Our+Position

our position.  Our position on the issue is simply that consumers need to be a great deal more aware of the messages and meanings portrayed in the advertisements they are faced with on a daily basis. Since it cannot be realistically expected that corporations will change their tactics in marketing their wares, the responsibility now lies on the consumer to be aware of what it is exactly they are consuming. We believe that mass marketing in today’s day and age contains far too many implicit messages that after repeated viewings have infected society as a whole. Our minds have become so accustomed to the nature of advertising that they simply accept the messages within and through this acceptance help to reiterate them back into society.

For example, if an advertisement for a celebrity endorsed fragrance were to play on the television, the viewer would unconsciously tune into the general idea that owning the fragrance would bring them a step closer towards having that particular lifestyle. If the advertisement was geared towards women, the celebrity in question would undoubtedly be beautiful, thin, and impeccably dressed with some sort of dashing man waiting upon her. Similarly, a men’s fragrance advertisement would likely involve a plethora of young, attractive females while touting the fragrance’s ability to enhance the consumer’s masculinity. If the consumer were to buy into this illusion, then, in the case of the female fragrance, the consumer admits to believing that success and a “good” lifestyle involves looking like a specific celebrity and fitting into size zero designer clothes. Consequently, this consumer’s desire to fulfill this belief reinforces the dominant ideals already present in society. Corporation seek to provide what consumers want, but what consumers want is heavily influenced by what corporations put out.

We realize that to completely draw oneself out of the mayhem of mass media is near impossible these days, and as such, we do not wish to ask for much from our target audience. Our single request is for them to simply pause and think when faced with an advertisement. Questions like “has this been Photoshopped?” or “is this woman being objectified?” should be asked. Rather than simply laughing at a funny commercial, or noting down the latest fashion trends in a magazine, we want our audience to look further. Once the realization that what is presented is not wholly truthful, the deception cannot be forgotten. A model’s flawless skin no long appears quite so luminous when you realize that she has had at least three different filters applied to her face, while someone went to town with the Distort tool on her thighs.

What was never real to begin with cannot be construed as an achievable goal to society. It is this exact phenomenon that has led to the rise of eating disorders and obsessions with plastic surgery. In response to this pressing issue, France recently “introduced legislation […] that would require advertisers to label airbrushed models with a health warning” (O’Rourke, 2009). Indeed, the result of overenthusiastic image editors who have so severely altered images of celebrities and models in recent years has led to an utterly distorted idea of female beauty. Consequently, young girls have begun to resort to dangerous methods, like eating disorders, in their attempts to match this falsified ideal. France’s action is a very encouraging step in the right direction, and we hope that Canada will eventually emulate this same practice.