As I have already discussed, human beings strive to stand out in a positive way. Americans, especially, will seemingly go through what ever necessary surgeries or procedures they must to gain acceptance from society. In this commercial, a girl probably in her early twenties is sitting at a bar with a man pouring her a glass of water. Right from the start this commercial oozes with pathos. The location, an empty, rather nice café with its own bar, and situation, a woman alone with a man, initiates the pathos feeding into the viewer’s brain. In this type of location, humans’ hormones are in the rise which is clearly demonstrated between the eye contact and “flirtatious” smiles between the two. It’s human nature to desire the attention of the opposite sex and as the commercial furthers, it is realized that the woman feels the only way to receive male attention is to have the perfect look. In this case to achieve this she has decided to uplift her chest by stuffing. The man notices this and makes a face at the woman in dissatisfaction. At this point another woman walks in and the man, still pouring the glass of water, is obviously pleased with the augmentation of her breasts and becomes distracted and overfills the glass. At this point the commercial is using the idea of acceptance and rejection to play into the viewer’s emotions. The viewer, most like sympathetic and embarrassed for the first woman, does not want to be caught in a similar situation, most likely coming to the conclusion that in order to be accepted by society the perfect look must be obtained. The commercial attempts to convince its viewers that the only way to achieve this look and acceptance is through plastic surgery.
i’ve never actually seen a plastic surgery advertisement on tv. But it angers me how the goal of this commercial is to make people feel insecure about the way they look so they turn to artificial means to improve their appearance.
Listen to your local radio station. They will have advertisements dealing with cosmetic procedures at least every hour. Here in Gainesville, Kiss 105.3 advertises Ideal Image, a laser hair removal business, and Dr. Richar Nesmith, a plastic surgeon, within every commercial break. Although not significantly cosmetic surgeries have decreased this year due to the recession. Surgeons, however, are going through all means necessary to increase sales. Some businesses, like Ideal Image, are offering deals as big as 50% of specific procedures.
Everything revolves around money, if people were happy with themselves then they wouldn’t be spending millions upon millions of dollars on plastic surgery and diet foods and gym memberships and how to books. The commercial sets it self in the position of one who is providing a useful anecdote… kind of a “see, this could happen to you”. The underlying motive is what it always is: to sell a product or service. Welcome to capitalism.
It’s funny you mention that. That’s where I was heading on the blog I posted this morning. I completely agree. Our society is very money driven and focused on what exactly we get for our dollar. In this case a nice figure gives you attention, which could possibly move you up in the social hiearchy therefore pressuring you to the next thing.. whatever it maybe.
Though I initially thought that it was funny how the tissue was showing out of the girls bra. I kind of thought it crude as to how the guy pouring the water, wouldn’t stop staring at the other girls much larger chest. I’m not so sure how effective this commercial truly is, if it offends the audience that its trying to appeal to.