AUIDS 276 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Transsexual, Sexual Objectification, Analytic Space
29 May 2018
School
Course
Professor
Natasha Chido Mutize AIUDS276
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Natasha Chido Mutize
AIUDS 276: Midterm
Dr Erin Sutherland
Due Date: 6 March,2018
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Natasha Chido Mutize AIUDS276
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Short Essay #1: How Nike interpellate consumer behaviors.
World societies have become obsessed with looking and feeling a certain way and this has
motivated many companies to formulate marketing strategies that encourage these needs. The
brand Nike, a sportwear and pro-athleticism company, does an excellent job in reigniting these
humanistic emotions via advertisements. In this short essay I will be discussing how product
interpellation plays a role in creating product expectations for consumers. The discussion will be
supported by my interpretation of interpellation in a Nike advertisement shown below. I argue that
advertisements increase consumerism power by creating western ideals that consumers want to be
part of or desire to be included in. For the sake of this discourse I will be defining interpellation as
the placement and exercise of a constructed ideology by individual, as if the individual formulated
it.
The advertisement shows an image of a person, with their back facing the viewer. The
figure is looking towards shadows of modern architecture with the bridge and water body acting
as divide between the individual and the modernity. The captions ‘Nike’, ‘the time and place I here
and now’ and ‘Just do it’ are present on the advert as well. The captions alone suggest that the
consumer/subject should engage in consumerism. Nike interpellates urgency in consumers by
informing the consumers that there is no better time to purchase Nike products than now. The
subject, the consumer, is hailed into the ideology of indulging into the Nike products by the
phrasing ‘Just do it’ which compel the consumer to just buy and not think otherwise. ‘Just do it’
ignores how people who ‘do it ‘with Nike are implicated in international systems of racial, gender
and class exploitations of workers in less developed countries. (Dworkin and Messner 22).
The silhouette suggest femininity, but without the face it is difficult to decipher where the
figure is male or female. Advertising seeks to interpellate viewer consumers in constructing them
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Natasha Chido Mutize AIUDS276
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within the ‘you’ of the ad (Sturken and Cartwright 50). Instead of directly captioning the word
you, Nike utilized the human figure making it easier for the audience place themselves in the
position of the figure. This connection makes the subject, male or female, feel as though the text
is meant for them hence are more impulsed to purchase the product. Nike is implicitly suggesting
consumerism in the advert and this very same implicitness convinces consumers into believing
that they are in full control of their choices when purchasing products.
To reach the world of modernity, suggested by the figure looking into a distance, stretching
as if preparing to go for run in the direction of the high rises, one must commit to Nike branded
products. This message motivates people to buy as they want to reach and be part of that world.
Nike is sending the message that the subject has not reached their ideal state in life and purchasing
Nike products will get you there. Overall the image and phrasing suggest that for the subject to
reach this world of modernization and luxury Nike products must be bought and now is the right
time.
Nike interpellates consumer by making them believe that they hold and are in full control
their own purchasing power. For one the Nike swoosh symbol on one’s body sends the statement
of individual empowerment to the world. Already a construction about the power, control and
empowerment is associated with the brand. Nike has invested in strategies that make consumers
feel as though they made the decision to buy when they have been lured unconsciously into
indulging in the brand.
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Document Summary
Short essay #1: how nike interpellate consumer behaviors. World societies have become obsessed with looking and feeling a certain way and this has motivated many companies to formulate marketing strategies that encourage these needs. The brand nike, a sportwear and pro-athleticism company, does an excellent job in reigniting these humanistic emotions via advertisements. In this short essay i will be discussing how product interpellation plays a role in creating product expectations for consumers. The discussion will be supported by my interpretation of interpellation in a nike advertisement shown below. I argue that advertisements increase consumerism power by creating western ideals that consumers want to be part of or desire to be included in. For the sake of this discourse i will be defining interpellation as the placement and exercise of a constructed ideology by individual, as if the individual formulated it. The advertisement shows an image of a person, with their back facing the viewer.
