Reinventing Britney Spears in the Pepsi Ad Campaign
Reinventing Britney Spears in the Pepsi Ad Campaign
Historian Stuart Ewen proposes his idea that history of style in his essay, “The Marriage between Art and Commerce”, is the crucial turning point of what shapes our culture and every day life. Ewen’s concept of style in the 19th - 20th century is a combination of modern art and a business device. He describes the uses of symbolic forms of art, as to mainly sustain and promote consumption in the interests of the corporations when he states, “styling and style obsolescence come to the forefront as methods designed to stimulate markets, and keep them stimulated” (211). Ewen’s perception of style carries on to this day, as big companies during the super ball break on television, challenge the advertising industry. Pepsi-Cola is an example of such an Industry that invested in a two million dollar spot for a 30 second creative commercial flick. This year Pepsi is promoting the stylish pop star Britney Spears, mainly to target the desire of their beverages in the youth’s minds and define their trademark for all generations.
Ewen introduces a different aspect of style when he specified that, “Advertising not only sought to inform people about the availability and appeal of industrially produced goods, it is also contributed to a reconstructed perception of the resources and alternatives available to people in every day lives.(204)” It is evident that in Ewens mind, a “…reconstructed perception” is recreating a misleading image to recognize these basic mass produced goods as separate identities with voluptuous themes. These themes are supposedly used by the corporate businesses to deceit the mentality of the buyer into believing that stylish looks are the main credentials of the goods they buy. This aspect of Style thrives on constantly new up to date ideas that come and go in a snap of an eye blink. It has been beneficial to the industries and markets at the expanse of the consumers, who are cheated into buying unnecessary products just for an up to date look. Therefore it is visible that Ewen is old fashioned and is fumed with this new vision of style that has absorbed in are culture in the 1900’s. Pepsi-Cola demonstrates their advertisements in a reconstructed theme, with a time clip of Britney Spears traveling through Pepsi’s generations. They use Britney Spears, to modernize an up to date Pepsi image...