The first day of class was pretty interesting. I thought the introduction to the course was pretty interactive and gave us a lot of insight as to what we should be expecting this quarter. From what I got from it all, it seems like we will be doing plenty of analyzing and critiquing throughout the course in order to establish our positions and defend them through our writing.
In regards to the Tommy Hilfiger advertisement, I do not think that Tim went too far in telling us how he felt about the ad. I believe that his interpretation is completely fair and valid; I wouldn't discount it. However, I think that his interpretation is way too complex for such a simple ad and it may even be a bit overanalyzed. If I were an advertiser, I would not even allow such a piece to be displayed if there was any chance that it may offend the public or the consumer. Why would the advertisers (who are hired for the sole purpose of bolstering sales for the Hilfiger company) purposely make reference to the oppression that women faced during the Civil Rights era in their ad? Not only would that be an illogical move on the advertisers' part, but it would also prove detrimental to the Hilfiger company as a whole.
Like I said in class, I believe that the advertisers attempted to boost the image of Tommy Hilfiger by photographing an African-American woman. By doing this, they could disprove all the rumors of Tommy being "racist" and hopefully gain more sales within the African-American consumer-demographic. Judging from the diner setting and the positioning of the American flag in the background, it appears that the advertisers tried to give off a sense of patriotism. I don't think that the diner was intended to make reference to the horrible situations that African-American women had to endure in the past. It can certainly be depicted that way, but I do not think that it was purposely done. Instead, I believe that the diner was supposed to symbolize something that was "All-American" in order lead the consumer to believe that they will be exhibiting and experiencing a sense of patriotism upon purchasing Hilfiger's products.
Now switching gears into the exercise, I thought it was a creative way of having people share their personal viewpoints without having them verbalize (which can be pretty difficult--especially with some of the questions that were asked). It was just kind of hot outside...
See you all tomorrow.
-Stephanie
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2 comments:
i didn't even realize the whole diner situation but i think you are right about how the diner was just for the "all-american" look rather than what it represented in the history of the United States.
but then whats the deal with writing - a - declaration of independence... it makes it seem that they want to tie to the African American civil rights movements
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