Advertising. When it's good, it gives us information while being entertaining; when it's bad, it gives us headaches and the occasional groan-inducing scramble to switch television stations. And yet, regardless of quality, all advertising is done under such a microscope, passing through the hands of agencies, production companies, and vendors, that more often than not there are loads of tiny symbols hidden within the piece. Some of these symbols are there to influence the mind subconsciously, while others may try to make the product more relatable to a certain demographic.
Such symbolism in visual advertising comes directly from symbolism in art, which has been around as long as people have been creating canvases or scrawling on cave walls. One of the chief examples of such talk is Jan van Eyck's 15th century masterpiece The Arnolfini Wedding:
On first glance, the painting seems nothing more than a portrait of a couple, yet further investigation shows multiple symbols that offer views on gender roles, class, and domesticity. The woman is near the bed, while her husband is at the window; she is domestic, while he is of the world. The small dog at their feet shows loyalty. The single lit candle on the chandelier may stand for the holy spirit, while the fruits near the window most likely represent fertility.
Honestly, the symbolism in this painting could fill a book (I know I once wrote a 15 page paper on it and felt I didn't even scratch the tip of the iceberg).
But we're not here for art history. We're here because of that pesky headline I wrote: What BJ's is trying to tell you. Mysterious sounding, I know.
Here is the photo that accompanied an advertisement I received in the mail from BJ's Wholesale just the other day:
It's a poor photo, there's no question. Everything looks very staged. The people are positioned in an awkward way that no family would ever stand. And there's some strange Photoshopping happening at the bottom with shadows.
But when studied closer, some very disturbing comments about family and gender begin to lift from the page.
First, the males are both higher in the image than the females. The poor "Mom" character is on her knees, while "Dad" stands tall above everyone with an assuring hand on the shoulder of his son. The guys are the dominant force in the family, the bread winners, the money. This thought is also displayed by the decision to have Dad's hand on the shopping cart. He's in control of the family, while Mom's the one down on the ground.
That's not to say that women are nothing in the image. Their placement in the foreground gives them some dominance. To me it seems that BJ's may be saying "Men may be in control, they may be behind everything (literally and figuratively), but women know how to shop."
The dominance of male over female also is evident in the choice of BJ's to fill the space behind the males with products while letting the space behind the females drift into a white void. What does this say about BJ's thoughts of women? Do the products behind the males represent knowledge? Ability? Power? Or is the blank white space just an aesthetic decision to make the photo flow more into the text that accompanied it in the original advertisement?
Of course, anything is up for interpretation.
Look at what both the boy and girl are handing to their same-gendered parent:
Yes, that's right, daughter is holding eggs while son is holding mounds of hot dogs. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. And the way the father is looking down at the son makes it look like they're having some sort of "life lesson" conversation about what those hot dogs are for.
Why is BJ's telling us that women carry eggs and men carry wieners? Are they trying to reinforce some sort of "family" image? Does it tie into the symbolism of superiority of men that the image is already displaying?
Honestly, I don't know. It is pretty creepy, though, don't you think?
Now, I know there are plenty of smart people out there who read this blog. What do you see in this advertisement photo? Am I crazy for seeing the things I've just said? Is BJ's Wholesale really trying to push some strange "Man/Woman" family dominance on us all?
Or am I just seeing thing?
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5 comments:
Pretty hysterical. You've also gotta love the dad's poorly-photoshopped ethnically-neutral hairdo.
Maybe you're wrong about the gender roles, though? Perhaps the son is presenting his dad with a big pack of wieners in a rather circumspect attempt at coming out? Dad extends his hand in an open and accepting manner, declaring his unconditional love. After all, he's been confused about his own ethnicity long enough that he's taken to wearing this afro wig out in public, so how could he judge his son?
You know, that did cross my mind ...
I've noticed a definite trend lately of these types of ads portraying racially/ethnically ambiguous people.
There was one the other day with a family that could have been black, asian, hispanic or white or some amalgam of them all.
I see this as a positive (Chuck D was right!) and a negative (pandering to all behind the veil of race).
Regardless,it IS interesting.
Cool post!
I have several reactions:
1) I agree with your descriptions of the male-female power relationships in the picture. Though I think that, rather then telling us how things ARE, these Mad Men are trying to comfort us (comfortable people BUY things) with a reassuring vision how we WISH things were - the “Leave It To Beaver”/”Brady Bunch” world we learned on TV as kids, where there are no foreclosures, no mass lay-offs, no COBRAs about to run out . . .
2) On first AND second glance, these are all white people to me. I don’t know the demographics of BJ’s target audience. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the Mad Men believe that lower-income African-American and Latino families are MORE likely to shop at a store where “Even white rich-looking people shop.” I.E. – “THIS ain’t no dollar store!”
3) And these are middle/upper middle-class folk. The spanking-new fashionable clothes, the perfect teeth, the pricey hair cuts. The intact family. Perhaps the local Whole Foods is undergoing renovations. Again, such people may be a BJ’s target audience – OR just the people to reassure the rest of us that “BJ’s is Classy!”.
4) Per traditional stereotypes, the girls are heading to the kitchen to bake. The boys are heading to the outdoor fire to grill. You HAVEN’T come a long way, baby!
5) We also have some FINE parenting going on here, I think. Dad’s keeping his smile while telling his ambitious son (the old Freudian threat-to-dad thing): “Tommy, there are only four of us. I don’t think we really need the 24-pack of hot dogs. Do you? Ha, ha, ha.” Meanwhile, Mom is understanding as well, while explaining to Suzy, “You usually can pay less for a dozen-carton of eggs than for two half-dozen cartons. It’s an honest mistake."
PS. I am NOT one of the smart people who reads this blog. And NO – you are not crazy. There’s probably LOTS and LOTS more we could deconstruct from this ad. For example, what the heck is that mini-space-ship thing to the right of the shopping cart???
I could be wrong about this, and I don't want to add more to this than meets the eye, but there is also milk between the mother and daughter.
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