Monday, November 29, 2010

Our Guilt-Trigger Consumer Society



I first noticed this annoying pose pervasive in stock photography at least seven years ago. Yet, I ran across it again today and decided it was time to make a declaration against this visual meme.

Almost as clichéd and yet diametrically opposed to the post WWII McCarthy era man holding his chin, I ask rhetorically because we certainly already know, what does this pose intend to suggest about the woman? Oh my, a 50-60% divorce rate and a down economy, should I? The cake, the ring on her finger, and the tucked-away tagline 'Live the Moment'- naughty, naughty. Eat that apple.

The reluctant subject should be wearing all black with white gloves, face painted white as they mime the desired effect so loudly that we are pummeled by the ad's desperate attempt to manipulate their intended target. The model who is dressed as a bride shares a pose commonly depicted by those intended to portray naughty catholic school girls.


There must be a secret committee of accountants and marketers who have carved stone tablets entitled 'best practices' which decree a list of formulas that are believed necessary for achieving bottom line. I'm really starting to think so, the more I hear the same sequences of music occurring in jingles as in 'new' pop music, jargon used in news and political campaigns, 'actors' overused in remakes of movies and songs that were successful in the past, recycled and guerilla fashion that leaves nothing to the imagination. The intended assault on the consumer is to bend them into permanent submission through addiction and trance, but the punches are so telegraphed that consumers are starting to point at the Emperor's new clothes.

"THINK was a one-word slogan developed by IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, Sr. It appeared in IBM offices, plants and company publications in the 1920s and in the early 1930s began to take precedence over other slogans in IBM..."



Nothing wrong with 'Think Different', thanks, Apple...but...

Endulge? Isn't that how we got fat in the first place?



So, I offer one small contribution to the deconstruction of our stagnating culture, from here on out, let no photographer make use of the finger hook-to-bottom lip/teeth pose, for the sake of humanity and the free world.