Icon

The term icon originates from religious iconography, a painting of someone deemed to be 'holy', however now refers to "a symbol or image, picture or representation; anybody or anything venerated" - which is obviously a much broader definition.

An example of an Icon in Advertising is the face of Colonel Sanders for KFC.

The founder of the company and its face for tv campaigns throughout the 60's or 70s, over the years the colonel has transformed from this:

to this:

The image above obviously has no immediate reference to chicken, however it is a global signifier that fried chicken is available. 

A  'USA Today' report in 2010 produced the results that 61% of participants between the age of 18 and 25 didn't know who the face of KFC originally belonged to, assuming the 'Colonel Sanders' never actually existed and had been dreamt up by a creative in an office somewhere.

This is a perfect example of Iconography falling into the trap of simulacra, it has lost its original meaning, no longer reflecting the man behind an incredible enterprise, but rather the enterprise itself and the culture it belongs to, as decided by the media.

Cybernetic Advertising

The Cybernetic model of Advertising Communication is one which attempts to engage with an audience, opposing the old "transmission" model which merely aims to purvey a message to them.

Cybernetic Advertising succeeds when it is creatively interactive.

An impressive use of interactive advertising was employed by the Kaiser Chiefs when they released their 3rd album, 'The Future is Medieval", entitled the Bespoke Album Creation Experience.

The Band recorded 20 songs, fans were invited to choose the 10 they wanted on the album and design their own album cover for the price of £7.50. Upon doing so, consumers got to see their own album design in iTunes. The innovation didn't end here however, after creating their own album, consumers were provided with banners and pdf posters using the artwork they had designed to promote their vision of the album. Every copy of the album using their design and tracklisting that was sold would earn the creator (the fan) £1, going straight to their paypal account. 

This is truly a creative and innovative use of advertising, designed to interact with and engage the consumer even going as far as to blur the line between consumer and producer.

Another example of innovative and interactive advertising which follows the cybernetic model was used  by Adam Tensta, a Swedish Hip Hop artist.

As music is now so universally attainable, the hype that used to surround a new release has dwindled. In a successful attempt to bring back some of that hype, Adam released his song "Pass It On" in the form of the "One Copy Song".

The premise is that only one person can listen to his song at a time. Fans must get in line, and work their way to the first position, at which point they have an hour to listen, and can only listen once. You can get closer to the front of the line by listening to Tensta's other songs on spotify, tweeting about him or watching his videos.

This is an ingenious way to increase promotion, awareness and ultimately sales.

The Gaze

This is an example of Intra-Diegetic Gaze within advertising, where a character within the advert gazes upon an object or another character. This has voyeuristic effects on the viewer, and allows them to scrutinise or admire the advert, as they are separate from it.

This advert displays use of Extra-Diegetic Gaze, with a character within the advert consciously addressing the viewer. This is used as a technique for conjuring feelings of guilt for the viewer as well as to involve them in the advert.

A Summary of Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Plato’s allegory of the cave describes a group of prisoners captive in a cave. From their birth they are chained in position, unable to move. Their necks are fixed so that all that is visible to them is the blank wall ahead of them, upon which they continuously gaze. Behind the prisoners is a raised walkway, and behind the walkway a huge blazing fire. People make their way across said walkway, carrying objects on their heads. Now, the prisoners are obviously unable to see the walkway, fire or people, as they are forced to face the opposite direction - what they can see however, are the shadows of the people thrown against the blank wall by the glowing light of the fire. 

It is suggested that as this is all the prisoners see, they would believe the shadows to be the reality of vision, and the echos of the noises made behind them to be the reality of sound created by the shadows, which they believe to be real forms. The entire society of these prisoners is based around these shadows and anyone with ‘knowledge’ of these shadowy figures would be regarded as someone with a great understanding of the world.

The allegory asks us to consider one of these prisoners being freed from his bindings and allowed to move as he wishes. When looking at the figures that cause the shadows on the wall, he would not recognise them as reality, and when looking at the fire itself he would be blinded and avert his gaze back towards the shadows, what he believed to be real. If the man were to be dragged from the cave and out into the world above he would be even more blinded by the light of the sun. It’s suggested that bewilderment with an unfamiliar world would cause anger within the once-prisoner. However, after spending time on the surface the man would start to take in his surroundings and form a new understanding of reality. 

When thinking of his past home, the cave, it is suggested that the freed prisoner would consider himself happy and feel pity towards the other men held captive - when thinking of what was classed as wisdom there and the wisdom he has gained from seeing the surface, losing all admiration for any ‘understanding’ of the world these captives believe they hold. 

Not only would the freed-prisoners idea of the still-prisoners and their views change, but vice versa. It is suggested that the prisoners still in the cave would claim that his eyes had been corrupted and that the idea of traveling out of the cave was negligible, even to the extent that given the chance, they would try to kill the man who tried to release them from the cave. The prisoners would consider the freed-man an imbecile, a result of being afraid of that which they don’t know. 

Michel Foucault's Theory of Panopticism

1. What is the major effect of the Panopticon?

The Major effect of the Panopticon is “to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.”

Michel Foucault

     2. How does the architecture [institution] create and sustain a power relation independent of the person who exercises it?

The institution is able to create and sustain a power relation, independent of the person who exercises it, by following the principle that the power is visible yet unverifiable. The power will always be visible as the tall tower from which the prisoner’s overseers can observe him is always in sight, however for the power to be unverifiable the inmate must be aware that he may always be under watch, while at the same time never being sure of when he actually is. 

     3. In what way is the Panopticon efficient?

The Panopticon is efficient as it removes the need for the use of force. The convict behaves, the madman calms, the worker works and the schoolboy applies himself. Bars, chains and heavy locks are no longer necessary, being replaced by simple geometry and well arranged spaces. In many ways the Panopticon is the perfect institution of detention, allowing for predetermined ‘perpetual victory’ whilst avoiding any physical confrontation.  

     4. How does the Panopticon do the work of a naturalist [scientist]?

The Panopticon allows for the collection of a vast array of research - from determining the differences among patients and observing symptoms without the risk of contagion, to the observation of schoolchildren’s performances. It can even be used financially and mathematically to calculate appropriate wages for workers which correlate with their aptitude. 

     5. In what ways is the Panopticon a laboratory? 

The Panopticon can be seen as a laboratory in that it can be used to carry out experiments, both as a physical institution for housing said experiments and as the machine which, with its many working parts, conducts the experiments itself. These experiments include training or correcting individuals by altering behaviour, monitoring effects of medicines and seeking the most effective punishments for prisoners through active trial.

     6. List the conditions in which Panopticism strengthens power.

Panopticism can assure the productive increase of power, but only if “It can be exercised continuously in the very foundations of society, in the subtlest possible way” whilst at the same time “function[ing] outside these sudden, violent, discontinuous forms that are bound up with the exercise of sovereignty.”

     7. According to Julius (1831), how is the panoptic principle particularly useful in a society made of private individuals and the state?

Julius notes the transformation of society; from one of spectacle, with the aim “to render...the inspection of a small number of objects (in the form of temples, theaters and circuses etc.)...to a multitude of men”, to the opposite, a society of surveillance. As society had lost focus on public life and community it became principally comprised of private individuals and the state, this reversal of focus gave birth to a new aim, one which panopticism fits perfectly - “to [build] and [distribute] buildings intended to observe a great multitude of men at the same time.”

     8. Also according to Julius, rather than suppress the individual, what effect does the panoptic principle have?

Julius suggests that an individual is not suppressed by a social order based on panoptic principles but is instead “fabricated” in it, becoming part of the mechanism itself. This serves as symbiotic relationship where both the individual and the society they belong to can benefit from their involvement. 

Baudrillard's Simulacrum - Summary and Thoughts

Jean Baudrillard

Jean Baudrillard, the French Sociologist and Philosopher, dictates that art and reality have become entirely separate to the point where the genealogy between them is totally disconnected. He does however suggest that this disconnection is traceable through 4 distinct steps, each an important turning point in reality's descent to the 'universal simulacrum' (a phrase I don't entirely agree with, but i'll get to that later).

The first step is a 'reflection of a basic reality', a literal and true portrayal of a subject [reality]. The second is an entirely new and standalone subject, that 'masks and perverts' the aforementioned basic reality. A deceptive reality, with an absence of any true [real] subject comes third, before the fourth and final phase where the subject bears "no relation to any reality whatsoever", falling into 'it's own pure simulacrum'.

Baudrillard states that at this point reality is redundant and the images fall into a 'hyper-reality', losing all connection between the image and what it originally signified. 

Here's a visual representation of these four steps, using my own face (you lucky people).

For those unaware of what exactly a simulacrum (plural: simulacra) is, you may already be familiar with the meaning just unfamiliar with the terminology (I didn't know the word even existed until this study). 

In Latin, the word Simulacrum translates to 'similarity' or 'likeness' and when originally used in the 16th century it referred to a representation, commonly of a God or deity and generally in the form of a painting or sculpture (be it a statue, effigy or figurine). Think 'simulation'.

The evolution of the original meaning towards the one employed by Baudrillard is easy to follow through philosophical history. The fact that within the field of Philosophy, and in general, there are multiple definitions and views of simulacra, made me question the idea of what a 'universal simulacrum' is and whether its existence is even possible. 

Plato

In one of Plato's dialogues, Sophist, he references two types of imagery, preceding and offering an alternative to Baudrillard's 4 step model. The first is a genuine and accurate reproduction with the intention of producing a realistic copy of reality. The second is purposely distorted so that it appears accurate to the onlooker. To explain and expand on this second form of imagery, Plato uses the example of Greek statues which were at times made larger and technically anatomically disproportionate on their top half so that when viewed from standing appear to be correct and in proportion. This is a form of simulacrum, but one which is dissimilar to Baudrillard's representation. 

Nietzsche also refers to simulacra, albeit conceptually, in "The Twilight of the Idols" without employing the explicit terminology. He does so by suggesting that most philosophers choose (be it consciously or not) to become too encapsulated in the human constructs of language and reason and disregard the reliability of their own senses. Because of this, they place themselves in a distorted version, a simulacrum if you will, of true reality. 

So as you can see, Baudrillard's idea of a 'hyper-reality' as the final form of simulacra is not one that is 'universally' shared, and thus should not be described as such. 

But I digress. 

Graphic Design

Me and my Art director buddy George (thereisnoboxgt.blogspot.com) have just started up a tumblr for a new venture;

harveygeorge.tumblr.com

(profound, I know)

is a place for us to post our graphic design, currently in the form of alternate movie posters for your viewing pleasure.

Check it out! 

Edit: So, this was short-lived. I'm unsure on the chances of it's revival, but you never know.