Before wrapping up this blogging assignment, I wanted to post this furniture advertisement which I feel ties in perfectly with our discussion topic: romance. The way romance is used here is pretty similar to the way it is used in any other type of ad whether it be household good or food item: the woman is seen as fulfilled and complete because the item that is being sold to her satisfies her psychological need to feel loved. In the photo above the elegant angel has fallen in love with the "perfect" couch. The ad then prompts other women to come fall in love with their ideal piece of furniture, suggesting they cannot truly be happy without it. This then lingers on a very important concept about life that exists within our society: falling in love is seen as the climax! As humans we are taught to believe that our sole purpose is to find a mate that we can unconditionally love for the rest of our lives. We are to marry this person, buy a home with this person, start a family with this person. Therefore it is not so shocking that companies fully tap into this anxiety that people have, more so women, when it comes to falling in love. Companies want to make the consumers believe that just like finding a soul mate, buying the right products will satisfy our 'need' to fall in love and be loved. Both however are social constructions. Am I wrong?
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter
Good find!
ReplyDeleteI think fall in furniture love month is a message that is trying to tell women that you are supposed to fall in love with furniture because its part of the home . It's 'that time on month' ladies, its normal. Advertising companies have create a social construction that has people believe women's place is in the home. She is responsible for the decorating and keeping the furniture looking good/clean in the home. Its never taken out on a man if the house is messy and ratty. Women are not naturally destine to spend all their time IN the home, it is an overwhelming social construction that has created their 'place'. Companies place emphasis on 'love' because women have been pressured to believe their lives centre around romance. Long ago society created this social norm of 'women in the home' and now its become a popular technique for companies to use to trick women into buying their product using love, romance and connections to men. Romance plays a big role in advertising as its reminds women of the popular beliefs that women needs to be in the home doing the things necessary to impress their husbands. This idea has been create and recreated in so many ways, including soap operas, chick flicks, and romance novels. Advertising companies have taken advantage of this social construction and used it to trick women (cultural dupe) into believing those household products are necessary for creating that 'happy ending'. That romantic happy ending has been embedded in every women's mind and our culture reminds them everyday. This technique of using romance in ads allows companies to remind women that they must also look good while in the home. Advertising companies use skinny, young, tall, white women to adverts their products to remind women they must look like the ideal beautiful women while in their place. These ads tell women they must be sexy in the home, they must work hard on themselves so when their husbands can be happy. The use of the typical romantic looking women in most ads reminds women their life goals revolve around looking young and sexy for their husbands. Women need to buy the products and use them just like the models are in the advertisement. These romantic ads reinforce gender roles and make sure women know they aren't real women until they look and act like the women they show in their advertisements. A women's life is not complete until she make a man happy through her abilities in the home. When it comes to analyzing household advertisements, women are rarely recognized as smart and successful outside the home. Romance in these ads has taken over womens lives and removed any acknowledgement of their other abilities!
-Goldilocks