As I had stated in my paper, working at Old Navy evokes both physical and mental entrapment through various ways. For this blog entry, I will be focusing on how this site reminds me of my entrapment in capitalism, while in my paper, I talked more for the entrapment I feel physically in the space. Various sources have further solidified the explicit and implicit theme of capitalism in this space. Obviously, Old Navy is a site of capitalism because it is a large-scale business that depends on money for profit. The implicit ways in which this space incorporates capitalism is interesting to me. Through music, sound clips, film, and documents I will explain these ways.
Like at most stores in the city, Old Navy Times Square has a playlist that plays on loop during all open hours. Many of the songs are pop songs about love and romance or good times; one example of these songs that I have heard hundreds of times in the last month is What Lovers Do by Maroon 5 and SZA. This music plays in the background but sets a mood for the entire store of love and happiness. This mood implicitly encourages shoppers that this site of capitalism is a good place, a place where spending money is a happy thing and can even induce love and romance.
Likewise, commercials for Old Navy, that play on TV or can be found on the stores youtube channel, give off this feeling of happiness and love. Bright colors and lots of movement are used in the films, giving off a feeling of excitement. Large groups of people are shown close to one another, inciting that shopping at Old Navy is a fun thing for everyone to do together. This also makes it seem like shopping here means you too will have lots of close friends. Poster ads for Old Navy depict these same things, attached is an image of one to give you a feeling of what I mean. Both video commercials and visual ads play on a theme of family and friends. Capitalism is then brought into the most intimate relationships people have, normalizing it and making it feel everyday.
As a worker at this site, I can say that capitalism is not all happiness, love, and romance. In fact, much of what is portrayed in and through these sources is opposite of the experience I have in this space. The bright lights in the commercial do not accurately represent the dimly lit part of the store I am trapped in as a worker. Customers, as described by one of my co-workers in a sound clip, are not full of love, rather they often treat us with little to no respect. Old Navy as a site is extended across space through these advertisements, but takes a different face in these spaces than the experience I have with the space.
Link to ON youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAlfeUQBAi3zhRUS5JrRaAQ
Link to song: https://youtu.be/5Wiio4KoGe8
