GRSJ 300 Culture Jam Assignment

Original Advertisement

Analysis of the bus advertisement

This is an advertisement for the London Real Estate company Marsh & Parsons. It follows a series of adverts featuring a picture of a person/people, captioned by a description of a property, to match their catchphrase “Matching people and property in London for over 160 years”. In this particular advert, it features a classy and dressed couple, presumably to match with the “charming period property” they are advertising.

However, since there are two people in the ad, it is easily mistaken that the “people and property” are the man and the woman, rather than the couple plus the described property. This can lead viewers to think that the woman is objectified and perceived as a piece of property. The woman is very beautiful and flawless compared to the man, which show the sexist expectation that women must be visibly very attractive in order to be successful and capable to own a nice property like this. Furthermore, the man in the picture is significantly older than the woman, and they are posed rather intimately together. This can be a suggestion that this woman may be in a financially dependant relationship (or is a “sugar baby”, for lack of a better term) with this older man, and is incapable of purchasing expensive period properties on her own. Note that both people in this picture are caucasion, which is another suggestion that caucasians are of a wealthier and more refined class compared to others.

Due to all of the meanings evoked in this ad, this is very unwelcoming towards women who are interested in becoming homeowners. This would demotivate women from working their way towards their goals of having a nice property to live in, and enforces that they should rely on men for financial stability. This is also very unwelcoming to people of colour, as they will not feel well “matched” to live in a luxury property, regardless if they actually have the money or not.

Jammed version of the advertisement

Explanation of the Jamming Philosophy

In my jammed advert, I replaced the two models with a women of colour, backdropped by a picture of a real period property. I felt that it was meaningless to have only a picture of a model for this ad, because it lets readers make unnecessary judgements on the model based solely on their stereotypes and gender roles. With the background of a period property, it lets the audience make a literal connection (or “match”) with the person in the ad, rather than have viewers imagine a property based on the model’s physical looks. This drives the catchphrase home in matching people and property in London. It also takes away the ambiguity of viewing people as property when there is only one model and one property in the image. 

Furthermore, I chose a coloured female model dressed in simple clothing and wearing glasses. The simple shirt shows that you do not need to be born into a wealthy class or present yourself as visibly attractive in order to achieve the property that you want. The glasses is also a suggestion that you can study hard and gain your own wealth through a high skilled career.

With this choice of model, I hope to evoke feelings of empowerment with the viewer, showing them that anyone can buy a luxury property and they do not need to be dependant on any men.  I find that this method of advertising can clear out any possibilities of incorrect assumptions (as was the case in the original ad), while at the same time, offering empowerment and encouragement for anyone to get the property of their dreams.