The Global Flow of Visual Culture

Before I wrote this blog I was talking face to face with my brother. My brother was sitting in the middle of nowhere in the remote mountainous terrain of northern Afghanistan eating an apple and talking to me. As an officer in the U.S. Army, he has access to satellite internet connection from time to time, allowing him to stay in touch with us. We talked as if there weren't thousands of miles separating us, chatting casually about family and friends. After reading this chapter, it blows my mind to think that I already take technologies like Skype for granted. It is an incredible resource that allows myself and all of my brother's loved ones to interact with him in personal, face to face way.

In my lifetime, the world underwent a dramatic transfiguration. Images and videos now pass freely through the world wide web, shrinking the globe to fit into the palm of our hands. The way we perceive the world has changed. From multi-national corporations to a person sitting in a coffee shop, the infrastructure and method for communication has radically changed the face of the globe. Terms the text uses like "global culture" would have been considered by a select few only a few decades ago. The development of satellite technology has given people a new perspective. We can see the world in a single picture frame, or in a live video feed, and this localization and familiarization has enacted a global mindset unheard of before the last half of the 20th century. Software like Google Earth make it possible to see the pyramids at Gaza or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is seen my many as an impingement on personal privacy because of the in depth, up close ability Google Earth gives to everyone. The idea that we are constantly being watched would have been unheard of twenty years ago. It raises a lot of controversy however I think it can be harnessed help and keep our world safe. With this new mindset, and the ease of visual communication, the once defined borders between countries are starting to fade. The circulation of images has raised awareness of social discrimination and persecution, essentially bringing them into a global light. Along with socio-economic issues, environmental awareness has reached new heights.

Globalization is occurring as we speak. American pop-culture is being viewed and replicated all around the world. Take McDonald's for instance. In every decent sized city there is any number of American fast-food chains. McDonald's adapts to certain culinary ideals, but our culture is being plastiched into a world culture. Media and entertainment are being mass produced and proliferated. Hollywood's products are released simultaneously in cities all over the world. Likewise, we can see movies and art and news broadcasts that are produced in India, the U.K., or in China. I can go on the Internet and watch FoxNews, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and any other news corporations by clicking the mouse. We are called the information generation by many because of the propensity to find out anything instantly. The most important concern with globalization that the text brings to light is the shadowing of the minority by seeing only the majority culture. Visual communication around the globe can portray only the needs, trends, and images of the majority. In other words, globalization needs to be taken with a grain of salt. There are aspects of different cultures that we can't understand in a global culture sense. They are beyond the simplification of Wikipedia or a short news story. Awareness is one thing, but misunderstood awareness is quite possibly the greater wrong. It will be very very interesting to see what this millennium has in store, but at the exponential rate of change the globe has experienced in the last few decades, I think we can only expect radical changes ahead.

Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire.

The world we live in...how do people categorize the things they want against the things that they need. Enter: advertisement. The inundation of squawking voices on TV, blaring images on billboards, magazines, Xenon atoms (more to follow), clothes, cars, the internet, and the list goes on and on interminably (don't get me started). I sound a little bit bitter for the simple reason that I'm not a fan of over-stimulation. I like a more simplistic, less invasive lifestyle. The category between desires or wants and needs is, to the benefit of advertisers, becoming less and less of a priority to maintain. As members of the most prolific consumerist nation in the history of mankind, we are the rabbit in the crosshairs--we are the targets of billions of dollars of advertising research--research determined to reach even the most 'jaded consumers,' as our book calls us. The reality of advertising is that escaping it and ignoring it is becoming a battle for the most vigilant of minds. I do not mind some advertising, but I often want to take breaks from them. This is becoming harder and harder because advertisers understand that you can turn off the TV, or TIVO past a commercial, or change browser windows, or read a newspaper instead of a magazine. Subsequently, they have adapted to reach the remotest places. In this chapter, the swath of advertisements is well-framed, giving me a broad perspective of the foundation and evolution of advertisement in America.

Advertising a product means two different things: as the books states, "[advertisement] took place within a context of shifting values" which basically says that ads must reflect current culture to work. (Baudrillaire's idea of the flaneur comes into play here but I will expound that later). Secondly, advertisers make false, over-exaggerated promises which in turn create a simulated reality in and of itself.

Envy, Desire, and Belonging

How many people do you know that put on Axe body spray and expect this is return. Well obviously its a ridiculous claim but for some reason, as far back at "Lifebuoy Soap" people have persisted in buying products for completely irrational reasons. Advertisements have an unbelievable amount of control over the decisions a culture will make. We identify with advertisements. The iPod is recognizable by millions of people with out having to really process the advertisement. They focus on familiarity and visual stimulation and the result of both of these elements is success. Success, not only monetarily, but for simple reason that a consumer will now talk about the ad, think about the ad, and eventually relate to the ad. We desire the product advertised because it is always being pushed into our minds. Making promises of success, wealth, beauty, confidence, and the list never ends.

But what about those clever advertisements...
I mentioned earlier that IBM advertised on a molecular level. Take a look at this picture.
IBM manipulated the atoms of a xenon plate to spell IBM. Pretty cool I think. It is amazing how far and how clever an advertisement can be. Some advertising images grip the senses and the imagination and the curiousity others are in poor taste and resort to banal, primitive attraction. Advertisement can serve as "culture jams" being used by activists because of the preexisting familiarity of the advertisement. The activist promotes their cause by essentially piggy-backing on the visual communicative powers of an advertisement. Like this advertisement, the message is powerfully transmitted through a familiar medium. The double-take effectively pulls the consumer in.

Questions:

Are we living in a simulated reality, created by advertisers?

What is 'going to far' in advertising? and where do we draw the line?