DSDN171 Blog Assignment 9 (Week 12)

What kinds of political or ideological messages inform design or the branding of design today? Identify one example and describe in what ways it expresses larger cultural, political, or ideological beliefs.

It was during the Cold War, fought peacefully between the Capitalist USA and the Communist Europe, that the ‘Kitchen Debate’ arose. The USA was all about ‘the good life’, and claimed it was the better party because it provided the very best for its people, making them happy. The Kitchen Debate was based on America’s aim for a consumerist culture, which they hoped would help rebuild the country’s economy after WWII. America also “offered a bright vision of material abundance to assuage the privations of Europe”, (Pavitt, 2008, p. 75) in an effort to convince [Europe] that a consumerist society was the way to rebuild the economy.

American corporations sold not only products to the people, but firstly and foremostly the idea that their products were necessary, would make one happier, and would improve one’s quality of life. They used “American models of modern domesticity”, that is, females who the consumers of the time, to whom the women of the household would relate, to “’[conflate] democratic freedom with rising private consumption.’” (Pavitt, 2008, p. 75) The most successful advertisements for products, both then and now, push this ideology, that better living comes from being a consumer, to the limit. If the branding makes the consumer believe that they need the product to be better off, it will sell.

An example of this is the branding of renowned chocolate company, ‘Cadbury’. The company’s latest sales pitch is ‘Share the Joy’, a campaign aligning Cadbury with happiness. The logo below is the central point of the campaign, which is a collection of many videos, songs and images all reflecting back to the joy that Cadbury products will supposedly bring you. Although this message is never outrightly stated, by aligning their brand with happiness, Cadbury has cleverly convinced consumers to buy their product. If Cadbury equals happiness, and happiness satisfies consumers’ desires, Cadbury can convince people buy their product by persuading them that it is necessary in order to be happy.

This ideology that a particular product is necessary for happiness stems back to America’s push for a consumerist culture in the wake of WWII. Their plan to boost the economy worked, because consumers were convinced that they needed the products. However, how can one be truly happy when companies constantly refuel the ideology that craves constant consumption of their products? The economy boost may have succeeded, but the ideologies involved in this give rise to the prospect of an insatiable appetite for the material.

'Share the Joy' logo by Cadbury
http://amillionpagesofinspiration.com/category/branding/page/2/

Citations:

Pavitt, J. (2008). Design and the Deomocratic Ideal, Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970 (pp. 72-91) London: V&A Publishing.