{"id":442,"date":"2010-03-24T23:54:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T23:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=442"},"modified":"2010-03-24T23:54:05","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T23:54:05","slug":"the_treachery_of_images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/03\/the_treachery_of_images\/","title":{"rendered":"The treachery of images"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps you, too, have been washing dishes in the kitchen and heard what would seem to be the Big Red gum commercial in the other room. You wipe your hands on your dish towel and walk over to the TV muttering “Creativity, here she lied, no one knew her worth” etc., expecting Big Red to simply be using their old jingle, only to to see a Verizon v. AT&T commercial. If you listen closely, you then realize that they’ve changed the lyrics, but if you look closely, you realize many of the commercials’ tableaus are nearly indistinguishable. <\/p>\n

Big Red
<\/b>So kiss a little longer, hold hands a little longer, hold tight a little longer. Longer with Big Red.That
\nBig Red freshness lasts right through it. Your fresh breath goes on and
\non while you chew it. Say goodbye a little longer. Make it last a
\nlittle longer. Give your breath long lasting freshness with Big Red.<\/p>\n

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And now Verizon<\/b>
So browse the web much better, update Facebook pages
\nbetter, ditch your boring job much better. Better with Big Red. That
\n3G coverage lets you do it. You’ll watch YouTube on a horse. When you
\nuse it. E mail friends and family better. Download stupid stuff [like old Big Red commercials?] much
\nbetter. Get the most great 3G coverage with Big Red.<\/p>\n

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Well first, the “late 80s” seem like a much happier time, in retrospect: kissing, holding tight, saying goodbye, “making it last.” Now it’s all “updating Facebook on a horse” blah blah.   Second, have we actually reached a moment where even our commercials are self-referential? Where marketers are relying so heavily on the American zeitgeist that they’re recycling jingles and images that already once relied on that same zeitgeist? <\/p>\n

Apparently, yes. Some other time in February, you may have again been washing dishes and heard the (glorious) voice of Don Draper wafting in from the other room. Bringing the dish towel with you this time should you have to need to wipe the sweat off, you trip over yourself into the other room to see if you somehow missed the episode of Mad Men <\/i>in which Don Draper pitches a campaign for Mercedes Benz. <\/p>\n

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<\/object><\/p>\n
<\/object><\/p>\n
Hold it: what did anyone in 1963 care about the “cleanest diesel technology”? We all saw the picnic episode. Wait, so adman Don Draper–I mean, actor Jon Hamm–is doing the voiceovers for Mercedes Benz? So says The Grey Lady:<\/p>\n
\n

For three seasons, the actor Jon Hamm has played the 1960s adman Don
\nDraper on the hit AMC TV series “Mad Men.” Beginning on Sunday, he gets
\nto do some advertising work in the real world as the new commercial
\nvoice of Mercedes-Benz USA. Mr. Hamm’s voice will be heard in a
\ncommercial that Mercedes-Benz USA will run on local ABC stations in the
\ncarmaker’s 16 largest markets during the ABC network’s broadcast of the
\nAcademy Awards.<\/p>\n

…”It’s a nice re-fresh of our voice,” Stephen
\nCannon, vice president for marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA in Montvale,
\nN.J., said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Not only does Mr. Hamm
\nhave “a terrific, very resonant voice with a lot of gravitas to it,”
\nMr. Cannon said, he will also help Mercedes-Benz “reach out to a
\nyounger, more vibrant audience.” <\/span>
\nThat is because Mr. Hamm is “ascendant, a hot actor,” Mr. Cannon
\nsaid, as well as a “current part of pop culture.” Mr. Hamm’s contract
\nis for three years. (via the New York Times<\/a><\/i>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Right: you hired Don Draper<\/i> because of the “gravitas” in his voice, not because the “younger, more vibrant audience” you desire has grown accustomed to hearing this man sell products for the past three years.<\/p>\n

In these recent ads, both Verizon and Mercedes Benz want us to be nostalgic. Verizon wants us to be nostalgic for a jingle, and perhaps nostalgic for a gum that, while still for sale, has not been marketed in recent years. Mercedes Benz is really taking our poor brains for a drive, using a voice we associate with selling products in the 1960s–even if we weren’t alive at that time–to sell something in 2010.  Jon Hamm, Man of Many Zeitgeists. <\/p>\n

Funny, because all we talk about in classical music advertising and marketing is trying to get as far away from nostalgia as possible. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps you, too, have been washing dishes in the kitchen and heard what would seem to be the Big Red gum commercial in the other room. You wipe your hands on your dish towel and walk over to the TV muttering “Creativity, here she lied, no one knew her worth” etc., expecting Big Red to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}