Pro-Choice &Pro-Life Advertisements on Edmonton Transit- Why the Bus?

Introduction

We will discuss the impact context can have in displaying pro-life and pro-choice advertisements to the consumers using the Edmonton transit services. Through the presentation of pro-life and pro-choice ads on public transportation services, discourses become evident surrounding the demographics of the audience this subject matter is targeting. The visual phenomenon of these advertisements has been photographically documented on city buses and LRT system. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus will be discussed in correlation to the selection of transit services for these specific advertisements. To determine habitus in relation to these advertisements specific demographic groups will be critically analyzed.

ETS Bus. March 16, 2010.

Demographically, there is a variation in the type of people and groups that use the transit system, ranging in social classes. By using transportation services provided by the city there are going to be discourses that arise in characterizing the type of social classes using the transit system. We believe that the pro-life and pro-choice ads are targeting specific groups including the lower income classes, minority ethnic groups and students. And the most obvious group being targeted by these ads are women.

Bourdieu’s theory of habitus is a useful theory to determine the concept of why city transportation services are used to advertise these pro-choice posters. Additionally, according to habitus, what type of groups are being the targets for these ads. Prior to determining how Bourdieu’s habitus corresponds with this subject, habitus needs to be defined. A formal definition of habitus is provided in the Practices of Looking : An Introduction to Visual Culture, where it is defined as “a set of dispositions and preferences we share as social subjects that are related to our class position, education, and social standing” (Sturken and Cartwright, 60). From this definition, class position and social standings are useful indicators in characterizing the types of groups most consistently using the transit services provided by the city of Edmonton.

University LRT Station, April 6, 2010.

To better depict the theory of habitus and the discourses arising for the social groups most commonly using the transit systems. We will closely focus on the following groups:

Lower Income Classes & Minority Groups

One of the most common discourses arising with the individuals taking the city bus is that they do not have financial means to use other sources of transportation. Hence only people with lower incomes/ status in society use the bus or LRT system. In the case of habitus, Bourdieu states that this is where society is divided by class positions. The transit system is available for people who have lower income and may not be able to afford a vehicle. Therefore if an individual categorized within this social class were in the position of expecting a child it may be beyond their financial state to be able to care for it. By having pro-choice posters displayed to the targeted audience, they are provided with alternate options to resolve their concern.

Another aspect of the low income status could be minority groups that have just immigrated to Edmonton. In the immigration position the groups are facing many different pressures, including moving into a new home, finding a job and customizing themselves to the values and norms of a new society. On top of all these pressures to be a bear a child in their new environment may impose too much stress while adapting to their new environment. By having the pro-choice posters presented to them, the viewer is provided with other possibilities that may not have been considered socially acceptable in their home country.

Century Park, March 16,2010.

Students

Part of a students’ role in society is deal with the pressures from their families to attain education to improve their well being. To be in the position of bearing a baby would be not socially acceptable and would hinder their educational attainment. To have a baby would include other responsibilities, including monetary values and a certain level of maturity. This idea of meeting social norms is further elaborated by Bourdieu, where he states “the parents feel what they feel and do what they do partly or largely because of the influence of such norms”(Malmquist and Zeiler, 133). Every parent has a planned life for their kids; to have a baby at a young age may not be an ideal option. Therefore the norm would be to have an education before settling down to have children. As a student having to deal with these pressures, the marketing strategy is to try to influence our behavior by displaying these ads. It is uncertain whether this strategy does work, but overall it is the student’s agency that will determine their own behaviors.

Women

Among the groups being targeted by the pro-choice ads, women are the most apparent stakeholders due to their biological capabilities of bearing children. In the text, Sturken and Cartwright state that ads are setting up a relationship between the signifier (social class) and the signified (ads) “to create signs in order to sell not simply products but the connotations we attach to the product” (276). Even if this is the case for other groups listed above, in the position of women, the ad is not selling simply a connotation, but that women have the power to choose whether they want to bare a child or not.

On the other hand, in relation to habitus, the ad is selling connotations to women as well. In the article Bourdieu, Feminism and Female Physical Culture: Gender Reflexivity and the Habitus-Field Complex, depicts Bourdieu’s work around the habitus theory as having gender binaries of masculinity being dominant and femininity being subordinate in society (Thorpe, 492). Here it is stated that from the perspective of male being dominant in society and the subordination of women, women then can be classified as a lower class group that would typically use available public transportation services. The topic of gender classification will also be discussed as a conflict with habitus.

University LRT Station, April 6, 2010.

Conflicts between Habitus & Ads

For each of the circumstances of the social groups these advertisements are targeting, the ads only offer choices, it does not determine the individual’s decision. An individual’s agency is what determines their outcome decision. This arises an issue surrounding the concept of habitus and can be summarized as follows: it is an invitation to understand what influences the view that agents have of their own actions without reducing them to a model, and by doing so “doing away with the agent” (Collet,419). The habitus theory is a useful way of illustrating why the bus and LRT system is used to describe the advertisements targeting specific groups. It still is up to the individual agency of the person to read the poster and allow it to influence their actions. In Henderikus Stam’s article Habitus, Psychology and Ethnography: Introduction to the Special Section he provides further evidence of Bourdieu’s belief in a person’s freedom of choice where he is cited as saying that ‘“an acquired system of generative schemes, the habitus makes possible the free production of all the thoughts, perceptions and actions inherent in the particular conditions of its production”’ (708). By a person viewing the ads they may acknowledge the text and absorb the information, but in the end it is their own freedom to make the choice. Therefore even though marketers for the ads think they are being strategic by placing these ads in the context of public transportation, it is still up to the audience to determine the outcome.

Holly Thorpe in her article Bourdieu, Feminism and FemalePhysical Culture: Gender Reflexivity and the Habitus-Field Complex, highlights another interesting conflict within Bourdieu’s theory that can be applicable of why public transit services are determined as an appropriate context to display the pro-choice posters. She elaborates that Bourdieu’s writings are discussed as stating that men are dominant while women are the subordinate group. This is further stated where “his insights into gender reproduce standard binaries of masculine domination and female subordination as if these structures are unitary, coherent and unchanged by and in contemporary social life” (492). According to this statement, it could assumed that men are the head of family and in control, hence if the family only own one vehicle, women are required to take the bus, since they are the subordinate group. In Edmonton this does not always seem to be the case, there seems to be a growing trend of sustainability and economical consciousness, due to the recent recession, therefore both genders use the transit system for convenience.

Conclusion

The presentation of pro-life and pro-choice advertisements on Edmonton transit services is a form of social marketing where they are trying to sell you a choice. Rather the strategic marketing in this context is creating discourses surrounding the different demographics being targeted by these pro-choice ads. To determine the significance of this context in relation to the audience of these ads, Bourdieu’s theory of habitus is an interesting approach to explain why transit services are used for this type of advertising. His habitus theory states how as social subjects we have habits that associate us to certain class positions and social standings in society. Even if this theory is possible within certain contexts, there is not a single class that specifically uses transportation services offered by Edmonton. The strategic planning of using these ads on the bus may not be as effective as they assumed. The theory of habitus also acknowledges how a person has the freedom of choice. Stam recognized this in his article where “the habitus is made up of multiple layers, but freedom ultimately resides in one’s capacity to objectivize one’s own conditions”(709). Therefore even if the ads are suppose to influence the decision of a specific individual, it is their own agency that will determine the outcome. The selection of transit services for posting these ads only creates discourses then and does not serve any other purpose.

References

Collet, Francois. 2009. Does Habitus Matter? A Comparative Review or Bourdieu’s Habitus and

Simon’s Bounded Rationality with Some Implications for Economic Sociology.

Sociological Theory. 27(4): 419-434.

Malmquist, Erik and Kristin Zeiler. 2010. Cultural Norms, the Phenomenology of Incorporation,

and the Experience of Having a Child Born with Ambiguous Sex. Social Theory and

Practice. 36 (1): 133-156.

Stam, Henderikus. 2009. Habitus, Psychology and Ethnography: Introduction to the Special

Section. Theory & Psychology. 19 (6): 707-711.

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. 2009. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Usual

Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Thorpe, Holly. 2009. Bourdieu, Feminism and Female Physical Culture: Gender Reflexivity and

the Habitus- Field Complex. Sociology of Sport Journal. 26: 491-516.

We Want YOU (but not you): How Mall Advertisements Solicit Certain Lifestyles

These are letters sent to City Center Mall of Edmonton, AB in response to their current advertising promotion of “your space”. Read the letters and feel left out by the advertising too!

Dear City Centre Mall Management,

Last Saturday I drove into town from Stettler to do some shopping. I was looking for a place to shop and one of my friends from the city suggested we go to City Centre. I was looking for some new work boots and a pair of new Carhart pants. Upon entering the mall I saw all these advertisements saying ‘Your Space’ with these fancy looking women in awkward poses. How is this my space? I could not even find a place to get work boots in the mall. If this mall were my space, things would be a heck of a lot different.

Sincerely,

-Disgruntled Customer from Out of Town

Dear fat cats of the system,

Walking though your mall, I am constantly bombarded with your advertisements telling every Sally shopper to fill their gas guzzling, pollutant vehicles with more material goods wrapped in ribbon to bring to their two-story house in suburbia.

Last week, when your new advertisement campaign of “Your Space” came out it was no different. I do have to applaud your efforts however, of appeasing the masses with your depictions of “different” and “unique” people with slogans attached like “Elegance is putting on a new dress.” However, the smile left on my face from the trickery of your ads was wiped when I came across an empty space with a notice that my beloved Good Earth was coming soon. I will not stand idly and watch as you take an eco-friendly business and turn it into a money-hungry corporation. To add insult to injury, you have the nerve to slap on your ads fake smiling, suit wearing carbon copies.

The masses will no longer be blinded by flashing ads and shiny objects but will unite against you once they are educated by my underground blog videos. You have been warned.

-Anonymous

Dear Mall Management,

My name is Jessica Miller. I am six years old and five days. Mommy and I like going shopping for princess clothes and dolls. We were walking through your mall and I saw that there are no stores for kids. There are no signs (mommy calls them advertisements) for kids either! How am I supposed to learn about the newest toys and dolls? I LOVE TOYS AND DOLLS!!! All your advertisements are for old people. When I told my mommy and daddy this, they laughed at me. Maybe it is because they are old too. One sign has a girl looking at her bag. She is in all black. I do not like black. I like pink, purple, and yellow. Princesses wear pink and purple and yellow. Why is she in all those dark colors? Also, she is looking down at her bag. Why is she looking down at her bag? Is there a toy in her bag? Please answer my questions.

-Jessica

(With a little help from Mom)

This is a ‘form letter’ that City Center sends out to anyone who dares comment on their narrow-minded advertising. At least they provide a lesson in sociological theory.

Dear Valued Customer,

I am very sorry that you did not find what you were looking for when you came to City Centre. Our primary clientele at City Centre is Women aged 20-45. They are the category of shoppers that spend the most dollars at our centre and as a result we target them with our advertisements. We do something called ‘interpellating’ to draw these people in. According to Althussar (1970), interpellation is ‘hailing’ or calling of people and having them realize that the message being sent is meant for them and only them. People are always interpellated as subjects (Althussar, 1970). If this is not clear, Pajnik and Lesjak-TuSek (2002) explained interpellation as making people believe that they are the ‘you’ referred to in the advertisement and that they are the subjects. Through interpellation, the advertisements make a promise to the consumer that they can be glamorous and successful while actually hinting towards consumption. In this way advertisements are not selling products, they are selling peoples lifestyles (Pajnik and Lesjak-TuSek, 2002). By instructing that this is ‘your space’ we are allowing you to be interpellated by the lifestyles projected from the image. People who do not feel this is their space are people who do not fit the target lifestyle and therefore are not interpellated by the image.

You are also not interpellated by the advertisement if the ‘ideal you’ presented in the advertisements were not meant for you. In a sense, the ‘real you’ is incongruent with our depiction of the ‘ideal you’. By showing beautiful, sophisticated women, we are presenting an ideal the older business women can be interpellated by. They are hailed by this image because there is a sense of congruency. According to a summary of Lacan by Sean Homer (2006), seeing oneself reflected creates a sense of misrecognition. We both identify with the image and feel alienated by the image. This allows us to be constituted as the subject of these images (Homer, 2006). The advertisements we present create a sense of lack in the viewer that allows them to be interpellated by the image. They misrecognise themselves in the image, attempting to close the gap between the real self outside the advertisement and the ideal self within the advertisement. This allows us to hail the viewer and convince them that by shopping at our mall they can finally unite these two selves. This, of course is not possible and we exploit this to maintain customers. Since older and more sophisticated business women are our target market our projection of an ideal self is targeted towards them. This is central to our depiction of people in advertisements.

The goal of our advertisements is to portray women looking glamorous and elegant. We strive to create an image of our centre that depicts upscale living. If we achieve our goal then customers will come to our centre to buy the best and most expensive clothes. When our advertisements refer to “My Space” they are trying to signify that the centre is your place and you may purchase what you like, eat what you like or become whoever you want by shopping at the retailers in our centre. This being said, we target women aged 20-45 and the lifestyle of successful business women. According to Chatterjee (2007), women’s idea of themselves as part of society’s gaze is reflected in the symbols that hail them. These symbols are congruent with their personal identity (Chatterjee, 2007). This means that women look at our images and relate to the symbols in our advertisements as part of their personal identity. This identity is constructed by the gaze they receive from society every day. The reason that you would not respond to the advertisement is that you are not the target audience. The target audience is part of a different social gaze and thus the symbols used to interpolate them will be different. This means that there will be no princesses, no poorly dressed women, and no cahart pants

We at city center mall enforce a specific ideology. That is, we enforce the ideology of our target group, the sophisticated business women. In order to solicit them as consumers we must reinforce their ideology. Ideology is beliefs that guide people’s beliefs and actions in everyday life. They appear natural and unquestionable. Ideology allows us to interpellate our target audience. According to Althussar (1970), ideology does not exist outside of the subjects and It acts to interpolate people (Althussar, 1970). By demonstrating an ideology that praises success, beauty, style, and maturity we at City Center can interpolate people who are already invested in that ideology. As people we do not target, you would not relate to the ideology and are therefore unable to be interpellated by the advertisements. By reinforcing an ideology of our target audience, we can guide their spending habits and where they shop. A women in our target audience will see our advertisement and see that their ideology is reinforced. Thus, they will continue to shop at our stores. From an ideological standpoint, it is clear that our advertisements at City Center are in fact meant to interpolate our target audience and thus solicit their lifestyle.

Everything in our advertisements is made to interpellate a specific audience. Even the color scheme enhances interpellation. Percy and Rossiter (1983) said that black and white images are just as effective as color advertisements in creating these emotions. The black and white advertisement interpellates the viewer who is ‘hailed’ and constituted by the image. This means that a person who looks at the advertisement will see the black and white and will form him or herself within it. Black and white connotes sophistication and class. Business women have these qualities and will be interpellated and see themselves in the image. Percy and Rossiter (1983) discussed how specific colors and shades could influence the observer’s emotions towards the advertisement. The colors allow them to feel further that they are the woman in the image. It reinforces the ideology surrounding their lifestyle and allows them to interpellate further.

Enclosed is a 25-dollar gift certificate to City Centre. We encourage you to return to the Centre and make it “your space”.

Best Regards,

City Centre Management

Works Cited:

Althussar, Louis. 1970. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays.Transcribed by Andy Blundon. Marxist Internet

Archive http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm (accessed March 5, 2010)

Pajnik, Mojca, and Petra Lesjak-Tušek. 2002. "Observing Discourses of Advertising:
Mobitel's Interpellation of Potential Consumers." Journal of Communication Inquiry 26,
no. 3: 277. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 3, 2010).

Homer, Sean, Jacques Lacan (Taylor & Francis, 2004),

http://ilb.myilibrary.com.lgoin.exproxylibrary.ualberta.ca/Browse/open.asp?ID=10182&loc=i (March 10, 2010)

Chatterjee, Ipsita. 2007. Packaging of identity and identifiable packages: A study of women-commodity negotiation through product packaging. Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography 14, (3) (06): 293-316.

Percy, Larry, and John R. Rossiter. Effects of picture size and color on brand attitude responses in print advertising. Advances in Consumer Research 10, (1): 17-20.