In what ways can products/services relate to consumers identities?
- People believe (or are led to believe) that their belongings represent them, who they are, their role in society and to show what social class they fit or try to fit into.
- Others will judge others for consumer habits and belongings, people can envy others if they have something they do not or cannot have.
- People want to share lifestyles - to be attractive, wealthy or different, always chasing their idea of ones 'Ideal Self'.
-Realising and understanding who you are through consuming, following styles and being individual through what we purchase.
-Products and brands can become social symbols - becoming part of our social environments and our own way of life, they are embedded into our lifestyle.
- Consumerism is used as a means to change how we are as people, it dictates how we want to better ourselves, this is done through company and brand marketing campaigns, through consuming we try to realise our ideal self, and are lead to believe that our ideal image will be better than our actual one.
- Personal ideals can be seen through consumer habits, people's beliefs can also dictate how we consume, be it for religious, political or personal reasons if one of our beliefs or ideals are challenged, then we will avoid these brands or products.
How do consumers use products/services within social interaction?
- Consumers judge others on possessions, creating envy and feeling of sadness through not being to have what others can, this can be seen as social classes clashing.
- Companies and brands, particularly cosmetics companies, fashion brands, food brands and magazines/newspapers, set high standards of the 'Ideal Image' the comparison between this and our own selves causes people to consume more and use services to reach these almost unreachable 'Ideal Images'. It can be dangerous and unethical, in ways, for companies to use tactics such as image editing/photoshopping to create impossible high standards to sell products.
-This has to lead to brands to use more realistic models and 'regular people' in ad campaigns, this tactic is used so that people can relate and also make the product/brand/service appear more trustable and honest.
Visual communication strategies that effectively promote to its target audience -
Guinness - Strong powerful ad campaigns, making the product desirable and everything else weak in comparrison
BT - Big actors used in ad campaigns - parodies of themselves for humorous effect - exciting loud ads
Nespresso - Celebrity endorsement - sunny settings and a feeling of high-class living (George Clooney)
UK Army - Aimed at 18 to 22-year-olds through language and characters - army will make you a better person and have a life of happiness and adventure.
Dove - Using 'real people' throughout their ad campaigns to appear to be an honest brand and a trustworthy product.
Considerations -
- Ethical viewpoint - not to mislead or lie
- Anarchist views may clash with others - must target correct demographic
- Be open - honest and approachable
- Consider people's images - anarchism does not agree with consumerism so it must be key to not fall into using consumerist tactics within the work
- Do not be aggressive but put across the point
No comments:
Post a Comment