The past week has been mentally busy, and setting out all of my key insights from my research, the most important insight has to be regarding brand terrorism, and the context of the term in its entirety. This insight, as previously pointed by the tutors present at the presentation last week, is already known to the general public, but what has been done to solve such a problem?
Examples such as Logorama by H5/François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain & Kapitaal by Studio Smack both note the problems that the terrorising messages become meaningless as a moral through a visual narrative. On the other hand, Deleting Space by Christopher Steinbrener and Rainer Dempf’s outdoor methods of erasing brands on the high street created an impact through the erasure of noise, the response from the audience were clear. But the underlying point is that those examples do not suggest what can be done to avoid the meaningless messages as a whole.
While this key insight serves more direction towards the outcome, it has brought another insight that in fact, the essence of this project is about raising awareness about something that is already known to everyone; raising awareness about something familiar. As it is an analogy to state that rather than making a point by proving that the problem with media is constantly pointing out the negativities within society to provide the shock value for its audience, as Gerbner (as cited from Seward Barry, p.306) states
Under the umbrella theory of "cultivation process" Gerbner has traced how "mean world syndrome" can come about when, with the repeated exposure to negative messages, people can become convinced that the world they live in is an inherently dangerous and primarily mean one...when people believe what they see and what they see is a world enmeshed in violence, they expect violence to happen to them...and inadvertently actualize what they fear – all without understanding how the process has worked or the actual reality behind the fears.
This draws insight that I had raised towards the beginning of my Major Project on the exposure of negative media, but there are not as many suggestions as to how to improve their negative findings.
So how would I be able to raise awareness about something that is already known to the audience?
Had a think (not necessarily in a dark room though, as my tutor had suggested) over the output, a web interface with a type of humourous and engaging shock for the audience; the stats and facts will connect with the different scenarios that will be asked, with metaphoric titles such as "Rise and shine" – asking the audience what they do when they first get up; some may go to the bathroom, some may use their phone to check their social networking sites / emails etc., or their daily commute, with small analogies such as "we spend x time watching/seeing ads about health/fitness products that would equate to x amount of hours spent at the gym". The important message behind this site to be engaging and informative. Thusly, creating the creative co-ordinates of
- engaging
- informative
- which directs contemporary.
The tone of voice which directs the site still requires work, as there may be multiple dynamics that I am adding as a result of utilising both analogies and metaphors within the language; the interpretations of them would be different for all.
Importantly, the outcome brings learning about brand exposure to a more informational extent by using such analogies, and it can help at the end of the interactive survey by offering suggestions on purchasing (such as making search terms more direct, and to spread the news of awareness on this site), creating the link from my key point, to offer positives in light of the negative discovery. Whether or not it would create the realisation that branding is the contemporary method of escapism for the audience is up to the individual.
Sketches of the site are being created as I write up; on a 12 column grid to retain the simplicity that would be required to keep in line with the creative co-ordinates. The name of this campaign, or essentially, the brand, has currently been proposed as “Brandology” – literally, meaning the study of branding. (Still subject to change)
For the purpose of online viewing, I have attached Logorama and Kapitaal for your viewing pleasure.
Bibliography
Seward Barry, A (1997) Visual Intelligence: Perception, Image, and Manipulation in Visual Communication. State University of New York: New York.
VideoH5/François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain (2009) Logorama [video online] Available at:
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[Accessed 10 May 2011]
Studio Smack (2006) Kapitaal [video online] Available at:
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[Accessed 4 October 2011]
Websitehttp://www.steinbrener-dempf.com/index.php?article_id=5 [Accessed 1 October 2011]
