “was this my choice, do I really need that?” . I admit, for several years I was anti Apple/Mac (Dave can actually vouch for this!), then all of a sudden when my whole environment was saturated with cool images and features of iPods and iPhones, something sparked off inside me that made me yearn to have ownership of such a senseless product that I had despised earlier.  What made me impulsively change my mind?

Now even though I love my iPhone as much as my iPod, I think strategically it comes down to the driving advertisements, especially on my television saying “I’m a Mac (cool) and I’m a PC (not cool)”. Where I will confess, I was embarrassed to even be associated with a ugly, heavy, suit nerd. This shows the power [Mac] advertising had on my brain and the perceptions it helped create against brands. Mac 1 – Ashleigh 0. I am a victim of media consumption that filled my empty void with a product that made me happy.