Culture Jammin'

Meme’s are ideas that are shared among people. They generally have a target audience and are used to control or influence the viewers thought. Meme’s have a major role to play in consumerism. Consumerism often makes people think they want things they don’t need by linking a product or brand to an individual’s desire.

I believe that this specific advertisement does not target a specific audience even though the GAP Company logo is used. A specific audience could be fashion and clothing consumers, but everyone wears clothes thus this ad could apply to everyone. The product advertised in this ad is clothing and fashion. The advertisement consists of a black and white silhouette of a head. The use of the black and white colour scheme is very plain and simple, this could signify the simplistic and impressionable nature of fashion consumer’s. As well, the black and white element makes the other aspects of the ad stand out even more. The GAP Company logo is used in the centre of the head silhouette, this could signify the empty and impressionable space in the mind of the consumer. This “gap” is filled by ideas and products that trick the consumer into thinking they need or want them.  Another aspect of this advertisement is the quote at the bottom which says “follow the herd”. This ties together the overall meaning of the ad which could be that fashion and clothing are a product that the consumer needs to fit in or be classified as “cool”.

I think the ad is very simply and to the point. It was very easy to identify what exactly the ad was try to point out and what stereotypes it was attempting to mock. Consumer’s of fashion are often so influenced to look a certain way in order to fit in or be liked. However, I think there are a few areas of this ad that could be improved. This ad would be better if it was more obviously geared towards a target audience.

As previously stated, the original ad was successful in portraying the stereotype of impressionable consumer’s of fashion and clothing, but unsuccessful in targeting a specific audience. My goal by adjusting the visuals was to achieve what, I believe, the original ad set out to portray but ultimately failed to do so. I changed the silhouette head to an image of the Barbie head logo. This is meant to represent the phoniness or rather ‘plastic’ make up of the fashion industry. Barbie is an iconic brand that has been the target of several campaigns that attack its all-to-perfect image of what women should look like. Just like the original ad, I used a clothing brand logo in the middle of the silhouette. However, I believe that a brand like Forever21 is a much better representation of the true meaning of the ad. Brands like Forever21, Zara, Aritzia, and many more, suggest that fashion should be a one-size-fits-all vehicle. Enforcing an image for all women to try and ascribe to, even though this image is extremely unrealistic. As well, I also incorporated the Barbie slogan, which says “You can be anything”. The original ad only had “follow the herd” written on it. However, by incorporating the Barbie slogan my goal was to amplify the meaning behind the phrase “follow the herd”. The fashion industry sets out an image for women to mold themselves into. This image is very unrealistic and doesn’t portray the diversity among all women. Barbie’s slogan says that women can do or be whatever they chose, but in reality if you don’t form into the mold then you’re considered wrong or not good enough.

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