I think the previous commercial represents a lot of the ideas that we have talked about in class. The first thing that comes to mind when I watch this commercial is the use of sex appeal to try and sell the car. The women driving the Cadillac is in a little black dress and stilettos. She is obviously a pretty white women and she is speaking in a seductive tone. She even says: “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” It is not an accident that Cadillac chose a beautiful white women to try and sell their car. Men are less likely to change the channel if a beautiful WHITE women, dressed provocatively is trying to sell them a product. Using sex, allows the company to get more publicity.
The second concept I think that is very apparent in this commercial is the concept of homogeny. The woman in the video is a typical “ideal” woman. She is white, beautiful, tall and skinny. She is wearing a black dress and stilettos which is the “norm” for a women who are trying to look sexy. In the video, Kate, is representing what women should want to wear and look like. Therefore, if a man saw this commercial he may be intrigued by the sex appeal and want to buy the car because of the promiscuity of the commercial. However, a women, particularly an adolescent girl may watch the commercial and see a beautiful women in an expensive sexy car. That may give them the idea that if they could only look like the woman in the commercial, their lives could too be glamourous, and they could afford things like the new cadillac.
Commercials do not just sell their product, but social “ideals” weather the director intended so or not. I think the commercial demonstrates a “dominant stance” because there is nothing in the commercial that represents conflicted hegemony. The women in the video is clearly hegemonic as I discussed above, and the car is brand new and expensive which is also hegemonic. People associate their cars with their social status. The more expensive and higher quality their car is, the higher people are socially ranked.
This add also reminded me of the clip of “Clueless” we watched in class. The girls were completely polished, beautiful, and wealthy, just like the woman in the car advertisement. These qualities in advertising motivate people to buy the product, because everyone who gives in to hegemony wants to either be the prettiest, the classiest, or the wealthiest.
In “It’s Just a Movie!” Smith, discusses how everything in a Hollywood film is put their for a reason. “When film makers want something to appear random, they carefully choreograph it” (Smith, 128). Even though this is just an advertisement, I believe it is the same concept. The director purposely chose the red cadillac to be in the commercial, because red is normally thought of as a “sexy” color. If the cadillac in the commercial was silver or white the same amount of energy would not be contributed to the sex appeal. Commercials are only 30 seconds long. Directors have to take advantage of their time, therefore, everything you see in a commercial, is there for a reason.
Lull discusses that the people we surround are self with circulate hegemony as much as the media does. “Dominant Ideology streams must be subsequently reproduced in the activities of our most basic social units” (Lull, 62). This is true with the cadillac example is well. The media may originally grab our attention to buy the newest most “high class” car, but every time someone compliments our new cadillac, they are giving into hegemony as well.
Bibliography
Lull, James . Gender, Race, and Class in Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications , 2003.
Smith , Greg. “It’s Just a Movie “. Cinema Journal Autumn 2001: 127-134.
