critical_engagement_loki pdf.pdf

7/27/2019 critical_engagement_loki pdf.pdf

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CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT:Graphic Design Culpability and Responsibility

by

kevin yuen kit Lo


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To all my family and friends.


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THE WAR IS OVER.


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1

IT IS TIME TO BEGIN AGAIN.

Any progressive cultural critique must address the implicit relationships

between the means of mass communication and the political, economic

and social constructs which drive them.Though these connections are

often difficult to make, for a wide variety of reasons, not least among them

that they are often intentionally obscured, there is no denying that our

communications environment at large is becoming saturated, supported

and directed by advertising and marketing interests. It is estimated that

the average American adult is exposed to over ten thousand advertisementsper day.The growth of global advertising spending outpaces the growth of

the world economy by thirty-three percent.1 As the public sphere recedes

under this commercial pressure,the danger of our means of communication

becoming completely relegated to the status of a commodity is becoming

readily apparent.The implications of this trend are dramatic and severe:

the more we are appealed to as consumers,the less we are appealed to

as citizens, or,as social historian Stuart Ewen states, advertising has become

the primary mode of public address.2 Yet advertising is rarely publicly

controlled,and as much as marketers may wish us to believe the opposite,

rarely does it serve public interest. It is by its very nature a medium of

manipulation and persuasion, of opinion-making and consolidation, and as

such its place within a democratic society is, at the very best, questionable.

Though there has been a wealth of public criticism on the ethics of

advertising, these critiques have had only a remedial effect on the industry

since the consumer movements of the 1930s.Within the predominantly

academic spheres of political science, cultural studies and philosophy, there

is abundant critical discourse on the broader subject of the image culture

which advertising feeds. Progressive political movements have also begun

to challenge the ubiquity of commercial imagery and its relationship to

the construction of an economic hegemony.Though the breadth of these

criticisms will not be addressed at this point, it is important to note that

what is often only addressed abstractly (if at all) is the very system of

representation that gives these images form. Graphic design is implicitly

involved as a mediator at every point within the communication processes

- Milton Glaser


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of contemporary society; it is the language through which we understand

our environment and as such it bears an enormous social role and

responsibility.

This notion of social responsibility has played a central role in design

education.The modernist movement,characterised by the Bauhaus,

sought to contribute to the development of a society in which creativity

would be fostered,and in which human needs would motivate the forces

of production.3 Similarly, the late Tibor Kalman nostalgically yet aptly

summarises:

In its enthusiastic youth,design was invested with vision.Awestruck by

futurism,swept by currents of modernity,design, it was claimed,could

communicate new ideas about society, light the way to new and democratic

ways of seeing.4

These lofty ideals have essentially gone unrealised.With the consolidation

of our current advanced capitalist economic system,graphic design has for

the most part become entrenched as a tool of marketing.Yet advertising

has always been a patron of the graphic arts.Though the elitist prejudices

of many designers have defiantly attempted to separate the two, their

histories are deeply intertwined. Steven Heller clearly demonstrates this

in his articleAdvertising: Mother of Graphic Design :

As the modern movements sought to redefine the place of art and the role

of the artist in society, advertising was seen not only as a medium ripe for

reform,but also as a platform on which the graphic symbols of reform could

be paraded along with the product being sold.5

Though the advertising platform has far from yielded the utopian fruits of

modernist ideology,the intimate relationship suggested by Hellers article

is of crucial importance.The exponential growth of the advertising industry

has brought to life and even celebrity the profession of graphic design.

Ignoring the role of advertising in design theory and criticism implies that

consumerism and marketing have no bearing on the art of graphic design.6

This theoretical separation is both misleading and dangerous.Any

criticism of advertising must intrinsically be levelled against graphic

design as well.

Within the design community,i t can be said that this criticism formally

began with Ken Garlands First Things First manifesto, published in 1964.The

manifesto challenged graphic designers to move away from the increasingly

lucrative field of advertising, and argued that its messages had becomesheer noise that contributed little or nothing to our national prosperity.

Garland believed that there were projects far more deserving and in need

of designers skills and proposed a reversal of priorities in favour of the

more useful and lasting forms of communication.7 Issued during a time

when graphic design was coming into its own as a genuine professional

activity, when consumer culture was rapidly gaining momentum,the

manifesto was both poignantly received and critically dismissed. Much of

this criticism lay in its supposed naivety, yet clearly Garlands foresight into

the direction of graphic designs development was entirely accurate.His

naivety lay in his bel ief that a saturation point in advertising had, or

indeed could, ever be reached.

In 1999 the manifesto was re-issued with a definitively more urgent

tone in the midst of a growing socio-political movement against corporate

globalisation.The new manifesto,which was initially published in the major

design related journalsAdbusters, theAIGA Journal, Eye, Emigre, Items and

Form, demonstrated that the dominance of commercial culture over

design was still at the forefront of many graphic designers thoughts as

well.As the debate around First Things First 2000 continues, there is a

growing recognition that graphic design plays a key role in the larger

social conflicts that are becoming characterised by clouds of tear gas and

black-clad protesters. However, it is undoubtedly presumptuous to say

that this recognition is universal or that the nature and positioning of

graphic designs role in these conflicts is even close to agreed upon by its

practitioners.The updated manifesto received an onslaught of criticism

very much in line with its predecessor. It was again dismissed forits naivety,

elitism, simplicity and hypocrisy.


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Nonetheless, the manifesto has, at an incredibly crucial time, sparked

a wealth of critical debate within the field of graphic design.As design

critic Rick Poynor notes:

In fifteen years as a design writer, I have never observed anything in the

design press to compare with the scale, intensity and duration of

international reaction to First Things First.8

Poynor, who has played a leading role in design writing, provides an in-

depth response both to the manifesto itself and its detractors critiques

in his article First Things Next. In challenging the multitude of critiques,

from the supposed hypocrisy of its signatories (who have all worked in

the commercial sphere) to the assumption that design is and should be a

neutral, value-free process, Poynor reveals that although many designers

understood the manifesto enough to make them feel uneasy about the

social positioning of their profession, they fundamentally missed its point.

The key argument ofFirst Things First is that there is anincreasingly

desperate need to preserve a space for other forms of thinking, other

shades of feeling and other ways of being in the world9.Addressing this

need requires a radical shift in thinking on design, and it is perhaps this

radicalism that has unnerved the design community so much.Poynor

concludes that:

Determining the new kind of meaning is a huge collective project beyond

the scope of a brief manifesto and a creative task in which all those who can

imagine other possibilities are free to participate. 10

However,this poetic conclusion seems merely to echo the conclusion of

Poynors First Things First article, published two years earlier inAdbusters

magazine:

Even now,at this late hour in a culture of rampant commodification it is

possible for visual communicators to discover alternative ways of operating

in design.11

FIRST THINGS FIRST MANIFESTOWE,THE UNDERSIGNED,are graphic designers, art directors and visual

communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and

apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most

lucrative,effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and

mentors promote this belief;the market rewards it; a tide of books and

publications reinforces it.

Encouraged in this direction,designers then apply their skill and i magination to

sell dog biscuits, designer coffee,diamonds, detergents,hair gel, cigarettes,credit cards,sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational

vehicles.Commercial work has always paid the bills,but many graphic designers

have now let it become,in large measure,what graphic designers do.This, in

turn, is how the world perceives design.The profession's time and energy is

used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best.

Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design.

Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and

brand development are supporting,and implicitly endorsing, a mental

environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very

way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact.To some extent

we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public

discourse.

There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills.Unprecedented

environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention.Many cultural

interventions,social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions,

educational tools, television pro-grams, films, charitable causes and other

information design projects urgently require our expertise and help.

We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and

democratic forms of communication - a mindshift away from product marketing

and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning.The scope

of debate is shrinking; it must expand.Consumerism is running uncontested; it

must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual

languages and resources of design.

In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put

to worthwhile use.With the explosive growth of global commercial culture,

their message has only grown more urgent.Today, we renew their manifesto in

expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart.

Jonathan Barnbrook

Nick Bell

Andrew Blauvelt

Hans Bockting

Irma Boom

Sheila Levrant de

Bretteville

Max Bruinsma

Sin CookLinda van Deursen

Chris Dixon

William Drenttel

Gert Dumbar

Simon Esterson

Vince Frost

Ken Garland

Milton Glaser

Jessica Helfand

Steven Heller

Andrew Howard

Tibor Kalman

Jeffery Keedy

Zuzana Licko

Ellen Lupton

Katherine McCoy

Armand Mevis

J.Abbott Miller

Rick Poynor

Lucienne Roberts

Erik Spiekermann

Jan van Toorn

Teal Triggs

Rudy VanderLans

Bob Wilkinson


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has been driven by marketing culture, its visual language has been largely

reduced to one of stylisation and the creation of desire.An understanding

of the complexity of the communications process drawn from a multi-

disciplinary analysis of cultural discourse needs to be synthesised into

design thinking. In order to enact the necessary radical changes within the

profession,these issues must be addressed simultaneously.

This essay will attempt to take up this challenge by engaging in a broad-ranging critique of commercial communications culture with the specific

goal of identifying and analysing dominant themes that support and direct

the creation and dissemination of messages into the public sphere. In All

Consuming Images, Stuart Ewen proposes that the only requirements for

an images appropriation into the style-market are its disembodiment or

separation from its source, its capacity to be economically reproduced

and its ability to be marketed and sold.13 These requirements will be taken

as a point of departure,and explored and expanded upon within a broader

thematic framework in order to determine the contextual processes by

which experience is transformed into commodity.

The firsttheme to be identifiedis thatofseparation .As graphic

design is a practice primarily engaged in the act of selection and

representation,the theme of separation is an implicit starting point.Any

form of representation intrinsically separates meaning from its context.

The vast amount of critical theory surrounding this aspect of representation

has only begun to be introduced in graphic design writing.Closely related

to the theme of separation is the theme ofreductionism.A component

of modernist theory, the simplification of form presents an ideal model for

communications. However, seen from a contemporary critical vantage

point, its communicative limitations become apparent.Aditionally,

reductionist strategies allow for the exact repeatability of sign systems

and the development of a truly hegemonic mass media with all its inherent

effects.The final stage of commodification occurs with the theme of

idealisation and the creation of desire.Desire is what drives the image

economy and its effects are all encompassing. It is at this point that any

argument of efficient communication ends and the dictates of the market

In the face of such complex issues, Poynors optimism is encouraging, yet

remains rather vague and insubstantial. Just as many detractors ofFirst

Things First were critical of its call for a new kind of meaning, Poynors

response ofa huge collective project does little to provide any further

constructive direction. In the final article of his compilation Obey The Giant,

entitled Future Imperfect, Poynor concludes:

Designers who allow space for the peculiar, the wayward,the imperfect and,sometimes,the just plain wrong - set in motion a process and create the

conditions for the viewer to have truly unexpected encounters with design

that are one of its keenest, most human pleasures and a large part of its

point.12

Though insightful,this hardly seems a fitting statement to end on for a

compilation that sets out to address critically and challenge implicitly

The Giant of commercial design.This is not meant to dismiss Poynors

undeniably valuable contributions to design criticism, however it is

representative of the professions reluctance to engage genuinely with

the socio-political issues that surround it. It should not be denied that

many notable designers have taken critical positions on these issues, yet

the general ambivalence within practice is disheartening.

If graphic designers actually want to move design into a more progressive

social positioning they must confront this fear of radical change.The

proposition is this: graphic design can and must work to establish itself in

a more fundamental manner outside of the commercial sphere,thereby

creating greater opportunities to act as an important medium for social

reflection,commentary and dialogue. This requires an engagement with a

multiplicity of issues.Addressing the structural factors that influence design

production is obviously of utmost concern. Understanding who actually

benefits from a work and how that work is received within the public

sphere must lead to a more selective choice of clients.Of equal importance

is a re-evaluation of its formal language. Due to how directly graphic design


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economy on a message become resolutely clear.The influences of these

themes dominate both the external and internal relationships of a work

of graphic design. Understanding these themes and the development of

strategies to challenge them is the goal of this essay.

NOTES

1. Notes from a lecture by David Berman,How Logo Can We Go?Presented at the Declarations of [Inter]dependence and the Im[media]cy of

Design symposium,Concordia University,Montral, October 26, 2001.

2. Stuart Ewen in The Public Mind:Consuming Images, Bill Moyers,PBS,

1989.

3 . Stuart Ewen,All Consuming Images:The Politics of Style in Contemporary

Culture (New York: Basic Books,1988), 140.

4. Tibor Kalman and Karrie Jacobs.Were Here to be Bad, in Print

Magazine (Jan./Feb.1990)

5. Steven Heller, "Advertising:Mother of Graphic Design," in Looking

Closer, ed. Michael Bierut,William Drenttel,Steven Heller and DK Holland

(New York:Allworth Press, 1997),113.

6. Ibid. 1 15.

7. Ken Garland,"First Things First," published in Design, theArchitects'

Journal, the SIA Journal,Ark,Modern Publicity, The Guardian,April 1964.

8. Rick Poynor, "First Things Next," in Obey The Giant: Life in the Image

World(London:August Media,2001) 141.

9. Ibid. 1 48.

10. Rick Poynor, "First Things Next," in Obey The Giant: Life in the Image


11. Ibid.140.

12. Rick Poynor, "Future Imperfect," in Obey The Giant: Life in the Image


13. Stuart Ewen,All Consuming Images:The Politics of Style in Contemporary

Culture (New York: Basic Books, 1988) 247.

A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the

language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection

- not an invitation for hypnosis.

- Umberto Eco


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Critical theories of language and literature

have come to play an increasingly prominent role

in design theory. Primers in semiotic theory are

now commonplace in design education and the

writings of authors such as Roland Barthes and

Ferdinand de Saussure have found their way into

design reading lists.However,within this context,

Barthes generous contribution to cultural theoryis generally understood through a purely formalist

lens; its application is derived from the poetics of

his criticism and detached from its original Marxist

analysis. In such a way,graphic designers speak of

being visual communicators within an image culture,

without understanding the critical debates around

the subject matter. In his seminal work,Mythologies,

Barthes presents the concept of Myth through

numerous texts investigating the meaning of

various manifestations of mass culture.Essential ly,

Barthes Myth can be understood as a mode of

signification based on the appropriation and

transformation of existing signs.His analysis of it

is in no way politically neutral, and through a

thorough semiological critique, he demonstrates

Myths nature of distorting and impoverishing

meaning, in normalising and actively de-politicising

speech.14

The language of Myth is very much inclusive

of and parallel to the language of graphic design.

Barthes insights into the nature of appropriation,

representation, communication and understanding

are crucial to the theoretical grounding of graphic

design practice.Yet, as designer Jeffery Keedy

states, It was the poetic aspect of Roland Barthes

which attracted me, not the Marxist analysis.15

SEPARATION


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By separating Barthes work from the political context in which it was

derived, designers have in fact mythologised it in turn, further contributing

to what Barthes determinedly sought to challenge.

Another seminal text dealing with representation and more specifically its

relationship to capital, cultural imperialism and the mediation of social

relations is Guy Debords Society of the Spectacle.Though the theoretical,

aphoristic and highly critical nature of Debord s text may prevent itsappropriation into graphic design theory as it exists now,his concept of

The Spectacle, complementary to Barthes Myth,is invaluable to an

informed understanding of the context within which graphic design exists.

Additionally,The Society of the Spectacle acted as a revolutionary handbook

for the student and labour insurrections of May 1968 in Paris, which had

repercussions throughout the world.The ability to engage with theory,

bringing it into practice, is an example of the praxis-based approach that

graphic design will have to take in order to reposition its role.

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail all of life

presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that

was directly lived has moved away into a representation. 16

The opening thesis from Debords text introduces the fundamental nature

of the image culture that is so often casually spoken of. It describes a

cultural phenomenon that has forsaken genuine experience for vicarious

representation through images. Furthermore, these images,detached from

reality, have taken on an autonomous nature that no longer even represents

reality, but replaces it within its artifice.

It is important to recognise that, as Debord states,the spectacle is

not a collection of images, but a social relation among people,mediated by

images.17 Through the initial act of separating images and ideas from their

contextual relationships, graphic design creates the condition for their

autonomous social movement.When directed through the logic of the

market, these images and ideas collectively achieve ubiquity within the

social sphere.This ubiquity in turn provides the condition for the domination

of the Spectacle over all aspects of social life.The separated nature at the

root of the spectacle is reflected in its multiplicity of effects: the growing

sense of social and self-alienation, the resulting political apathy,the systemic

control of production and consumption and the organisation of time and

space.Within all of its complexity,the spectacle is essentially the autocratic

reign of the market economy which had acceded to an irresponsible

sovereignty,and the totality of new techniques of government which

accompanied this reign.18

Taken in its entirety, Debords stinging critique of capitalism,even withits emphasis on the power of image, can seem to lose its direct relevance

to graphic design.What it does provoke however,is a recognition of the

mediated environment that graphic design participates in constructing and

is constructed within.Visual culture cannot be referred to casually; it must

be investigated critically.The dramatic separation between the beautifully

rendered surfaces presented through the mass media and the crumbling

surfaces of social reality reveals the urgency with which graphic designers

need to address the critique of the spectacle.

In order to understand the practical development of the spectacle and its

relationship to separation, an historical analysis is necessary.As a Marxist

critique, the discourse on the spectacle represents the manifestation of

social relationships under an advanced capitalist society and thus finds its

roots in the industrialisation of society and its systems of mass production.

Much of Debords text relates to a persons alienation from their

production and the resulting externalisation of the economy:

The spectacle within society corresponds to a concrete manufacture of

alienation. Economic expansion is mainly the expansion of this specific

industrial production.19

Another key component of Debords text is the principle of commodity

fetishism, the domination of society by intangible as well as tangible

things,20 whereby the perceived value of an object has superseded its

reality and its exchange value replaces its use value.


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By drawing the relationship between these factors, the creation of the

markets upon which mass production is dependent becomes the locus from

which to begin the historical analysis of the spectacle.Along with the many

radical social changes that occurred during this period,the change in

popular representations of style is of primary interest. Stuart Ewen,who

provides an exemplary and exhaustive critique ofstyle inAll Consuming

Images, writes:

The impact of industrialism on the character and scale of the style marketwas prodigious. Industries previously characterised by the artisanal handcrafts,

and by relative scarcity of output, were now able to turn out enormous

quantities of goods.Elegantly worked surfaces, once the product of slow

and deliberate skill, were now the product of high-speed, less-skilled,

factory processes.21

The elaborate ornamentation of goods, previously exclusively available to

the elite,became accessible to the growing middle class.The standardisation

of the production process not only allowed for elaborate ornamentation

to be easily and universally applied,but also required it in order to

differentiate products that were essentially the same.With the technological

developments and refinement of chromolithography and photography, the

advertising and packaging of everyday goods became lavishly decorated

with alluring images.Superficially ornate goods were linked to broadly

disseminated images, creating an interwoven fabric of mass-produced style.22

The expanding markets that were developed by the rise of corporate

capitalism at the end of the 19th century and the growing desire by industry

to organise and control those markets can be identified as the birthplace

of modern advertising.Prior to the 1880s, the great bulk of products were

sold without extensive advertising,which was reserved for fringe products

and novelties.23 The fundamental changes in the economic organisation of

industry necessitated the application of advertising to everyday goods in

order to stimulate and maintain the newly developed mass markets.

The growing accessibility to this style-driven market is often seen as a

democratisation of elite culture. On a symbolic level, this may well be true,

but the growing choice of consumer goods and their affiliated images was

simply that, the choice between which products to consume.The elite in

power, the owners of the means of production, remained in power largely

due to the economic contributions of a populace longing to be sated by

the illusionary trappings of that power.


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In addition to the ornamental imagery adorning products and their

advertisements, the mass market of goods gave rise to a plethora of

new marketing techniques.The development of modern advertisings

psychological component can be traced back to a necessity created by

the rise of large enterprise and the emergence of national and international

distribution markets. By the 1920s control over those markets was becoming

increasingly specialised and, encouraged by the new sciences of motivational

psychology, extended to the salesperson at the end of the distribution

chain.Vast amounts of business literature, such as Dale Carnegies How toWin Friends and Influence People, were directed at technically refining the

process ofhuman relations.24 Control over and appropriately framed

presentation of emotions was of key importance.Through the

objectification, standardisation, and commercial application of human

emotions, a dramatic separation in the notion of selfhood begins to take

effect. Personal characteristics, drawn from the reservoir of human

experience, were becoming the techniques of false personality.25 More

dramatically, however, the sheer scale of distribution markets dictated that,

as salespeople could not be consistently directed by centralised control,

products themselves began to acquire the characteristics of these

disembodied emotions.The separation of people from their emotions

was refocused towards the products they consumed.As we near

Debords Spectacle,the more [a persons] life is now his [sic] product,

the more he [sic] is separated from his [sic] life.26

Significantly, the rapid expansion of advertising did not go uncontested.

The 1930s saw increasing resistance from a variety of consumer movements

that were critical of the advertising industrys use of emotional appeal,

false testimonials,scientific jargon and sexual imagery to sell products.

The shift from actual product information to emotive and manipulative

statements and images was seen as an outright attack on consumers

rights.27 The Tugwell bill, named after the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture

Rexford G.Tugwell, a reputed defender of consumers rights,was introduced

into Senate in 1933 and called for an end to the false advertising of any

food, drug, or cosmetic.The advertising industry reacted vehemently to


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this bill and used the full weight of its new economic and political positioning

to contest it.This crisis for the advertising industry brought to life a

closely associated field, that of public relations.The goal of public relations

was to move public opinion to a more favourable direction towards the

industry and to lobby lawmakers and regulators,a model that is used to

this day.Through the development of business-backed consumer groups,

sponsorship of education,manipulation of dependent media industries and

the creation of political and business partnerships, the public relations

industry managed to provoke the rewriting of the Tugwell Billinto theWheeler-Lea amendment in 1938,which was a considerably more lenient

bill.Whereas the original bill defined the use of ambiguity and inference as

false advertising, the amendment redefined falsehood explicitly and put

the burden of proof on the government.The ironic yet significant effect of

this policy was an immediate shift from the use of verbal claims in an

advertisement, which could be easily proved false, to the use of all manners

of suggestive imagery. 28 A bill that initially set out to curb the manipulative

nature of advertising had in fact opened the door for its consolidation

through the realm of the autonomous image.

In part as a result of this key legislation, the domination of image over

reality has come to pass and contemporary graphic design, for the most

part ignorant of its controversial history,plays no small part in determiningthe social consequences of this dominion.Cri ticism of ambiguity and

inference in advertising today is routinely dismissed.Yet,when exploited

to the extreme,the fundamental problem of the separation of image from

product reveals itself.

Within contemporary design history, Oliviero Toscanis social marketing

campaigns for the clothing company Benetton have received an enormous

amount of coverage,both critical and celebratory,for pushing the boundaries

of the role of images in advertising.The beautifully shot and composed

photographs of a new born baby girl, a dying AIDS patient and his mourning

family, a dead soldiers blood-stained clothes, and portraits of inmates on

death row have nothing to do with the clothing being sold or the company

selling them.This separation is further expressed formally in the

advertisements with the careful compositional use of surrounding white

space and full-bleed cropping to disassociate any notion of their original

context.The carefully placed brand mark is the only remaining association

made available for the viewer.Toscani makes no qualms about this

decontextualisation and in fact advocates it as a way of engaging with the

public. Seeing the controversy that his campaigns have sparked, it is hard

to dismiss his supposed consciousness-raising intentions outright.

However at the root of the controversy are not the issues presented in

the advertisements, but the appropriateness of their presentation in acommercial medium to begin with. Whatever Toscanis intentions, the

outcome is that social criticism is appropriated in the struggle for brand

identification.29


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It has been argued that given the success of the Benetton campaign,

it may serve as a model to elevate the role of advertising, as a provider

for important and accessible social communication30.Though the ideological

impetus for this line of argument may seem noble, the reality of it is far

less promising. Editorial compromises due to advertising interests are

already commonplace. Further blurring the line between the two will

make culture itself appear to exist at their [brands] behest.31 Moreover,

the impact of Benettons model can already be observed. Benettons

success was not in promoting social causes but in strategically and whole-heartedly disassociating a brand from its product.This strategy has now

become the norm, allowing advertisers to appropriate any subject matter

for its purposes, including its own criticism.

Diesel, an Italian fashion company, has also taken this ironic approach

to advertising since its inception in 1978. Juxtaposing typical sexual imagery

with absurd thematic concepts (such as their For Successful Living

campaign) they have carved a global niche for their brand.The campaigns

were cynical and stylish, but rarely reached the level ofdepth of the

Benetton campaigns.Yet in 1998, Diesel launched a series of ads which

should have drawn intense criticism had it not been for Toscanis ice-

breaking strategies.Supposedly set in North Korea, the series depicted

drab scenes of poverty (read communist) juxtaposed by the inclusion of a

stereotypical piece of western advertising depicting young, beautiful Diesel

models selling a fake brand entitled Lucky. A commentary is made,but itis not we are concerned about the detrimental effects of the globalised

economy, but rather we dont care about those effects and neither should

you. Diesel continues to expand its markets, and the evolution of its

marketing strategy continues to emphasise this message of absurd

detachment.Its most recent Happy Valley campaign directly integrates the

criticism of advertising and over consumption into a grotesque series of

advertisements each themed around the commodification of a particular

emotion.The hypocrisy of such an approach is no longer even relevant, yet

the ridicule of vital social issues and their integration into the commodity

structure is a frightening characteristic of advertising s assault on the

public sphere.Sweaters

andJeans


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Along similar lines,Sprite has supposedly been making fun of

traditional advertising approaches since 1994, when its Obey Your Thirst

campaign began. Purporting to deconstruct the linking of product

consumption with happiness and success, recent television spots depict a

stereotypical advertising narrative which is interrupted by the drinking of

Sprite, causing reality to subvert the narrative through humour.The spots

conclude with a high impact display of their logo and tagline: Image Is

Nothing.Thirst Is Everything.Obey Your Thirst. Though less satirical (and

perhaps less offensive) than the Diesel campaigns, the Sprite campaignshypocrisy is exponentially increased when the scope of the analysis extends

to the companys ownership.Sprite is wholly owned and operated by the

company where Image Is Everything, the most powerful brand in the

world,Coca-Cola.

Coca-Colas ubiquitous cultural monopoly over the world is unquestionable;

Coke is the second most recognised word in the world following okay,

the Coca-Cola company is the creator of Santa Claus and can be seen as

the indisputable reflection of American popular culture. Coca-Cola has a

long history of ground breaking marketing strategies.It was the first

company to use women systematically in their advertising, produce

consistent point-of purchase promotional ephemera and aggressively

develop sponsoring partnerships.Coca-Cola has played a definitive role

in not only representing but also shaping American culture. Moreover, itsadvertising has always exploited an ambiguous emotional appeal, easily

universalised to foreign markets.32 This is exemplified by the much-acclaimed

1971 I Want to Buy the World a Coke television ad with the emphatic

chorus Id like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. Cokes early

adoption of a global marketing strategy has successfully positioned it as

one of the few truly global brands.

The realities of Coca-Colas global reach are far less ideal than the

picture painted by their advertising. In developing nations, Coca-Colas

branding dominates the physical landscape. In Tanzania, schools, hospitals,

and even orphanages are sponsored by Coca-Cola, which pays a small

amount (approximately fifteen US dollars a year) to brand signage with

Coca-Cola advertising. Road and street signs are uniformly branded as well.


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2524

The saturation of Cokes advertising is conjoined with the presence of their

product.During a time of drought and famine in Northern Kenya in 1999,

though staples such as food and water were unavailable, stores were

consistently stocked with Coke.As Don Knauss, President of Coca-Cola

in Southern Africa, states:Our competition is alternative sources of liquid

refreshment, including water... [and] other non-essential items competing

for consumer spending...33 The simple message of this ubiquitous presence

is that Coca-Cola is equated with all that is good; education, health, wealth

and happiness. Not having been socialised to deal with these types ofmessages, the population of Tanzania is taught to accept these associations.

In 2001, one million people died in Africa due to malaria.The price of a

can of Coke is equivalent to the price of the malaria pill.When asked

what to take when ill, many in Tanzania will commonly advise the use of

Coca-Cola,because it cures all illness .34 Malaria pills cannot compete with

the brand image of Coca-Cola.This is but one example of the false education

that the strategy of separating a brand from its context perpetuates. It is

also but one example of how, quite disturbingly,people are dying by design.

NOTES

14. See Roland Barthes,"Myth Today." InMythologies (New York: Hill and

Wang,1972).

15. Andrew Howard,"There is Such a Thing as Society," in Looking Closer 2,ed. Michael Beirut,William Drenttel, Steven Heller and DK Holland (New

York:Allworth Press,1997), 199.

16. Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (Detroit:Black & Red,1977),

aphorism 1.

17. Ibid.aphorism 3.

18. Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle , trans. Malcom

Imrie (Verso, London,1991), 2.


aphorism 31.

20. Ibid.aphorism 36.



22. Ibid.38.

23. Raymond Williams,"Advertising:The magic system," in Problems in

Materialism and Culture (London:Verso,1980), 177.



25. Ibid.


aphorism 33.

27. Inger L.Stole,"Advertising," in Culture Works: the Political Economy ofCulture, ed. Richard Maxwell (Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press,

2001),89-90.

28. Ibid.92-95.

29. Andrew Howard,"There is Such a Thing as Society," in Looking Closer 2,

ed. Michael Beirut,William Drenttel, Steven Heller and DK Holland (New


30. See "Commercial Art," in Eye Magazine 29,1998,26-35.

31. Rick Poynor, "Sentenced to Buy," in Obey The Giant: Life in the Image

World(London:August Media,2001), 62.

32. For a complete history of the Coca-Cola brand see Mark Pendergast,

For God,Countr y & Coca-Cola (New York: Basic Books, 1993).

33. Sven Lunsch, "Knauss to satisfy Cokes thirst for new markets," Business

Times, May 17 1998,electronic text available at

.34. From a lecture by David Berman, How Logo Can We Go?Presented at

the Declarations of [Inter]dependence and the Im[media]cy of Design

symposium, Concordia University, Montral, October 26, 2001.


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29

REDUCTIONISM

The history of separation cannot be fully

understood without addressing its complementary

principle of reductionism.Without the ability to

simplify,condense and repeat the images created

through separation, their control, manipulation

and dissemination would be impossible. Of all the

cultural movements appropriated into commercial

culture during the twentieth century, the EasternEuropean modernist movement of the twenties

has undoubtedly played the largest role in shaping

its form.

Founded in radical socialist ideologies,

characterised by the revolutionary work of

members of the Russian avant-garde, such as

El Lissitzky and Aleksandr Rodchenko, the

modernist aesthetic of bold, dynamic typography,

photo-montage and abstract symbolic devices

arranged within a rational grid represented a

universal,utopian and emancipatory engagement.

The revolutionary and progressive symbolism of

the new industrial technologies formed the basis

of a design philosophy centred on clarity,conciseness and precision. Ironically, these values

also held great weight within the expanding

corporate commercial sphere and, among other

factors, provided a touchstone between art and

commerce.Another key factor was the belief held

by many artists that participation within the

commercial sphere would provide the opportunity

to democratise art and communicate modernist

values.35 This approach saw artists simultaneously

advocating anti-capitalist politics while designing

for commerce. Nevertheless,the revolutionary

ideological grounding of modernism remained


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3130

strong, and during the 1920sthe choice between commerce and social

revolution... was the significant intellectual dilemma facing many modernist

graphic designers.36

While many designers struggled to reconcile this contradiction,the

commercial viability of its visual impact was undeniable and its expanding

exposure through the mass media reified the modernist project as a

modernist style, simultaneously consolidating its formal aesthetic while

diluting its ideology.I n Germany, which had become the meeting-ground

for many important modernist theorists and practitioners, the rise topower of the Nazis in 1933 had a dramatic effect on the development of

modernist culture.Vilified by the Nazis for promoting internationalist and

socialist ideals, the Nazi regime caused an exodus of modern designers to

Western Europe and North America.While Europe became engulfed by

war, in America,where modernist languages of design had already been

assimilated by the mid 1930s,migr European designers received a warm

welcome. Distanced from the political turmoil of central Europe, many

designers took to working for commercial enterprises and soon became

integrated into corporate culture.The value of modernism, both as a

philosophy of rational organisation and an aesthetic cultural movement,

became a useful tool in the internal communications and external

promotions of corporations:

American industry [...] turned to designers to promote a strong corporateimage to various audiences, including their own employees,shareholders and

the public. [] Design was increasingly used in systematic fashion to unite

large conglomerates and to promote a coherent and vigorous public image.37

The growing focus on corporate identity and the culture of branding was

an important development for graphic design in America, elevating it to

the status of a respected profession, complete with its own literature,

research processes and awards ceremonies.Though the concept of

corporate identity and the use of symbols and logos had existed for quite

some time, the injection of modernist principles into these areas of

marketing changed them into the dominant modes of commercial

communication.To understand the significance of this change it is of

interest to examine the development and adoption by commerce of the

reduced forms of modernist iconography.

An ideal example of the modernist project of achieving universalism

through the scientific reduction of form was the development of Otto

Neuraths Isotype (International System of TYpographic Picture Education)

during the 1920s and 30s. A Viennese philosopher and social scientist,Neurath designed a collection of uniform graphic symbols to represent

people,places, objects and actions.Intended primarily for use in educational

materials, these symbols provided a visual perceptual system for the

presentation of social statistics.Through principles of reduction and

consistency, Neuraths symbol-signs brought together the mechanical

empiricism of photography with the rational structures of mathematics

and geometry38 in an attempt to create an objective and universal system

of communication.

Neuraths work has since been reified into the public sphere through

the application of the U.S.Department of Transportations standard symbol

set, designed under the guidance of the American Institute of Graphic Arts

in 1974.The D.O.T. system has been applied internationally to such a degree

that it has achieved a consistency of understanding that extends beyond

the boundaries of verbal language.The nigh universal application of thesesymbols is a testament to the effectiveness of Neuraths approach and the

power of pictographic communication. Perhaps more telling still is the

appropriation of this type of communication by the commercial sphere in

the form of corporate logotypes and brand marks.The ubiquitous presence

of these reduced signs within a commercially saturated communications

environment has dramatic effects on the process of understanding.As

Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller state in their ar ticle Critical Way Finding:

This diaphanous veil of commercial imagery is punctuated with a pattern of

hieroglyphics, signs that are neither image nor text but occupy a middle

ground between them. Such signs, whether generated in the name of private

commerce or public information, are attempts to anchor or regulate the


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33

ongoing barrage of pictures and products. Like digital rocks in an analog

stream, hieroglyphics guide the flow of communication by directing the

interpretation of events, the consumption of goods, or the navigation of

public spaces.39

Though these reduced signs, or hieroglyphics,have in some sense achieved

the modernist project of internationalisation, the supposed objectivity and

neutrality of their character masks numerous problems.The simplified

geometric forms of these signs, which contributes heavily to their semblance

of objectivity,encapsulate and represent vast amounts of cultural meaning.

And though conventionalised, these meanings are in no way objective

or neutral.

Within the D.O.T. system, the male and female figures are used to

represent lavatories for men and lavatories for women.The female figure

is distinguished by the fin-like extensions of a party dress, a loaded cultural

convention. Furthermore in every other sign save one, the male symbol is

used to represent people in general.The only other sign in which we see

the female symbol (more accurately,the womens lavatory symbol) is the

sign for ticket sales, where the woman serves the man. In this way the

D.O.T. system clearly represents more than objective information, it

represents cultural customs, value systems, and structures of power.40

The ability of these simple symbolic marks to represent the vastness

of human experience while maintaining the appearance of objectivity,andhence authority, through highly economical means, is at the root of their

stylistic appropriation by the commercial sphere.Through advertising,

powerful associations are created between a wide range of intangible

values and emotions and a corporations logo, which is then replicated ad

infinitum.Through their mass exposure,these logos become

conventionalised signifiers of a complex range of values and emotions.

The grafting of these signs onto experience is reinforced by the

reciprocal approach of using seemingly complex, realistic imagery to

represent conventionalised and generic ideas and emotions.Water droplets

on cans and bottles of beverages represent the notion of refreshment,

smooth, polished surfaces are equated with beauty,health, and progress,

SUVs tearing through the wilderness with freedom,fast food with family.


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34 35

By examining the primary sources of production and distribution of these

reductive forms of communication,a parallel can be drawn between the

formal execution of this language and the structural reduction occurring

through the wave of media mergers over the last two decades.The

liberalisation and deregulation of communication policies coupled with

the rampant growth of commercial advertising has created an oligopolistic

media market dominated by a handful of global corporations.This

consolidation is not only reflective of the dramatic concentration of

wealth and power characteristic of the global economy,but obviously plays

a dominant role in reinforcing it.Criticism of these media monopolies is

commonplace, focussing primarily on the homogenisation of cultural

material and the destruction of diversity that this entails. However,

undoubtedly a valuable and necessary critique, this approach falls short

when critical analysis of the media environment reveals that there remains

quite a diversity of information and entertainment, and that maintaining and

encouraging this diversity is of primary concern to many media owners.41

What becomes revealing is the type of diversity that is created and

allowed for.Though corporate media is surprisingly inclusive in representing

social problems such as racism and discrimination,the focus tends to be

on the individual, not the structural;the specific manifestations of suffering,

not the broad social conditions underlying them.42 Reducing and

concentrating social issues to representations of individual experience

inevitably compromises social understanding while simultaneously creatingstrong emotive connections with the audience.A s imilar approach is used

in the creation ofniche markets, which act as the representatives of

media diversity.

With the consolidation of the current media giants, there has been a

shift from the focus on producing mass cultural forms that appeal to the

majority to the development of more fragmented niche products.43

Media companies seek out the issues and ideas that are not dealt with by

their mainstream coverage and subsequently promote them within specific

markets.These products have clearly-defined cultural boundaries that

through their specificity generate greater audience interest and investment.

These conceptual associations become further reduced and applied formally

by graphic designers, where fast moving lines and angular abstract shapes

symbolise technology, jagged typography represents counter-culture,

Helvetica represents truth.

Coupled with the hieroglyphic language of logos, a complex yet reductive

and codified system of representation is promoted through advertising and

reinforced within numerous manifestations of popular culture. However,

beyond their role in consolidating this system of representation, logos play

an essential role in communicating brand ownership. Logos provide the

visual reference point connecting a brand to its property.Thus, an analysis

of ownership structures becomes essential to the contextual understanding

of strategies of reduction.


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Thi i i f i ll i h d b k d ( h l l ) G hi d i h i h


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3938

This intensity of interest allows niche products to be marketed to

consumers and sponsoring advertisers at a premium price.44 Additionally,

through control of both mass and niche markets, products can then be

strategically moved between the two,carr ying the intensity of a niche

product into the mainstream (an ideal example being the popularity of

Hip-hop music) or creating a niche market for a once mainstream product

(such as Star Trek).What becomes apparent is that the interest of media

companies is not so much to homogenise popular culture than to organise

and exploit diverse forms of creativity toward profitable ends.45

The relevance of these issues to graphic design returns to the forefront

when we examine the structures of control that are utilised to organise

the diverse and chaotic media environment. Intellectual property laws, a

central topic of design discourse,are what bind media brands and products

together through elaborate architectures of copyrighted texts, trademarks,

and licensing agreements.46 Based in romantic notions of sanctified

authorship,intellectual property laws have since developed into complex

systems of regulation and ownership.The lengthening of copyrights and

the extension of intellectual property laws into areas that were previously

regarded as public domain (the most dramatic example being human

genetic material) reflect a dramatic shift from the previously held assumption

that things in the public domain should stay that way unless a compellingcase could be made for privatisation,[to the assumption] that things should

be privatised unless a compelling case can be made not to.47 This becomes

representative of the extreme reduction of cultural ideas to the point of

returning to intangibility, yet an intangibility that is owned as property and

traded as a commodity.

Graphic designers, acting as mediators within an often appropriative

sphere,are asked to work within the limits defined by these property laws.

As corporate ownership extends to images and ideas that were once

publicly available, the reservoir from which graphic designers draw is

increasingly constricted and codified.Beyond the economic control provided

by intellectual property laws, corporations are increasingly using these

laws to silence criticism or even commentary that reference their

property (such as logos or slogans). Graphic designers who wish to engage

in social commentary, a function that is so well suited to their craft, are

constantly in danger of the repercussions of violating these laws.The

process of reduction controls and directs cultural production within the

public sphere contributing to its privatisation.Through complex structures,

cultural representations are simplified and tied to commercial ownership.

As democratic dialogue is constrained, the very notion of free speech is

called into question.

NOTES

35. David Crowley and Paul Jobling, Graphic Design:reproduction and

representation since 1800 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996),

150.

36. Ibid.146.

37. Ibid.159.

38. Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller,"Modern Hieroglyphs," in Design Writing

Research (London:Phaidon Press Ltd., 1999),41-43.

39. Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller, "Critical Way Finding," in Looking Closer

2, ed. Michael Beirut,William Drenttel,Steven Heller and DK Holland (New


40. Ibid.

41. Michael Curtin and Thomas Streeter, "media," In Culture Works: thePolitical Economy of Culture, ed. Richard Maxwell (Minneapolis:University of

Minnesota Press,2001), 226.

42. Ibid.227.

43. Ibid.231.

44. Ibid.232.

45. Ibid.231.

46. Ibid.234.

47. Ibid.235.


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LOGOS SERVE AS MASKS FOR CORPORATE CRIMINALS


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29/57

45

IDEALISATION

The processes of separation and reductionism that

have been explored thus far create the necessary

conditions for the commodification of the

communications environment by creating a value

system based in detached and reduced

signification. Idealisation, understood simply as the

attribution of unwarranted positive

characteristics to a product,message or concept

from the stylisation of surfaces to the projection

of false promisesexploits these conditions, gives

currency to this system and directs its movement.

Whereas the creation of desirable objects, imbuing

them with aesthetic and spiritual value, can be

said to be an integral part of human nature,the

manufacture of desire for its own sake is a

phenomenon that requires greater analysis.

The roots of this phenomenon can be located

at the beginning of the 1900s, with the development

of mass markets and the techniques of psychological

advertising described earlier.By the early 1900s

the most successful advertising agents were trying

not only to attract attention but aggressively shapeconsumers desires.48 In order to create desire,

above and beyond what was achieved through the

stylisation of goods and the application of

emotional characteristics to products and

packaging, advertisers, directly informed by the

realm of psychology,played upon what Jackson

Lears has termed the therapeutic ethos. Lears

describes this ethos as:

[a] reaction against the rationalionalization of

culturethe growing effort to exert systematic

control,over mans external environment and

Advertisers began to develop complex techniques of persuasion in

d ll h i d d i h i f h h b

ultimately over his inner life as well. [...] Many began to sense that their

f ili f b i d i d d h h h d b


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4746

order to sell their products, rooted in the creation of what has become

known as the American Dream: a mythic construct built upon idealised

notions of family, freedom,progress and success.Though its economic role

was invaluable, its effectiveness in mobilising a diverse populace during the

war is what consolidated its position within American society.

One example of this new role for the umbrella industry of American

public relations and marketing can be found in the MohawkValley Formula.

In a reaction to growing labour strikes in the late 1930s, public relations

industries developed this scientific method of strikebreaking, which

consisted of mobilising a community against strikers and union activists

rather than engaging police in direct violence against them,which was the

method used previously.52

The MohawkValley Formula basically consisted of entering a

community and flooding it with propaganda that presented an idealised

picture of the world, of hard working people and their possessions, of

harmonious familial life, and of a singularly unified community. Once the

community became accustomed to this constructed environment, the

strikers were positioned as dangerous threats to its harmonious ways of

life, and made into scapegoats for why peoples actual lives did not live up

to the construction.53

Though the techniques have become more sophisticated, the myth

diversified, and the channels of delivery vastly expanded,the formularemains the same.Advertising today, more so than ever, serves to

indoctrinate people with value systems that are both economically and

politically profitable to elite structures.This is not to suggest that all

commercial media are engaged in a mass conspiracy,but that by acting

under a guided market system54 they create an environment that

achieves these ends:

one out of six dollars in the whole economy is spent on marketing. Its an

extremely inefficient use of funds. Marketing doesnt produce anything,any

public good.But marketing is a form of manipulation and deceit.It s an effort

to create artificial wants, to control the way people look and think about

familiar sense of autonomy was being undermined, and that they had been

cut off from intense physical,emotional, or spiritual experience.The

therapeutic ethos promised to heal the wounds inflicted by rationalization,

to release the cramped energies of a fretful bourgeoisie.49

Advertisers reacted to this sense of detachment, providing a symbolic

universe filled with promises of physical beauty and emotional fulfilment

that proved to be extremely profitable. However,this universe was in

actuality rather limited in scope, grounded in the generic concept of self-

betterment.The growing sense of urban malaise allowed advertisers to

create a standardised platform from which to sell all manners of products.

This uniform approach of appealing to a generic psychological dissatisfaction

allowed for the expansion and unification of markets by ignoring the

specificity of individual consumers,their ethnic background,geographical

location and most importantly,their actual needs.The presence of idealised

advertising imagery and messages created an environment where the

dissatisfaction felt by many was transformed into needs felt by all.This

played an incredibly important role in the burgeoning American economy:

Psychological standardisationthat is, simply to use a way of life as the basis

of unification [] determines the extent of the American market. Mass

production requires mass consumption,but there cannot be mass consumptionwithout widespread identical views as to what the necessities of life are.50

Though life style advertising was effective in controlling economic markets,

it was the advent of the First World War that provided the catalyst for its

development into a new and totalising form of psychological propaganda:

it was in the war itself, when now not a market but a nation had to be

controlled and organized, yet in democratic conditions [...] that new kinds of

persuasion were developed and applied. [...] Alongside the traditional appeals

to patriotism lay [a] kind of entry into basic personal relationships and

anxieties.51

things.A lot of that marketing is straight propaganda,advertising. Most of it is

tax free which means the way our system works you pay for the privilege


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48

tax-free which means the way our system works, you pay for the privilege

of being propagandized, of having all this stuff dumped on you.55

The societal consequences of this are extreme. In America, this kind of

marketing propaganda generally operates at a continuous, yet low level of

intensity, socialising the public to accept and in turn idealise a certain way

of life.This way of life obviously allows for an ample amount of diversity

(as examined earlier) yet the structural foundations,concepts such as

freedom and self-betterment,remain the same.When necessary however,this propaganda can quickly build upon the value system created and

become a direct form of propaganda,mobilising the populace to action,

or inaction as the case may be.

The attacks of September 11th provide an ideal example.An onslaught

of advertising and public relations campaigns launched shortly after the

attack unilaterally supported war and helped to earn George W. Bush, a

president marginally elected under great controversy, an approval rating

of 92 percent.56 Filled withAmerican flags and heroic imagery, this

propaganda called for patriotic consumption and unwavering support for

a war-mongering government.Though it would be presumptuous to give

disproportionate credit to the campaigns themselves, commercial media

played an important role in consolidating public opinion.A population

bred upon the concept of freedom has been led to accept this conceptas the justification for a continual state of war,ofgood against evil.

This form of blatant propaganda requires little critical scrutiny in order

to be understood; it is designed with specific purposes,under specific

conditions and uses conventionalised strategies to achieve its goals.

However,the creation of the conditioned responses these strategies play

upon is a far more complex system of sociological propaganda, with far

more subtle expressions.This subtlety has much to do with the naturalisation

of the Mohawk Valley approach through advertising and is reflective of its

effectiveness.As Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller describe:

Advertisings impact emanates from its representations of the everyday, its

reiteration of stereotypes and relations of power. Much consumer advertising

portrays the apparent naturalness of social conditions,not exceptionally or

bombastically,but in the course of its daily business.These images are all the

general sense of despair and alienation is growing amongst youth in the

west, and, notably, they are the primary target market for the majority of


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5150

y, y g

more forceful because of their incidental and offhanded nature.57

Though Lupton and Miller are referring specifically to advertising, the

nature of sociological propaganda is such that it extends to the majority

of cultural products.Graphic design has largely internalised the assumption

of idealisation as part of its role, the value-added of making products

desirable.Yet inherently, this creation of desire plays into the system of

creating and consolidating values and behaviours,which are in turnreintegrated into the designers toolbox.This cyclical and cumulative process

of idealisation leads inevitably to the marginalisation of genuine social

experience and communication.As a form of systemic social control, this

is frightening, yet on an individual level, the psychological conditioning it

necessitates may be more frightening still.As Jacques Ellul argues:

A person subjected to propaganda does not remain intact or undamaged:

not only will his opinions and attitudes be modified, but also his impulses

and his mental and emotional structures. Propagandas effect is more than

external;it produces profound changes.58

An environment saturated with idealised images inevitably creates arti ficial

needs in people that cannot be materially satisfied.Though this is a

common critique, often trivialised for its generality and simplicity,its

reiteration is imperative.As the dislocation grows between the ideal and

the real, dissatisfaction translates into a myriad of forms, from loneliness,

apathy and alienation to the serious psychological disorders that are

growing at an epidemic rate.Though, quantifiable psychological studies

examining the relationship between mass media and psychological

illnesses are only beginning to surface, dramatic rises in the prevalence

rates of severe depression, especially amongst youth, are well

documented.59 Along with the rising rates of depression,a host of other

illnesses have been pathologised; anxiety disorders, eating disorders,

ADHD,etc., along with the drugs tocure them. In the US,suicide is now

the third leading cause of death among people 15 to 24 years of age.60 A

west, and, notably, they are the primary target market for the majority of

commercial media.

A prime example of this targeting is the development of the Channel

One network, a commercially produced television news program that is

broadcast in tens of thousands of American schools.In exchange for the

donation of equipment necessary to receive their broadcasts, schools

open educational institutions to commercial inundation.Coupled with the

abundance of magazines, television shows, and commercially sponsored

events that are specifically aimed at teenagers,Channel One has colonised

one of the last remaining commercially free spaces.Teenagers bear the

brunt of the onslaught of idealised images.At a formative stage of

development, they are indoctrinated to desire and to be desirable.

The creation of desire lies at the heart of consumer culture, the detrimental

effects of which are becoming increasingly severe.The diverse psychological,

environmental, political and social problems that our society faces are

intricately tied to the development of an unsustainable way of life.Yet not

only are these problems masked by the idealised representations of this

way of life, its advancement is the most vocal solution being proposed by

the officially sanctioned mass media. George W. Bushs rallying cry to shop

in the wake of September 11th

provides a recent example.The absurdityand irony of these tactics reveals what designer Andrew Howard stated in

1997: "the nature of the problem is not just consumption but the ordering

of our consciousness to become consumers in the first place."61 Driven

by economic and political motivations, the mediated environment is

laying waste to humanist concerns, cultivating a society of individuals

who are rapidly being stripped of the means to fight back.

To the extent that necessity is socially dreamed, the dream becomes

necessary.The spectacle is the nightmare of imprisoned modern society

which ultimately expresses nothing more than its desire to sleep.The

spectacle is the guardian of sleep.

NOTES

48. T.J. Jackson Lears,"Salvation to Self-realization," in The Culture of


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52

J J , , f

Consumption, eds. Richard Wightman Fox and T.J.Jackson Lears (New York:

Pantheon Books,1983), 18.

49. Ibid.17.

50. Jacques Ellul,Propaganda:The Formation of Mens Attitudes, trans. Konrad

Kellen and Jean Lerner (New York: Random House,1973), 68.

51. Raymond Williams,"Advertising:The magic system," in Problems in

Materialism and Culture (London:Verso ,1980), 179.

52. Noam Chomsky,"Propaganda and Control of the Public Mind," in

Capitalism and the Information Age:The Political Economy of the Global

Communication Revolution, eds. Robert W. McChesney, Ellen Meiskins Wood

and John Bellamy Foster (New York: Monthly Press Preview, 1998),183.

53. Ibid.184.

54. Noam Chomsky, "The Propaganda Model Revisited," in Capitalism and

the Information Age:The Political Economy of the Global Communication

Revolution, eds. Robert W. McChesney,Ellen Meiskins Wood and John Bellamy

Foster (New York: Monthly Press Preview, 1998),195.

55. Noam Chomsky,"Propaganda and Control of the Public Mind," in

Capitalism and the Information Age:The Political Economy of the Global

Communication Revolution, eds. Robert W. McChesney, Ellen Meiskins Wood

and John Bellamy Foster (New York: Monthly Press Preview, 1998),189.

56. Gallup Poll,Oct. 2001.57. Ellen Lupton and Abbott Miller,"Subliminal Seduction," in Design Writing

Research (London:Phaidon Press Ltd., 1999),141.

58. Jacques Ellul,Propaganda:The Formation of Mens Attitudes, trans. Konrad

Kellen and Jean Lerner (New York: Random House,1973), 161.

59. Peter M.Lewinsohn,"Age-cohort changes in the lifetime occurrence of

depression and other mental disorders," in theJournal of Abnormal Psychology,

102, 1993,110-120.

60. National Institute of Mental Health web site.Suicide Statistics available

at .

61. Andrew Howard,"There is Such a Thing as Society," in Looking Closer 2,

ed. Michael Beirut,William Drenttel, Steven Heller and DK Holland (New



aphorism 21.


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60

we dedicate tonights performance to quiet refusals

loud refusals and sad refusals

we dedicate it to the imminent market collapse

we dedicate it to carpenters

waitresses and drug addicts

we dedicate it to secretaries,a lcoholics and schizophrenics

we dedicate it to the boys kissing boys

girls kissing girls

girls kissing boys

and everything in between

we dedicate it to anxiety attacks,hangovers,worried d epression

and all the other necessary by-products of trying to live free

we dedicate it to any endeavour who's ultimate unreasonable goal is autonomy

self-determination or joy

we dedicate it to every prisoner in the world

- godspeed you black emperor -

royal festival hall,london, on april 3rd 2000


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PEOPLES COMMUNICATION CHARTERCommunication is basic to the life of all individuals and their communities.All people are entitled to participate in

communication, and in making decisions about communication within and between societies.The majority of the world's

peoples lack minimal technological resources for survival and communication. Over half of them have not yet made a single

telephone call. Commercialization of media and concentration of media ownership erode the public sphere and fail to provide

f l l d i f i d i l di h l li f i i d h di i f l l i d l

Article 9. Diversity of Languages All people have the right to a diversity of languages.This includes the right to express

themselves and have access to information in their own language, the right to use their own languages in educational institutions

funded by the state, and the right to have adequate provisions created for the use of minority languages where needed.

A i l 10 P i i i i li ki All l h h h bl d k b h


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for cultural and information needs, including the plurality of opinions and the diversity of cultural expressions and languages

necessary for democracy. Massive and pervasive media violence polarizes societies, exacerbates conflict,and cultivates fear and

mistrust, making people vulnerable and dependent. Stereotypical portrayals misrepresent all of us and stigmatize those who are

the most vulnerable.Therefore,we ratify this Charter defining communication rights and responsibilities to be observed in

democratic countries and in international law.

Article 1. Respect All people are entitled to be treated with respect, according to the basic human rights standards of dignity,

integrity,identity,and non- discrimination.

Article 2. Freedom All people have the right of access to communication channels independent of governmental or

commercial control.

Article 3.Access In order to exercise their rights, people should have fair and equitable access to local and global resources

and facilities for conventional and advanced channels of communication;to receive opinions, information and ideas in a

language they normally use and understand;to receive a range of cultural products designed for a wide variety of tastes and

interests;and to have easy access to facts about ownership of media and sources of information.Restrictions on access to

information should be permissible only for good and compelling reason, as when prescribed by international human rights

standards or necessary for the protection of a democratic society or the basic rights of others.

Article 4.Independence The realization of people's right to participate in, contribute to and benefit from t he development

of self-reliant communication structures requires international assistance to the development of independent media; training

programs for professional media workers; the establishment of independent, representative associations, syndicates or trade

unions of journalists and associations of editors and publishers; and the adoption of international standards.

Article 5. Literacy All people have the right to acquire information and skills necessary to participate fully in public

deliberation and communication.This requires facility in reading,writing, and storytelling; critical media awareness; computerliteracy; and education about the role of communication in society.

Article 6. Protection of journalistsJournalists must be accorded full protection of the law, including international

humanitarian law , especially in areas of armed conflict.They must have safe,unrestricted access to sources of information, and

must be able to seek remedy, when required,through an international body.

Article 7. Right of reply and redress All people have the right of reply and to demand penalties for damage from media

misinformation.Individuals concerned should have an opportunity to correct,without undue delay,statements relating to them

which they have a justified interest in having corrected.Such corrections should be given the same prominence as the original

expression.States should impose penalties for proven damage,or require corrections, where a court of law has determined that

an information provider has willfully disseminated inaccurate or misleading and damaging information, or has facilitated the

dissemination of such information.

Article 8.Cultural identity All people have the right to protect their cultural identity.This includes the respect for people's

pursuit of their cultural development and the right to free expression in languages they understand. People' s right to the

protection of their cultural space and heritage should not violate other human rights or provisions of this Charter.

Article 10. Participation in policy makingAll people have the right t o participate in public decision-making about the

provision of information;the development and utilization of knowledge; the preservation, protection and development of

culture;the choice and application of communication technologies;and the str ucture and policies of media industries.

Article 11. Children's RightsChildren have the right to mass media products that are designed to meet their needs and

interests and foster their healthy physical, mental and emotional development.They should be protected from harmful media

products and from commercial and other exploitation at home,in school and at places of play,work, or business. Nations

should take steps to produce and distribute widely high quality cultural and entertainment materials created for children in

their own languages.

Article 12. Cyberspace All people have a right to universal access to and equitable use of cyberspace.Their rights to free and

open communities in cyberspace,their freedom of electronic expression,and their freedom from electronic surveillance and

intrusion, should be protected.

Article 13. Privacy All people have the right to be protected from the publication of allegations irrelevant to the public

interest,or of private photographs or other private communication without authorization,or of personal information given or

received in confidence.Databases derived from personal or workplace communications or transactions should not be used for

unauthorized commercial or general surveillance purposes.However,nations should take care that the protection of privacy

does not unduly interfere with the freedom of expression or the administration of justice.

Article 14. Harm People have the right to demand that media actively counter incitement to hate,prejudice, violence,and

war.Violence should not be presented as normal, "manly",or entertaining, and true consequences of and alternatives to

violence should be shown. Other violations of human dignity and integrity to be avoided include stereotypic images that distort

the realities and complexities of people's lives. Media should not ridicule,stigmatize, or demonize people on the basis of

gender, race, class, ethnicity, language,sexual orientation, and physical or mental condition.

Article 15. Justice People have the right to demand that media respect standards of due process in the coverage of tr ials.This

implies that the media should not presume guilt before a verdict of guilt,invade the privacy of defendants, and should not

televise criminal trials in real time, while the trial is in progress.

Article 16.Consumption People have the right to useful and factual consumer information and to be protected against

misleading and distorted information.Media should avoid and, if necessary,expose promotion disguised as news and

entertainment (infomercials, product placement, children's programs that use franchised characters and toys,etc), and the

creation of wasteful, unnecessary, harmful or ecologically damaging needs, wants, products and activities.Advertising directed

at children should receive special scrutiny.

Article 17.Accountability People have the right to hold media accountable to the general public and their adherence to the

standards established in this Charter.For that purpose, media should establish mechanisms,including self- regulatory bodies,

that monitor and account for measures taken to achieve compliance.

Article 18.Implementation In consultation with the Signatories,national and international mechanisms will be organized to

publicize this Charter; to implement it in as many countries as possible and in international law; monitor and assess the

performance of countries and media in light of these Standards;receive complaints about violations; advise on adequateremedial measures;and to establish procedures for periodic review, development and modification of this Charter.

The purpose of the preceding thematic critiques

has been to demonstrate the economic and

political context within which the majority ofHOPE


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political context within which the majority of

graphic design operates.The critiques present a

small component of a much broader critique of

monopoly capitalism,corporate globalisation and

its growing hegemony.Whereas it would be

arrogant, not to mention impossible, to propose

a dogmatic solution to the complexity of issuesinvolved, especially through the lens of graphic

design, it would be equally recessive and defeatist

to not propose solutions at all.

Graphic design is a vast field, and the themes

of separation, reductionism and idealisation,though

integral to an understanding of context, are by no

means the definitive boundaries by which the

medium is set.This essay has been organised to

focus on them because they offer tangible points

from which graphic desig

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