The new Art Gallery of Alberta, opened in Edmonton in January 2010. This unique building has had it share of controversy with it's bold design and obvious departure from other conventional buildings in the city. Love it or hate it, the new AGA establishes itself as an architectural icon reflecting and capturing the creative and cultural spirit of the city of Edmonton. We'll look at how the building does this by comparing it with other city buildings and contrasting it with how space is traditionally divided in the downtown area.
Still curious? Check out this virtual tour and then head to downtown Edmonton to judge it for yourself!
The billboards in Edmonton that advertise condos are not simply selling four walls and a ceiling, they are selling a lifestyle. These billboard advertisements use the concept of the gaze extremely effectively because the billboards want the consumer to be able to envision themselves living the lifestyle that is being advertised. The billboards are somewhat of a mirror into the future representing what your life could be like if you were to purchase the condo that is advertised.Downtown condo advertisements are directed towards a specific group in society. These advertisements seem to focus on the young and modern person or couple. The purpose of the billboards is to convince the consumer that their life is lacking what is being advertised. The subconscious and implicit promises that are made to the consumer are that their lives will be happier and more fulfilled if they are to invest in that specific condo development. These billboard advertisements are all from the perspective of the consumer being on the outside looking in. Our consumer culture dictates that in order to be part of the inside group, we need to consume commodities which is a condo in this case.
First of all, the image is literally coordinated as the woman is dressed in a purple sweater that matches the rest of the billboard.She is wearing a turtleneck, which is generally seen as a classic fashion choice that conveys intelligence and poise. The color of her clothing and the billboard is particularly striking, as purple has long been associated with royalty and nobility, qualities most likely admired by people who seek “refined urban living.” Even the woman’s hair is pulled up, which offers a sense of elegance that corresponds with her genuine yet subdued smile. Beyond her physical appearance, she is using (or more honestly, posing with) a cell phone – the modern day device that no contemporary person could live without. This “posing of objects” was arranged with purpose, for “objects are accepted inducers of associations of ideas” (Heath 1977, 22).
By explicitly discussing several feasible meanings of this image, it becomes easier to see why it works in the advertisement. But one must also realize that when exploring connotation “the reading of the photograph is …. always historical; it depends on the reader’s ‘knowledge’ just as though it were a matter of a real language [langue], intelligible only if one has learned the signs” (Heath 1977, 28). Someone from outside of our culture who may have never even seen a cell phone would surely not make the same connections and this particular image would be rendered an ineffectual add-on to the billboard.
Given the cultural practices and values in our current society, this picture works well to sell its viewer on a polished, urban lifestyle. The text helps to explain and anchor the advertisement’s message, but the photograph serves a true function as well. The image is entrusted with giving a symbolic, affective description, which we can perceive and digest more quickly than a lengthy verbal description (Heath 1977). The advertisement is successful in that we can immediately grasp its message in more ways than one.
"As the population of the United States and Canada continues to mature, marketers in these countries are directing increased attention to older consumers" (Lumpkin et al., 1985). This is appropriate, as individuals in advanced years are becoming increasingly attractive targets based upon their numbers, income, and purchasing patterns (Keane, 1985). When seniors retire, they have the option of deciding where they would like to live. Many sell their homes in favor of moving to a smaller development. Sometimes seniors like to be around other people their own age and live in a building that caters specifically to their needs. They can choose a retirement home designed for old folks or maybe opt for something that will give them the optimum living environment.
This section will focus on illustrating several billboards of senior advertisements and contrasting them and their true meanings. These billboard advertisements are the perfect option for marketers to target the certain classes they are looking for.
These billboard advertisements are the perfect option for marketers to target the certain classes they are looking for."Most advertising is always constructing consumers as dissatisfied. "Most advertising is always constructing consumers as dissatisfied in some way with their lifestyles, appearance, jobs, relationships and so forth. Many ads imply that their product can alleviate this state of dissatisfaction. They often do this by presenting figures of glamour that consumers can envy and wish to emulate, people who are presented as already transformed, and bodies that appear perfect and yet somehow attainable" (Sturken and Cartwright 2009, 275). In this advertisement above, you see a happy, senior couple wearing expensive clothing and drinking wine while smiling and apparently enjoying each other's company. This billboard screams prestige and high class. And it is no wonder; this billboard is advertising a senior's home that is aimed for the wealthy. WIth a built in nurse and cook, a huge recreational facility that provides entertainment, a pool, a gym and so much more, these seniors are living the life of luxury. With rent that is a minimum of roughly $200 a month, this senior home is exclusively for the rich and the billboard clearly supports that statement.
This billboard is located in the west side of the city with a suburb house environment located nearby. The houses that are located near this location are all pricey and belong to those who are upper middle to upper class people, Therefore, all these people living in this are would see the billboard for this new wealthy senior development and begin saving for when they themselves retire to live in it or perhaps for their parents if they can afford it. Therefore, this billboard is set in the perfect location targeting just the right type of people who choose to live in that sort of development.
“Representation is the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us” (Notes). As we can see, what is represented in this photo is a wealthy senior couple enjoying their life because they get to live it high class. It represents the notion that living wealthier means good times as is represented by the smiles in the advertisement. Of course, this whole advertisement plays into the idea of the myth of photographic truth. “We perceive photographs to be an unmediated copy of the real world” (Notes). What may in fact be a happy couple in this advertisement may just as well be a total set up. This brings us into the denotative and connotative interpretations behind this billboard. Barthes identified that an image has a literal, denotative meaning as well as a connotative meaning which employs a cultural and historical context. What is denoted in this photograph is a happy old couple enjoying life and their environment. This of course, could also be interpreted another way. It is interesting that this couple happens to be white and wearing clothes that would identify as being of an upper class. These characteristics in themselves show a broader meaning behind this happy couple. It shows the ways in which this marketing company is targeting to a certain ‘type’ of people and represents it by using white upper class couples.
Therefore, this demonstrates how what seems to be a standard advertisement, is in fact stereotyping a certain message to the buyers. That this certain living development is for those of the higher class and represents that through a white, wealthy senior couple.
These next two billboard advertisements as seen above show quite a large contrast with the previous
billboard. They represent every person’s fear of getting older: being put into a horrible nursing home environment. There is not much seniors can do when they are stuck in a place that takes little care of them or treats them with no respect. These billboards were both found on the internet and they represent the horrible outcomes to old people when they are put in a low care shelter.
Although the locations of these billboards are not identified, it is not surprising to see these sorts of advertisements in every city. Such billboards are universal as every location in North America has a senior home and when someone has little money, he/she is left to settle for what he/she can afford, which in some unfortunate circumstances is very little. There is always and have always been problems with certain senior homes and these billboard advertisements represent that. In contrast with the first advertisement, none of these seniors are smiling. None of them have fancy clothes and they all appear to be suffering.
With respect to these images’ denotative meaning, it is quite obvious that these seniors are depressed but if one delves further into the meaning of these advertisements, one can see the way marketers target those of all classes to show that these unfortunate problems of senior shelters can be represented towards every class and every type of person. This senior could be anyone's grandma or grandpa and it makes people want to invest into something better for their elderly family member so as not to have them suffer as seen in these billboards. The universality of these billboards creates a notion that these seniors are typical, everyday people and these billboards are easy to relate to as no one is represented as better off than anyone else. It also shows different races to connect to a more diverse group of people and create a sense of everyone coming together to help the seniors around us as a whole. This is how representation comes into play. It represents what seniors mean to the community and how they are showcased by these billboards as genuine people who do not deserve to be treated in such a way that degrades or abuses them. "Barthes coined the use of the term punctum to characterize the affective element of those certain photographs that pierce one's heart with feeling" (Sturken and Cartwright 2009, 18). These billboards serve as a way for marketers to target people's emotional feelings and grab their attention through this punctum. People are more attentive to the advertisement when they can feel themselves relating or empathising with these billboards; thus, this serves as a good tactic for marketers to capture interest about the tragedies of seniors and to take effort into improving their living conditions.
Obviously, the main intention is to entice the viewer into purchasing one of these houses. But in order to create this desire, the advertiser consciously presents us with representations of a healthy and relaxed existence. The man running alongside his “best friend” and the woman riding her bike all embody a feeling of vigor, strength and happiness. They are disciplined people who are afforded leisure time in which they enrich and strengthen their bodies; they live their lives in a way that so many of us plan but never actually do. And when they are finished exercising, there’s a conveniently placed bench set in a picturesque atmosphere, which is awaiting their arrival.
When perceived together, the pictures portray a desirable communal life. They represent the conventional, nuclear family that our culture has long idolized, and which may be particularly a focus for this neighborhood, which maintains a military legacy. There are several explanations for the advertisement, as “the connoted image is reduced to a phenomenon of language, and it exhibits all the characteristics of a text: it possesses a “discourse” which can be “read” and interpreted in a cultural or ideological context” (Halley 1982, 70).The images are presented as more than just visual distractions; they are stories and metaphors, which are meant to entice wonder, contemplation and understanding.
This blend of picture and text was carefully chosen and produced for us to view in a certain way. The reason this tactic works so well is that we are unaware that our opinions on the subject are influenced.A photograph of the condo development is used because we immediately associate photos with reality.The irony of this is that our understanding of photographic advertisements as a form of mimesis is essentially a delusion. In actuality, this billboard is a representation, which helps to construct reality rather than to mirror it.
The misconception that a photograph is a direct reflection of the real world is a notion Roland Barthes refers to as the myth of photographic truth. When under this impression, the billboard is merely an unmediated announcement of a new condo development. But when we explore the myth, the billboard comes to have a new existence, a life that is born from history and culture and understanding.
Initially, the image is merely that of pleasant looking homes, but when we read the description on the right, “Tuscan Village, Start Living from $179,000,” we are instantly transported to an Italian villa, and we see the condominiums in a new light. Their stucco walls, ornate verandas, and terra cotta roofs suddenly stand out as prime features of an Italian lifestyle and may even seem to offer us a “quaint village atmosphere” as is stated on the Tuscan Village web site. The phrase “start living” posits that our current lives are inauthentic, and that this new community can offer us a more genuine, pleasurable lifestyle.
Part of what has made this advertisement successful is the communication between the photograph and the surrounding text (Heath 1977). The image is given instant additional meaning by association with the words beside it. Therefore, “in the relationship that now holds, it is not the image which comes to elucidate or ‘realize’ the text, but the latter which comes to sublimate, patheticize or rationalize the image” (Heath 1977, 25).In other words, “the text loads the image, burdening it with a culture, a moral, an imagination” (Heath 1977, 26). The picture’s hidden connotations are illuminated, and suddenly this thought “denotation of reality” somehow makes us crave a life that offers romantically lit streets lined with archways and green space, a place where we can roam serenely as if in a dream, a place where we can “start living.”
References
Barthes, Roland. “The Photographic Message.” In Image Music Text. Edited andtranslated byStephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977, 15-31.
Barthes, Roland. “Rhetoric of the Image.” In Image Music Text. Edited and translated by Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977, 32-51.
Cartwright, Lisa. Sturken, Marita. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture.NewYork: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Halley, Michael. 1982. Argo Sum Diacritics 12 (4): 69-79.
Kips, Henry. Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research; 2010, Vol. 2, P 91-102
Lacan, Jacques (1981): The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, Jacques-Alain Miller(ed), Alan Sheridan (trans) New York: Norton
Peterson, Robin T. “The Depiction of Senior Citizens in Magazine Advertisements: A Content Analysis.” Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 11, No.9 (Sept. 1992) P 701-706
By: Stephanie Crawford, Andrew Nelson, and Yana Rogatko
Saturday, April 10, 2010
THINK PINK: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS IN EDMONTON
UTILIZING THE PINK RIBBON
The pink ribbon has become a symbol for breast cancer awareness and is known worldwide. The revolution of this sign can be interpreted by looking at semiotics, specifically the works of Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes. In 1916, Ferdinand de Saussure coined the term semiology, the ways in which things are vehicles for meaning (Sturken and Cartwright 2010). Roland Barthes adapted the ideas of Saussure in his own model of the visual representation system. He centered his work on interpreting signs and how these signs take on the ideological or connotative meanings in our civilization. He stated that “every message includes at least one level of expression, or level of signifiers, and one level of content, or level of signifieds; the junction of these two levels forms the sign” (Barthes 1986, 84). The signifier is the sound, word or image indicating its denotative or literal meaning. The signified is the mental concept evoked by the signifier. The knowledge and values of the viewer, discourses, and historical and cultural contexts of the signifier influence this meaning. Once this is established, we perceive the sign as the associative total of the signifier and signified (Barthes 1986). As the signifier-signified relationship proliferates through society its separation is hard to distinguish. This association is what the pink ribbon has established with breast cancer awareness.
When looking at Barthes model there is an importance put on the denotative and connotative meanings. We initially look at the first order denotative meaning which gives us the literal sense and we then proceed more thoroughly into the realm of connotative meaning (Allen 2003, 50). How we respond to this last level of signification is of the ultimate importance, which Barthes styles in terms of the ‘rhetorical code’, and it depends on the context in which the statement is presented (Allen 2003, 51). Barthes theory lets the combination of the denotative meaning and connotative meaning come together to give us the images meaning, however it also depends on the context the image is placed in. For the Pink Ribbon example the denotative meaning is the pink ribbon, while the connotative meaning is based on the emotion the ribbon portrays. The rhetorical code is crucial as it involves the worldview or ideological sign which the creator wants the reader to realize (Allen 2003, 51). When it comes to the pink ribbon the context can be important, as the ribbon can be displayed by many people using numerous forms such as fundraising events, everyday objects such as a keychain, and through corporate partners.
Barthes believed that every sign comes from the signifier and signified, and doesn’t take into consideration the interpretation of signs by unique individuals and their own personal experiences. His theory is rooted in the fact that every sign comes from this pairing of signifier and signified and can lose the influence of the individual viewer. Barthes fails to see that the connotative signifier presupposes the interpretant and the sign presupposes the interpretant (Tejera 1988, 175). With breast cancer and the pink ribbon, people initially draw on personal experience towards the symbol and can be drawn to this emotion right off the start. One of Barthes more famous examples of the semiotics model is of the rose. He explained that roses were a signifier of the signified, passion, something signified by the roses sent to a loved one. Strinati argues that this has its flaws, because the roses could signify passion but also could be sent as a joke, a farewell, or for many other reasons. (Strinati 1995, 125)
This can be the case with the pink ribbon as it can take on multiple meanings such as hope, remembrance, or even commercialization depending on how one displays it, or how it is viewed. Both the viewer and the creator have their own experiences and reasons. You cannot simply understand symbols in terms of the system of signs, you need to locate the context of the social relationships in where the acknowledgment of meaning is found (Strinati 1995, 125). There can’t be a complete and objective meaning to analyzing signs, just as there can’t be a complete meaning to the pink ribbons.
The symbol of breast cancer awareness seems to be natural to us today, but it was in fact constructed by Charlotte Haley in 1992. It was then refined by Evelyn Lauder and Alexandra Penney to become the ribbon we see today. Haley was initially using a peach ribbon to raise awareness of the disease that had struck her family, but she would not sell out her concept to commercialization (PinkRibbon.org, History). This impelled Lauder and Penney to change the ribbon color to pink, giving birth to the sign we now see today. This revelation can be understood using Roland Barthes concept of the sign. Barthes model combines the signifier (the pink ribbon) with the mental concept (breast cancer), which is then combined to represent the awareness and fight against breast cancer. The signification of breast cancer awareness is showcased as a united front around the world and has created a strong relationship with the image of the pink ribbon.
This symbol has spread through dominant modes of representation in our society, specifically visual culture. It can be seen in many forms throughout Edmonton and the world. Our perspective and meaning that the pink ribbon displays has been influenced by these styles of representation. This is similar to the Marxist perspective, in that “those who own the means of production are also in control of the ideas and viewpoints produced and circulated in a society’s media venues” (Sturken and Cartwright 2010, 69). Therefore the media, newspapers, corporations and other influential institutions have power over how the pink ribbon is portrayed. Firms such as CIBC and M&M’s have latched onto this cause and it is tough to decipher if their involvement is solely for public relations or if they are truly invested in the cause. This had led to a divide between breast cancer supporters, those who believe the commercialization of the ribbon is exploited for revenue and those who believe it has added value to the cause. Currently on the Pink Ribbon website there is a poll asking this very question: http://www.pinkribbon.org/
The pink ribbon is also seen as an icon to many people. “An icon is an image that refers to something outside its individual components” (Sturken and Cartwright 2010, 36). It has great symbolic meaning to anyone who has been directly influenced by breast cancer, and also is realized by nearly the entire populous. This icon is identified universally as a sign of breast cancer awareness and the battle to end the disease. When people display the pink ribbon it is symbolizing the fight against a disease that has taken the lives of millions of women and also showcases the continued fight against this plight by survivors. The pink ribbon is both a symbol of hope and one of remembrance. It is used by corporate partners, individual fundraisers, and the general public. This vast, diverse acknowledgement and use of the ribbon has allowed it to gain significant value throughout the world.
In order for the pink ribbon to maintain its natural association to breast cancer awareness every community, city, province, state and country will have to continue to use and strengthen this relationship. Increasing globalization allows the circulation of the pink ribbon to be displayed in many visual forms around the world. We look at the ways in which Edmonton, Alberta, Canada uses the pink ribbon to gain awareness for breast cancer. Merchandisers, promotional event hosts, organizations and the general public have recognized the importance of visual culture as a way to maintain and inform individuals of the awareness of breast cancer using the pink ribbon. Below is a powerpoint presentation of the many roles Edmonton plays in establishing and maintaining this worldwide icon through utilizing the "practices of looking".
PART ONE:
When viewing remember to double click on the screen, it will send you to youtube!
PART TWO:
Other Links to Breast Cancer Awareness In Edmonton:
