commercials

i was watching some tv with family today (cleveland cavs beating the atlanta hawks in game 3 of the second round of the NBA playoffs for those who like sports). i'd been traveling for the last few weeks and hadn't been around television for awhile so it was the first time i was seeing commercials in some time. i can't remember quite when i became conscious of this, but it's been several years at least since i was able to view ads without analyzing them and thinking about the various messages they sell us about ourselves, society, and happiness. some ads seem to reflect fewer blatantly oppressive assumptions about human nature than others of course, but the vast majority uniformly claim that our lives will be better on the whole if we just buy this product.

there are two commercials i wanted to mention, one because of how disgusting i find the portrayal of male-female dynamics, and the other because it has implications for how we demonstrate our love and appreciation to the people we care about.

maybe some of you remember the ads for tag body spray(here's one example). when this product was first hitting the market there were a number of promotional commercials. the common plot was a man putting on tag body spray in some public place, for example the grocery store, and immediately afterwards being very aggressively assaulted by women from all sides who'd clearly lost control of themselves because of how wonderful this spray smells and would stop at nothing (including violence towards the other women) to have their way with the man sexually. after the scene would be a disclaimer excusing tag body spray from any responsibility in the event that a consumer were injured by some overeager woman's sexual assault. the icing on the cake was a picture of the bottle sprayed by some invisible hand, accompanied by a sensual moan from an invisible woman. it would take too long to unpack all the implications for our understanding of men, women, sexuality, and joy so we'll only consider a few (but feel free to reflect more deeply for there is much to be learned about what our media and culture are feeding us).

one of the messages this ad sends is that what a man needs to be happy is to be sexually irresistible, and to be able to attract any woman for that purpose simply by wearing a particular scent. needless to say it's quite beneath the nobility of the human station to reduce happiness to regular sexual activity. it belies our capacity to direct our attention towards being active participants in social transformation, thinking beyond our own immediate physical needs and seeking to improve the lives of those around us (and in so doing ourselves as well). for women one of the things it implies is that they are ruled by sensory instincts, that with the right physical conditions they can be manipulated as objects to serve the needs of men. this is clearly degrading to the faculties of women to act according to reason and conscience. if we hope to build a society in which women and men are truly regarded as equals, enjoying the same opportunities for personal development and involvement in the processes that advance civilization, notions about men and women such as the ones conveyed by this advertisement must be eliminated from our collective consciousness, and replaced by ones that uplift and empower women and men to take on more noble aspirations and attributes.

the other commercial that prompted these thoughts was for a jeweler. the screen flashed with shots of diamonds earrings and necklaces and was narrated by a voice telling us that there's no better way to show our appreciation on mother's day than with the gift of diamonds. this too has far too many layers to thoroughly explore in the format so we'll be brief. perhaps the most basic idea the commercial conveyed was that if we want our loved ones to know that we truly care about them, then we must buy expensive objects for them. this again, assumes that as human beings our greatest happiness is derived from the accumulation of material things, rather than the joy of serving our community, learning with friends and family, and striving to develop spiritual qualities. in part, seeing ads like this make me want to spend money to show affection or love even less, and inspire me to look for ways to demonstrate my appreciation for those i care about through other means. perhaps in another post we can also explore the reasons behind the intensely materialistic and consumption driven elements of media, and their relationship to capitalism and the economy.

for now, i'd be interested in people's thoughts about anything this discussion calls to mind. holler.