Norms and Otherness

. Find three advertisements that establish both norms and "otherness" in images and/or text.

2. Embed the actual ad (or a link to the ad) in your blog.

3. (a) Explain the primary binary oppositions at work here -- e.g., the norms and otherness. Speculate on how the advertisements are perpetuating discourse and power.

I came across these 3 advertisements that are completely different from one another in what they are selling, promoting, and their target audience, but even within each advertisement, there is a binary opposition. 2 very different takes on 1 print ad. The power of these ads lies in the eyes and heart of the person viewing them, and how they allow their imagery to relate to their situation and walk of life.

The first ad was taken out of an African Magazine. The visual impression I got from this ad was one that is somewhat flaunting or promoting sexuality, which is the norm in everyday society to see a women in a bathing suit on the cover of a magazine, but the text reveals a completely different story.  A story of torture, sexual assault and ultimately death. It is beyond heart-wrenching, the situation that persists in Africa. People dying daily. Babies being orphaned because their mothers died from AIDS. Babies, women, and children being raped repeatedly, the torture they endure in Kenya is beyond belief, and yet while the story is telling us, as readers, that. The visual story is a completely different story. We as spectators need to become educated in what we read and see, and how to interpret it.

The second ad I came across was quite cute and comical.

This is an ad for eyewear.  The  main idea behind this clever ad is that you can re-invent your look with a new pair of glasses. This company is using the power of persuasion to allude that without their eyewear, you are living on the left-hand side of things: a butcher, a hells angel, and a truck driver; most of which may not be perceived as glamourous lifestyles, but with their eyewear, you are now an artist, a fashion designer, and/or dr. professor. These glasses change your whole per sauna. The norm is that is truthfully the underlying message of becoming a better you, that is the driving force behind American Modern Society, and the other would be the clever way it was presented, with the imagery so dead on to the perceptions of our society.

The third ad I came across was one for suicide awareness. Visually, this ad is very cute and clever. There are little cutout people dangling from a page, but the reality of what this ad stands for is anything but cute. It is a battle cry to the lonely and depressed. The norm in this ad is the very clever imagery and photographic appeal, but the otherness is the ideology behind the advertisement.  The imagery itself is a bit opposing. The cut outs are not only dangling their lives by just a few fibers of paper, but it is also themselves that are the only ones who can save themselves. (I know the wording is confusing, but visually, you see it is the shadow of themselves that is holding them, keeping them from their plummet to death. The visual interpretation is powerful.