Creativity as a Social Good

Similar to the 'Diesel Island' example i was given, the Levi's campaign below is another implication of creativity, in advertising, being used as a social good. 

Wieden and Kennedy came up with a socially inspiring campaign that both strengthened their brand's identity and recognised the importance of the middle class.



As you can see, the advertisements portray obvious middle class families or people in their relevant environment. These images are along side the copy, "We are all Workers" or "Everybody's Work is Equally Important", as seen below:



These adverts, in the same vain as those done by Richard Buchanan, raise awareness (or recognition), for specific types of people. By showing these images with this copy Levi's have managed to solidify themselves as a true American representative. Making one more likely to wear the jeans of such a proud and cultured brand. They took their high reputation and used it to reward the hard, unnoticed workers of the American public. A creative campaign that definitely contributed to social decency.

Cybernetic Advertising

There is a varied selection of definitions under the term 'cybernetics', each contextualising the industry or perspective from which they originate from. The most appropriate definition for my area of inquiry is this one:

"The art of interaction in dynamic networks."
 - Roy Ascott

Below are a couple of examples from the creative world of advertising that implement this interactive approach:


This large, printed 'Frontline' advert creates an environment in which the public are (to their knowledge or not) part of the advert. Depending on your viewpoint, the shoppers that pass over the installation become the flees.



The ambient and extremely innovative advert above is another example of interactive advertising. Despite the low probability of anyone actually attempting to smash the glass, it still conveys the same message. (The glass is so strong, there is no risk taken by putting all that money within it).

The Gaze in advertising

Intra-diegetic
The intra-diegetic gaze is used to create a communication within the advert, showing each character in a 'gaze' with one another. For example, if a romantic scene was required they would not have the models looking into the camera. A combination of their body language, and the fact that they are not gazing at us through the camera, results in the desired 'mood'.




Extra-diegetic
The extra-diegetic gaze is one of the most predominantly used techniques in advertising. With the characters eyes looking directly into the camera (and therefore into your eyes) they can convey a much more personal message. It is used, mainly, in the aftershave and perfume industry as well as in charity promotions.

The Panopticon

1. What is the major effect of the Panopticon?

"To induce… a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power."

The major effect of the panopticon is to create a sense of constant and conscious visibility upon the inmate. This will, in turn, solidify the automatic functioning of power. The arrangement within a panopticon creates a persistent surveillance system, which then deems the actual exercise of power unnecessary.

2. How does the architecture [institution] create and sustain a power relation independent of the person who exercises it?

"The ‘prisoner’ knows himself to be observed…"

Bentham believed that power should be visible and unverifiable. The inmate will have a constant reminder of his position thanks to the tall outline of the tower before his eyes, the tower from which he is spied upon. Doors are nothing but zig-zag openings so to remove any incoming light or sound. This means the presence of an unseen guardian is never removed from the inmates thoughts.

3. In what way is the Panoptican efficient?

“he who is subjected to a field of visibility … assumes responsibility for the constraints of power … he becomes the principle of his own subjection”.

The panopticon system is efficient thanks to the fictitious relation causing a real subjection. It removes the need to use force when taming an inmate. All the inefficiencies that come with such a requirement, such as bars and chains, are replaced with the strategic placement of separations and openings. The fortress-like architecture of older lawful 'houses of security' is now a simple, economic geometry of a 'house of certainty'. 

4. How does the Panopticism do the work of a naturalist (scientist)?

“It makes possible to observe performances … to map aptitudes, to assess characters, to draw up rigorous classifications …compare the time he takes to perform a task … to calculate their wages”.

The panopticon allows naturalists to observe multiple participants or patients without contaminating results with the possibility of imitation, contagion and many more unwanted variables. It means workers can be monitored individually in order to check productivity or calculate wages. It is also, the perfect environment to assess characters and gives the opportunity to draw up rigorous classifications.

5. In what ways was the Panopticon a laboratory?

“It could be used as a machine to carry out experiments, to … train or correct individuals… to try out pedagogical experiments”.

Not only is the panopticon an ideal observatory, but also a laboratory. It could be used to alter behaviour, train people and even correct individuals. Manipulation and increased validity makes it the perfect arena to try out new medicines, to test different punishments and find the most effective ones.

6. List the conditions in which Panopticism strengthens power?

“It can be exercised continuously in the very foundations of society, in the subtlest possible way”. 

The panopticon will only succeed in its goal of strengthening power if it can assure these two things. It must be able to be exercised, subtly and continuously within the core of society. It must also have the ability to function outside these discontinuous forms that are bound up with the exercise of sovereignty, despite their immediateness and violence. 

7. According to Julius (1831) how is the panoptic principle particularly useful in a society made of private individuals and the state?

“The ever growing influence of the state, to its ever more profound intervention”.

Julius believed that the panopticon was not merely a piece of architectural innovation, but a revelation in the history of the human mind. He states that it is the emergence of a whole new society, one in which allows a multitude of men to spectate and inspect a small number of objects. This becomes useful in a society that is split between the individual and the state. This is thanks to the regulation of relations in a form that is the reverse of the spectacle. The panopticon effect allowed the state to observe a great multitude of men at the same time. 

8. Also according to Julius, rather than suppress the individual, what effect does the panoptic principle have? 

‘The individual is carefully fabricated’.

Despite the ever growing influence of the state, Julius states that the panoptic principle integrates the individual into our social order. He believes that the individual is, in fact, carefully fabricated in it, according to a whole technique of forces and bodies.