The place of ‘place’ in the world of ‘women are whores’ luxury advertising
There has been a lot of buzz in the media this week about the current wave of jewelry advertising in which jewelry peddlers are essentially saying that you can save your relationship and have sex (again) if diamonds are given as a gift. Bloggers like Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon are right on in saying that the underlying message appears to be that "All women are whores, just set the price." Yes, it’s a little jarring, but maybe it’s time to face the music.
It’s worth a visit to her post to read her arguments and see the ads that she is referring to before reading the rest of this post, which I wrote to expand upon some of Amanda’s ideas by adding the notion of "transcending place" into the discussion. I have also posted some links at the end to other bloggers who have been a part of the conversation for a while.
So do jewels fix everything that’s wrong in a relationship? Can they transform you to another place?
I’ve been following for some time now the use of ‘place’ in jewelry advertising. Journey Diamond Jewelry was my first big push into jewelry because of the notion of travel wrapped into it. Here are two still images from one of the Journey commercials:
If you listen to this campaign (and its escapist siblings), it seems that jewelry is a medium that allows you to transcend your current situation. The dandelions make you feel like a kid again (which is kind of weird really, bordering on daddy’s-girl syndrome), and you can let go and just fly past horses through beautiful meadows until you end up on the beach.
Imagine that, a perfectly placed sun in a perfect sunset with the perfect tide level with the perfect height of man with two perfect hands to kiss the perfect brunette as the water gently swirls up and over their toes. It’s paradisiacal relationship bliss — and a complete escape from reality.
So when does reality come to play in relationship paradise? This advertising strategy falls into the right-hand side of this highly scientific diagram:
The Journey campaign and product essentially assumes that your whole "journey" together can be a total rapture of a life. Of course, then along comes new advertisements, like those mentioned in Amanda’s post, that recognize that most relationships are far from blissful (there on the left-hand side of the scale). The ads now scream: "Buy jewels. Get laid." What kind of message is that? Prostitution or escapism?
I would almost rather go back to the destination ads. But is their underlying premise really any different?
The real message in the end is that the life you currently have is not good enough. You didn’t get married and/or honeymoon on the beach? You must be miserable. Your husband, and probably you too, have to work late most nights of the week? Your relationship must need repair? Your wife is depressed? Material things will cure your ills. You cheated on your wife? Buy diamonds and make her sexy again. Your wife cheated on you? Buy diamonds because you haven’t paid enough attention to her. And this cheap and cliche stuff won’t do:
In other words, your world currently sucks, so you need to escape through the medium of luxury gifting. It’s total crap.
And it’s not even fair to blame this one on "selfish, materialistic women." This issue has its origins perhaps in equal or greater measure to men who are not willing to really explore what their relationships need. Both sides seem to be instructed through everyday images — all touting a better place than the one that currently surrounds their bodies — to want to get out. People don’t realize how often they are told that their lives suck. What kind of selling strategy is that? Surely there must be a better way.
In the end, none of this changes the fact that diamonds are little pieces of claustrophobic coal that have been daylighted by greed, tradition, and a desire to escape…because nothing is ever good enough. Is it really any wonder why the divorce rate is 50%? That half of the world knows what escape really means in a bad relationship.
And don’t be too quick to let the Journey campaign off the hook for sexual imagery. Here’s a good example why:
So, "with every step, love grows." Buy me jewels, get it up. Ummm, okay, Dr. ED. And is that a sperm, or just a necklace missing its loop?
Do couples really buy into this stuff?
I can’t wait to write that beach wedding post that I mentioned here.
Other posts of interest on the topic: Masculinity and Its Discontents, denialism blog, and copyranter (and on De Beers here). And an Atlantic article here.
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Posted on December 20, 2007
Filed Under Jewels, Medium to Paradise |
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