This is a short video of how I made the headpiece (song: Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Alt. Version) 1995)
Here are the unaltered photos:
Below is the mask fresh off the face cast
Below is the before and after of my headpiece
Concept Pitch: I focused on the ads in the newspaper of my birthday. As I was skimming through the stories, almost every page had some sort of ad and a majority was consumerism – trying to sell a product. For example, some ads were primarily text based in which they used compelling words or phrases such as ‘you need this’ or pose a question like ‘do you have___ in your life? then ___’. My research will further that topic of consumerism and the effects it has on people psychologically. Advertisement is a form of propaganda in which businesses/brands are altering the mindset of the consumer to get money.
This connects to the research I’ve done where Olson and Dover talk about deceptive advertising, aka false advertising. This type of advertising is done to promote/sell a product. They talk about the cognitive effects of this false advertising and what it does when exposed to the consumer. Most ads have a ‘brainwashing’ element where it sticks in your memory and makes you believe a certain thing. Olson and Dover discuss how those cognitive elements of the brand and product constitute the belief of the consumer. My piece will show that effect but of course it will be dramatized since this is a visual depiction of what goes on in your mind.
Furthermore, in my work I want to play around with the concepts of scopohilia, objectification and consumer psychology since they’re all relevant themes in the ads I’ve looked at. These types of ads don’t really have any effect on me, I’m impartial to them but I want to do this because I know that it is an issue for a lot of the younger consumers on account of them being more impressionable.
Another source that pretty much goes hand in hand with my work is Kimberly Clark’s YouTube video called Listen Up: Consumerism. In the video Kimberly talks about the relationship between advertising/marketing and consumers (us). Advertising is the way brands/companies communicate to the consumers. Brands are always trying to promote their products and a popular way to do that is through social media. For example, brands have reached out to me sending me their products to review for free or sometimes get paid (sponsorships). However, now it is left up to the person to have morality to disclose that the product was sent for free or being paid for it. Kimberly also talks about how consumerism as a value has replaced other values such as logic & morality; this lack of logic & morals is the price of consumerism.
My work is to give a visual depiction of the psychological effects advertising can have on a consumer, specifically a female consumer. I used themes to depict objectification and brand ownership of their consumers to show this. At the end of the day, the brand doesn’t really care, to an extent, if their products work…it’s all about the money.
A way out of this is to understand how advertising works and try to take advantage, where the consumer benefits as well. What I illustrated in my project is a more parasitic relationship between brand and consumer where the consumer is subordinate to the brand/company. Reaching out to brands, like I do, can give a more mutually beneficial relationship where brands pay me to review their products which let my audience buy that product. It’s a win win.
Questions:
What does the ad ‘world’ project on us?
How can I visually depict a psychological effect in my work?
Materials:
Papier Mache (for mask): newsprint paper & mixture (glue & water)
Inspirations:
Virgin Mary sculpture
Banksy’s consumerism graffiti art series: https://www.google.com/search?q=banksy+consumerism&espv=2&biw=786&bih=515&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwij9rLEj8zQAhWH5IMKHcV7B68Q_AUIBigB
Adrian Piper’s Vanilla Nightmares #f
