The Real False Advertising
Something that has been brought to my attention, that I would have never noticed otherwise (and an example of how societal programming works), is that models no longer smile in advertisements. I even saw an image of a scowling child for a hospital campaign in the mall the other week, an appeal to "Join the fight".
It is an age of anger, confusion, uncertainty, and bullying, and this is now being expressed, or possibly perpetrated, in fashion advertising. While the public might have been growing tired of the images of fake smiles and strange enthusiasm of people in posters, this new direction is indicative of even more strange times to come. A time of complete falseness - a new breed of "false advertising".
In my research I found studies have shown that while broad smiles show friendliness, they also depict less competency. One article explains that in fashion or retail, it's okay to have less competency, whereas for a medical advertisement, it's more important to have more of a faint smile, representing more professionalism and trust. If this is true, then why are fashion advertisements depicting sulking or stand-offish models? Perhaps in our new age of confusion through finding identity, individualism, isolation, disengagement, and social media, advertising in fashion, which is an agent of change in society, is portraying the message that our new age is to be taken seriously and shown respect.
As Millennials become a massive driving force in our economy, this generation's value of treating people of any field with the same respect whether regarding educational status or hierarchy in a company is perhaps declaring by opting for non-smiling advertising that whether a doctor of medicine or a sales associate of clothing, both professions render the same appreciation.
Another possibility in the phenomenon of frowning models could be connected to our new economic status during the challenges in a recession, combined with the American Dream of being prosperous. One study suggests that non-smiling people are more rich and of a higher social status. In a new world where anyone can become famous just by signing up to a free online platform, fame and fortune are within arms reach. Self promotion can be as bountiful as the posters we see just walking down the street.
This leads to the idea of anyone being royalty. With the equality that we have through the Internet and attainable trend clothing via stores such as H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and even Walmart providing counterpart competitive pieces, anyone can be part of a higher class. However these are simply facsimiles of true wealth and position, and this is where we can assert the fakeness of non-smiling models in advertisements. Fake because only a select few in society can afford the products that the non-smiling beauties are modelling for.
While we ought to generally recognize marketing and advertising to be at the end of the day cold numbers, the cold appearance of the hip, aloof, and at times even menacing non-smiling model can be an example of the disingenuity that we take part in when we pretend to be bountiful in times of hardship. In the age of an invisible war, a housing crisis, an employment crisis, "fake news", and affirmative action, our throw away culture has added one more resource to the list: our heritage.
The non-smiling model suggests intelligence, competency, and high placement in society, while the lack of friendliness exhibits our growing disconnection through social media and the romanticizing of mental illness. This is the time where marketers take advantage of our change in era. As we embark on what can be a beautiful era of equality and a revamping of the American Dream, we also risk passing by that narrow path through the hubris of materialism and surface-level connection. Historically, everything worth anything took hard work toward mastery, whereas today we can have immediate gratification. But with instant gain comes instant loss. Perhaps with acceptance of a broken world, we may go deeper into the fertile sustenance which can provide real riches - the real American Dream which is abundance in freedom, not abundance in fraud.
It is an age of anger, confusion, uncertainty, and bullying, and this is now being expressed, or possibly perpetrated, in fashion advertising. While the public might have been growing tired of the images of fake smiles and strange enthusiasm of people in posters, this new direction is indicative of even more strange times to come. A time of complete falseness - a new breed of "false advertising".
In my research I found studies have shown that while broad smiles show friendliness, they also depict less competency. One article explains that in fashion or retail, it's okay to have less competency, whereas for a medical advertisement, it's more important to have more of a faint smile, representing more professionalism and trust. If this is true, then why are fashion advertisements depicting sulking or stand-offish models? Perhaps in our new age of confusion through finding identity, individualism, isolation, disengagement, and social media, advertising in fashion, which is an agent of change in society, is portraying the message that our new age is to be taken seriously and shown respect.
As Millennials become a massive driving force in our economy, this generation's value of treating people of any field with the same respect whether regarding educational status or hierarchy in a company is perhaps declaring by opting for non-smiling advertising that whether a doctor of medicine or a sales associate of clothing, both professions render the same appreciation.
Another possibility in the phenomenon of frowning models could be connected to our new economic status during the challenges in a recession, combined with the American Dream of being prosperous. One study suggests that non-smiling people are more rich and of a higher social status. In a new world where anyone can become famous just by signing up to a free online platform, fame and fortune are within arms reach. Self promotion can be as bountiful as the posters we see just walking down the street.
This leads to the idea of anyone being royalty. With the equality that we have through the Internet and attainable trend clothing via stores such as H&M, Zara, Forever 21, and even Walmart providing counterpart competitive pieces, anyone can be part of a higher class. However these are simply facsimiles of true wealth and position, and this is where we can assert the fakeness of non-smiling models in advertisements. Fake because only a select few in society can afford the products that the non-smiling beauties are modelling for.
While we ought to generally recognize marketing and advertising to be at the end of the day cold numbers, the cold appearance of the hip, aloof, and at times even menacing non-smiling model can be an example of the disingenuity that we take part in when we pretend to be bountiful in times of hardship. In the age of an invisible war, a housing crisis, an employment crisis, "fake news", and affirmative action, our throw away culture has added one more resource to the list: our heritage.
The non-smiling model suggests intelligence, competency, and high placement in society, while the lack of friendliness exhibits our growing disconnection through social media and the romanticizing of mental illness. This is the time where marketers take advantage of our change in era. As we embark on what can be a beautiful era of equality and a revamping of the American Dream, we also risk passing by that narrow path through the hubris of materialism and surface-level connection. Historically, everything worth anything took hard work toward mastery, whereas today we can have immediate gratification. But with instant gain comes instant loss. Perhaps with acceptance of a broken world, we may go deeper into the fertile sustenance which can provide real riches - the real American Dream which is abundance in freedom, not abundance in fraud.
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