It has been stated, "every act of perception takes place within
a context that orients, influences, or transforms what we see" (Shirato 15). When it comes to
looking at advertisements, consumer culture must decide if it will be influenced, transformed,
or oriented to think in the producer's desired way. However, can consumers actually say that they
were never influenced by the producer's desires? Or for that matter, can consumers interpret what
they are seeing and see behind the desires to the actual? These and many more questions were
asked to a group of college students when asked to look at various cK ads and give their thoughts
and analysis on them. The three individuals were interviewed in a group setting on the
Southwestern Campus on the 20th of April of 2009. Their names have been omitted; instead they
will be referred to as Subject A, B, and C throughout the course of this analysis (Transcribed
Interview). In the case of the interview, cK demonstrated a very sex based appeal to the consumer.
When the subjects were shown the controversial Brooke Shields cK ad in comparison to the Kim
Kardashian cK ad, which mimics Shields', the group mentioned how while they knew it was the same
concept for both images, and Shields and Kardashian are both posed in the same manner; Kim
Kardashian's ad had more sex appeal than Shields'. Subject A stated how the first thing he noticed
was "her butt" (Interview 1). Subject B also states how the way in which Kardashian's photo is
set up she seems to be making her body a lot more visually appealing by the way she is arching
her back and accentuating her figure. By saying that the first thing Subject A noticed was
"her butt" he proved that there is a key visual appeal in an image - especially since her butt in
the jeans is the main focus of the advertisement. The fact that cK choose an icon that these
college students would recognize demonstrates how they are also editing their ads to stay with
the current times. While Brooke Shields may or may not still be in the public eye, college students
may not be as completely aware of who she is when given a picture of her.
Figure 2a
Figure 2b
Figure 2c
Figure 2d
Margaret Duffy states the idea that "advertising takes the stuff of
everyday life and magically transfigures it into idealized fictions-fictions set in a world where
personal satisfaction and positive human relationships are for sale"(Manca 5). This "idealized
fictions" can be seen within other cK ads where the subjects in the interview stated that they
could see how the ad was trying to tell you that if you bought that product you would achieve that
same look or feeling - referring to Figures 2a-d. This is seen when Subject B describes Figure 2c
as having a hidden meaning where it gives the consumer the idea that if "you buy these jeans you'll
be attractive and have sex" like the models depicted in which they are topless and wearing jeans
and placed in a sexually explicit pose where sex could very well follow after (Interview 4).
Comments like the ones the subjects in the interview were giving are very much like those that
Shaun Moores talks about in his book, Interpreting Audiences. When referring to encoding and
decoding he states that, "[each visual model seeks to] successfully combine semiotic and
sociological concerns-connecting up approaches to the study of meaning construction with perceptive
on culture power and social relations," he then goes on to use Hall's idea of how, "the
communicative process had to be taken as a whole - with the moment of programme making at one end
and the moment of audience perception at the other" (Moores 16). Using the ad previously described,
Figure 2c, this concept can be seen when one takes the visual model of two bodies, male and female,
the female is laying topless, or as Reichert refers to it as a stage of undress, on top of the male
in a backwards arched manner with the male cupping the females breasts and the female arching her
back and neck towards the male's body and demonstrating an expression of ecstasy (Reichert 2001, 33). This model takes
the semiotics of half naked bodies lying on top of each other with sexual innuendoes, as Reichert
again referred to it, throughout and connects them to the cultural power of sex and the human
desire to procreate that exists within the human species (Reichert 2001, 33). This social relation of being attracted
and desired by someone else communicates with the consumer and draws them into the image to give
them the perception that they too can have what these two models in the ad have, they just need the
product to obtain it; as previously mentioned by the Subject A.
Figure 3a
Figure 3b
The ways in which cK chose to depict the advertisements so as to form
connections with consumers allowed for a better understanding of how directed image media truly is.
But again, can consumers really understand the meaning? One example of how this meaning could be
misunderstood or confused can be seen from the interview with the discussion of the cK ads,
Figures 3a and 3b. In Figure 3a, it consists of two males and a female, the female is laying
angled downward from right to left in a horizontal manner. She is fully clothed in a dress and
heels and has a relaxed position with her face and arms as if she were just lying carelessly in the
sun. There are two males next to her that are just relaxed and calm in their body position but
have a bit of a strong stare to their facial expressions. Figure 3b has three males and one female,
all of which are in the undressed form and suggesting of sexual behavior that would present the
consumer sexual imagery and possibly a sex-related promise. The female is lying on top of one of
the males while arched backwards to receive another male's lips to hers. The male which she is
lying on top of is staring at her chest and wrapping his legs around her while the other male is
wrapping his arm around her bare back and pulling her face upwards to his face more. All this is
going on while the third male is lying on the ground unconsciously. When the group was asked about
these images they described Figure 3a as: "just a pose [...] just models modeling the clothes". While
Figure 3b was described as: "[having] more sex [...] a four-some [...] looking like the woman just
finished with [the one passed out] and is moving on to the next one" (Interview 3). From the
interpretations that the group gives to the ads there can be this idea of misunderstanding or
confusion because the consumer can't be sure that Figure 3a was really that emotion-less, or that
it too had the meaning of sex in it, or that Figure 3b may have been less sexually intended as is
interpreted. This is referred by Fiske as "entropy" where, "[an object is understood as having]
maximum unpredictability"(Fiske 1990, 12). The advertisement holds a level of unpredictability
because there are too many random interpretations or meanings for each image within the ads. Either
way, the meaning can always be construed. Another helpful way to look at an ad, that may aid in
presenting its' meaning, is to look at it from different perspectives or gazes. In consumer culture
today, advertisements may be intended for specific audiences, causing its' meaning to change or
even its interpretation.
