OUGD501: COP Lecture Consumerism

Consumerism Lecture- advertising, desires

Freud's model suggests that as humans we have animal instincts which drive us to act how we do. These are unconscious thoughts which are driven by genetics and are purely biological. 

Adding to his theory about biological instincts he suggests that human instincts do not match society and they can fight against each other. Certain instincts are not seen as acceptable in society. 

Edward Bernays 

Edward changed the way certain objects or things were presented to the public. He attached the idea of "desires" as mentioned previously to products which were unrelated. He attached desires that people wanted to objects which then in turn made people desire the object because they were buying into an idea. This meant that they thought they'd have their desires met by purchasing unnecessary goods. In this example he represented the cigarette as a lifestyle that was admirable. In the easter parade he placed a elegant and sophisticated example of a feminist forward thinking "suffragette". This then in turn meant that women viewed cigarettes as an example of their own freedom and independence which was desirable all brought together by the quote "torches of freedom". 

The introduction of the idea of "Fordism" fuelled consumerism at the time. The philosophy was to produce mass amounts of cars in a production line as models were built as they moved through a factory. It provided increased amounts of productivity which then concluded to higher profits and therefore higher wages for workers. This ensured that the workers could actually buy what they had produced. 

Based on what Bernay's spoke about previously products are now placed with an idea or a desire. An example of this is car adverts in particular this one. The shot is actually of the full car but due to the framing of the shot the car is placed with an expensive and classy/sophisticated house. Which therefore indicates that if you purchase the car you will be viewed in this way as being rich and sophisticated. Companies continuously compete with each other having similar products, the difference is how they are branded and presented to the public to gain an audience and eventually sales. The desires can be split up into sections such as these below: (Packard)

Adverts can also be based on Maslow's Hierarchy of needs: 

The more expensive products tend to focus on objectives and desires which are higher in the triangle as they are harder to achieve and fulfil. For example self esteem and  confidence is something most people find desirable and want to achieve and companies and products will use this to sell. 

Consumerism is also how products can be sold to form the illusion of democracy. It sells the idea of freedom so we believe we have choices. But it is in fact that we only have a limited amount of options to choose from, therefore not completely democratic.