The thing about this culture jam and the blog that had me intrigued to write about it was how this one image developed into many different things. As the experiences from person to person vary, we see the controversy based on cultural and experiential differences. This blog in reply to the image seems to be based on life experiences and beliefs. It cannot be assumed that people will see the portrayed image the same way we will or the way the artist had initially intended.
Here we see how the artists interpretation of the beautiful young woman dancing with a Nike swoosh around her throat as a thrash at Nike while the next person took this idea as violence against women.
This all brings us back to the ideas of signifier and significant and the difference where as children we relate images to real life that help us throughout the rest of our lives and as we experience things this images become triggers for different things in our minds. Similar to this in my personal experience with the English and French languages is the use of translation. You must know the culture as well as the context of the word or phrase in order to come up with the same idea in the opposite language. Two or more ideas can come from the same word or image.
For example: when I took my first look at the image I thought "Wow! that is a neat way of showing how women can be tied down into looking a certain way and being a certain way, specifically, in this case, because of Nike's advertising.
This is an important political piece towards Nike as it shows the already fit woman being withheld by the Nike swoosh. If Nike is to portray "for women" an ideal, why not have the obese lady in Nike gear exercising not to get thin but to be healthy? Laziness and junk food are okay in portions. Why does it have to be one way, why can't we be plump, beautiful and healthy?
~ Kate Bauer
Great analysis of signifiers / signifieds; this is exactly why we can't read 'the masses' [whoever they are] as cultural 'dupes'.
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
Thanks Doctor.
ReplyDeleteI also realized after todays lecture that my new idea of an advertisement wasn't changing. I was still focusing on peoples insecurities and making money.
- Kate Bauer
Aside from the feminist perspective, how about the fact that the woman in question - of Asian descent - could be linked to the very populous known to be exploited by multinationals like Nike...
ReplyDeleteTVfree.
My roommate showed me this link, an idea that the UK has started to identify all images that have been photo shopped... showing you how when you see that super perfect woman on the from of the magazine.. this is what she really looked like before the photoshop got to her... just like the rest of us little rolls of fat here, celulite there, an blotchy skin...
ReplyDeletehttp://heartymagazine.com/blog/fashion-harm-reduction
with a nice advertisement on what cream to use for younger looking eyes at the bottom
- kate bauer
Ah, the irony...
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
It's a great blog, though - nice see what other [former] students in "feminist-ology" are producing.
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
I must admit I thought the image seemed fairly violent, but I do not understand how it is a jab at nike. You could put any logo there and the image would still seem as sinister.
ReplyDeleteYes, Nike's main customer base is athletic people. All of their advertisements are aimed in that direction (much like Gatorade), so is putting an athletically shaped person on the ad really so wrong?
I admit it would be interesting to put an ad of a larger person on it and then excentuate the health benefits (besides cosmetic ones) of exercise, but would that really sell more shoes?
--The N3rd
The image resonates within the context of globalization and the feminization of poverty; Nike products made in sweatshops by underpaid (usually women) workers.
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor