Feel-good song: "Ma Cherie" by DJ Antoine. Enjoy!
In Calvin Klein’s initially shocking Super Bowl commercial, twenty-one year old Mathew Terry gracefully flexes his flawlessly sculpted muscles to a pulsating beat. After the first seven seconds of watching tensed myofibers ripple under metallic-colored shining skin, the ad flashes a new image before the viewers: a turning gear dripping with clear oil. The commercial then jumps back to focus on Terry’s stomach and the product that the company is supposed to be selling, the underwear. But wait, there’s a hidden (or not so hidden) truth: Calvin Klein is not aiming to excite viewers about the underwear itself. Please don’t misunderstand me, of course the company’s goal is to sell product and make profit, but to do that it advertises an idea, a concept. Is it a coincidence that the new underwear line is named Concept? Definitely not. By showing off Terry’s taught thighs, rippling abdomen, and chiseled arms juxtaposed with lubricated machinery, Calvin Klein sells the “Concept” of masculinity: power, efficiency, dominance, and sexuality. According to Naomi Klein’s “No Logo,” Calvin Klein does not offer viewers a simple piece of cloth to throw on underneath a worn pair of work jeans. Instead the company sells a lifestyle of sleek executive authority by displaying Terry’s steely body and cutting to scenes showing turning machinery.
In Calvin Klein’s initially shocking Super Bowl commercial, twenty-one year old Mathew Terry gracefully flexes his flawlessly sculpted muscles to a pulsating beat. After the first seven seconds of watching tensed myofibers ripple under metallic-colored shining skin, the ad flashes a new image before the viewers: a turning gear dripping with clear oil. The commercial then jumps back to focus on Terry’s stomach and the product that the company is supposed to be selling, the underwear. But wait, there’s a hidden (or not so hidden) truth: Calvin Klein is not aiming to excite viewers about the underwear itself. Please don’t misunderstand me, of course the company’s goal is to sell product and make profit, but to do that it advertises an idea, a concept. Is it a coincidence that the new underwear line is named Concept? Definitely not. By showing off Terry’s taught thighs, rippling abdomen, and chiseled arms juxtaposed with lubricated machinery, Calvin Klein sells the “Concept” of masculinity: power, efficiency, dominance, and sexuality. According to Naomi Klein’s “No Logo,” Calvin Klein does not offer viewers a simple piece of cloth to throw on underneath a worn pair of work jeans. Instead the company sells a lifestyle of sleek executive authority by displaying Terry’s steely body and cutting to scenes showing turning machinery.
In addition to illustrating Naomi Klein’s vision of brand ideology, this commercial demonstrates Baudrillard’s argument that “The fashion model’s body is no longer an object of desire, but a functional object, a forum of signs in which fashion and the erotic are mingled.” The man in the commercial has exchange value or functional value because of his athletic body. Athleticism is a sign of investment in oneself and symbolizes honed executive and sexual abilities. In Baudrillard’s assertion, the model is not something to fantasize about. He is simply the symbol, sign, or mark that represents economic and personal mastery, which is what people actually dream of. The model’s flexing, lithely twisting body is the object conveying the ad’s message: Calvin Klein underwear will transfer to you the superpowers it has given this model. You don’t even need to be sexy and twenty-one years old because the sign value or the exchange value of this underwear is so prestigious and elite that the underwear itself will give you all the power and athleticism you crave. Calvin Klein’s model and underwear embody the ideals that give men worth in society. The company wants people to buy its underwear, but more importantly, the business needs people to consume the Concept that allows this entire sign-system to function.
Link:
Calvin Klein's Commercial
Even The New York Times recognizes Terry
Matt Terry with Ellen DeGeneres
The scoop from International Business Times
Link:
Calvin Klein's Commercial
Even The New York Times recognizes Terry
Matt Terry with Ellen DeGeneres
The scoop from International Business Times
No comments:
Post a Comment