The consumerist mindset that many people have today stems from a couple of different techniques put in place by corporations, the media, and consumers themselves. A major player though in the continuation of our consumer society is advertisements. Advertising can be found in magazines, movies, television, posters, on the radio, through communication with others, and in what is deemed important to have in societal life. Although there are a wide variety of places to find advertising, this essay will focus purely on advertisements found on television, better known as commercials. Within this broad range of commercials, the focus is narrowed even further to look at ones promoting mobile phone producers, Apple, Samsung, LG, and Microsoft. These
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All technology products attempt to show people in each community just what it means to be “keeping up with the Joneses”: continually aiming to be at a similar status as those around you by owning the same items or better ones. These companies tend to offer their products to consumers by showing just how improved your life will be with their products in your hands. And not only that, but they attempt to show why their product will be essential and necessary to have in your life. The Apple iPhone 7 commercial titled “Midnight”, really takes hold on these ideas by touring the audience through the night with the newest and strongest camera on their cellphones yet. It starts by portraying the man in the commercial as lying in bed looking very bored, then the screen pans to the new iPhone 7, hinting to the audience that this is the answer to his boredom. In order to cure this boredom, he travels the town with his newfound “friend”, the iPhone 7. In their midnight adventure, the character uses his phone to capture the magical moments he sees and that everyone else, asleep, is …show more content…
Like the Apple “Onions” commercial shows us, people want to live the life of fame that they see in magazines, on TV, and in movies. By incorporating people with fame in their advertisements, companies can allure their consumers even more and give them the notion that not only will their products give them the use value they’re asking for, but they will allow them to gain sign value and achieve their goals of becoming the famous people they look up to. LG and Microsoft both use this ploy in their ads and it leads their customers to believe that if they use those products, they will become like Gwen Stefani or Ryan Sheckler. The use value being advertised is that the phones can take the best videos, or manage multiple tasks at once, while the sign value shows that anyone using the product is at the same status level as the famous people participating in the commercial. The idea of personal fame being incorporated into advertising lets the hyperreality of living a life of fame become something no longer so far out of
All technology products attempt to show people in each community just what it means to be “keeping up with the Joneses”: continually aiming to be at a similar status as those around you by owning the same items or better ones. These companies tend to offer their products to consumers by showing just how improved your life will be with their products in your hands. And not only that, but they attempt to show why their product will be essential and necessary to have in your life. The Apple iPhone 7 commercial titled “Midnight”, really takes hold on these ideas by touring the audience through the night with the newest and strongest camera on their cellphones yet. It starts by portraying the man in the commercial as lying in bed looking very bored, then the screen pans to the new iPhone 7, hinting to the audience that this is the answer to his boredom. In order to cure this boredom, he travels the town with his newfound “friend”, the iPhone 7. In their midnight adventure, the character uses his phone to capture the magical moments he sees and that everyone else, asleep, is …show more content…
Like the Apple “Onions” commercial shows us, people want to live the life of fame that they see in magazines, on TV, and in movies. By incorporating people with fame in their advertisements, companies can allure their consumers even more and give them the notion that not only will their products give them the use value they’re asking for, but they will allow them to gain sign value and achieve their goals of becoming the famous people they look up to. LG and Microsoft both use this ploy in their ads and it leads their customers to believe that if they use those products, they will become like Gwen Stefani or Ryan Sheckler. The use value being advertised is that the phones can take the best videos, or manage multiple tasks at once, while the sign value shows that anyone using the product is at the same status level as the famous people participating in the commercial. The idea of personal fame being incorporated into advertising lets the hyperreality of living a life of fame become something no longer so far out of