Written by Emil Velling Christiansen
The use of social media has increased exponentially alongside the development of technology. Nowadays, both young and old have some sort of smartphone right at their fingertips. Due to this, social media is more accessible than ever. And since, a lot of our time and attention goes towards using social media companies are using these platforms to advertise their products. But what methods are clothing companies using to persuade the consumer to buy their clothing? How is modern advertising used on social media? Are we manipulated into buying certain clothing, or is it just inspiration? These are the questions this article will try and answer. Concepts of “format” and “cultural frame” will be used to analyze the questions. The concepts are from the book called “Social Communication in Advertising” by William Leiss.
Lifestyle advertising
In a span of around a century advertising has shifted from being very product focused to focusing on the context within the product is placed. It has moved from describing the products with words to showing the product in a certain setting that underlines the value and identity of the product (Falk, 1994, p. 156). This is due to the development of technology and so on, but also the way that modern consumer consumes. The latter of the two advertising methods is called “lifestyle” or “personification” advertising (Leiss et al., 2018 p. 305). Here is an example of this from my Instagram.
A famous Danish influencer Emilie Briting has had an advertising campaign with the Icelandic outdoor brand 66 North. Over a span of 2 days, she posted 5 collages of pictures from her sponsored trip to Iceland. The picture below is one of them. What is interesting here is the way that the jacket is put in a certain context to signify a certain type of lifestyle that you tap into by buying this jacket. The jacket becomes a symbol of outdoor lifestyle, being sporty, being able to travel and so on. In the 25 pictures or so that Emilie Briting has posted, merely half of them has the Logo of 66 North on them. But they do not need the logo to be on every picture as it is the context surrounding the product that connotates certain values and lifestyle to the product. Figure 1. Emilie Briting Instagram post, 6th of october,
Hidden advertising
Some companies applying this sort of mediation are doing it by hiding their advertising in the consumers social media feed. They do this so the user will not recognize as easily that they are exposed to advertising. Here is an example of this from my Pinterest feed. Pinterest is a mood board that you create by personalizing your feed with pictures that fit a certain aesthetic that you like. When liking certain types of pictures, the algorithm will display similar pictures and advertising.
Figure 2. Screenshot from private Pinterest feed
At first glimpse, you might not be able to spot the ad in the screenshot. It is made visible by the eBay logo but otherwise the picture fits very well into the general aesthetic of the mood board. This kind of advertising. This is a perfect example of the “hidden” advertising. It fits into the aesthetic and lifestyle that you are trying to create for yourself.
This way of advertising is an expression of the change that has happened throughout the years. Advertising has become “demassified” (Leiss et al., 2018 p. 305). Instead of pushing an ad out to a bigger audience, the modern way of doing ads makes the companies able to target each individual consumer very precisely. Either if it is by sponsoring a famous person that likely is very similar to the person’s audience or if it is by hiding ads in mood boards on Pinterest.
Manipulation or inspiration?
The question of whether this form of advertising is inspiration or manipulation is hard to answer. When you look at the sponsored posts from Emilie Briting you could argue that there may be parts of manipulation to it. I would say that 66 North is exploiting the universal need for affirmation and belonging to a group, especially in the teenage and youth years. To look like, be like Emilie Briting, and have the same lifestyle as this very influential person you “have” to buy this jacket. The positive connotations and values that define Emilie Briting and the jacket could be argued to manipulate teenagers and young people to buy this jacket in order to fit in and be part of that lifestyle.
The other example from Pinterest can be said to manipulate as well. By creating your mood board, you and the algorithm of Pinterest try to express a lifestyle or culture that you see yourself as being a part of or are put in by the machine. The advertising from eBay lets you manifest this into real life and fulfill your self-realization.
Bibliography
Falk, P. (1994). On the Genealogy of Modern Advertising. In The Consuming Body. Sage.
Leiss, W., Kline, S., Jhally, S., Botterill, J., & Asquith, K. (2018). The Structure of Advertisements. In Social Communication in Advertising, 4th edn. Routledge.