COP3 - Secondary Research - The McDonaldization of Society

CONTROLLING OF CUSTOMERS

CONTROLLING OF THE JEWS

These sections mainly compare the rational structure of Mcdonalds. The controlling of customers in a formal queues precisely like the controlling of the Jews in concentration camps in the Holocaust...





Page 1 

"Ray Kroc (1902 - 1984), the genius behind the franchising of McDonalds restaurants, was a man with big ideas and grand ambitions. But even Kroc could not of anticipated the astounding impact of his creation. McDonald's is the basis of one of the most influential developments in contemporary society. It's reverberations extend far beyond its point of origin in the United States and in the fast-food business. It has influenced a wide range of undertakings, in deed the way of life, of a significant portion of the world. "

Good Intro on Maccies.






Page 2


"Martin Plimmer a British commentator, acrchy notes ' There are McDonalds everywhere. Theres one near you and theres one being built even nearer to you. Soon, if McDonalds goes on expanding at it's present rate, there might even be one in your house. You could find Ronald McDonalds boots under your bed, and maybe his red wig too."


After this comment I could insert findings from my own survey on how near to McDonalds people generally are??? Always watching, Always over you shoulder, much like the Nazis. 






Page 7



"The second indicator of McDonalds' global significance is the idea developed by Thomas Freidman that ' no two countries that both have McDonalds have ever fought a war since they each got McDonalds.' Friedman calls this the 'Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention.' Another half-serious idea that implies that the path to world peace lies in the continued international expansion of McDonalds. Unfortunately, it was proves wrong by the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, which had 16 McDonalds as of 2002. "


"To many people throughout the world, McDonalds has become a sacred institution. At an opening of a McDonalds in Moscow, a worker spoke of it 'as if it were the cathedral in chartres... a place to experience celestial joy'. Kowinski argues that indoor shopping malls, which almost always encompass fast-food restaraunts are the modern ' cathedrals of consumption' to which people go to practice their 'consumer religion'. "


Talking again about how McDonalds is like a temple of Religion. Link to Nazis?





Page 8 


"Furthermore, most of us have been bombarded by commercials extolling McDonalds virtues, commercials tailored for a variety of audiences and that change as the chain introduces new foods, new contests and new product tie-ins. These ever present commercials, and the fact that people cannot drive very far without having a McDonalds pop into view have embedded McDonalds deep into popular consciousness. "

Were bombarded with McDonalds adverts and buildings everywhere its automatically become embedded within or popular consciousness as well as our unconsciousness?



"A poll of school-age children showed that 96% of them could identify who Ronald McDonald, second only to Santa Claus on name recognition." 

Could link that with my own survey on children and McDonalds?



"As the (McDonalds) company chairman said "Our Goal : to totally dominate the quick service restaurant industry worldwide. I wan't McDonalds to be more than a leader. I Want McDonalds to dominate. "


Very similar aspirations from the McDonalds chairman to what Hitler had. I want to be more than a leader. I want to dominate (world domination) 





Page 10 


The attempt to hook children on fast food reached something of a peak in Illinois, where McDonalds operated a program called ' A for Cheese Burger '. Students who received As on their report cards received free cheeseburger, therefore linking success in school with rewards from McDonalds. 

Unbelievable stunt from McDonalds to lure kids in. 




Page 12 


The Dimensions of McDonalisation (linked with Freudian theories from ' century of the self '


"Why has the McDonalds model proves so irresistible? Eating fast food at McDonalds has certainly become a 'sign' that among other things, one is in tune with contemporary lifestyle. There is also a kind of magic or enhancement that is associated with such food and settings. However, the  focus here is the four alluring dimensions that lie at the heart of the success of this model .... McDonalds has succeeded because it offers consumers, workers and managers efficiency, calculability, predictability and control."

13 14 15 hreat pages too!!

Page 14

"..McDonalds offers many praiseworthy programs that benefit society, such as it's Ronald McDonald Houses, which permit parents to stay with children undergoing treatment for serious medical problems; job training programs for teenagers; programs to help keep its emplyees in school; efforts to hire and train the handicapped; the McMasters program aimed at hiring senior citizens. 

The advantages of McDonalds

Good things McDo does. but would they do this if they didn't have money to burn? do they do things like this to get people of their case?

Page 18

"The increase in the number of people crowding the planet, the accelaeration of technical change, the increasing pace of life --- all this and more make it impossible to go back to the world, if it ever exsisted, of home-cooked meals, traditional restaraunt dinners, high-quality foods, meals loaded with surprises, and restaraunts run by chefs free to express their creativity."

This great quote tells us that we cannot return to the previous world of food that is good for us. That whats interesting in this comparison on Mcdonalds and Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany is in the past, their model didn't last forever and people eventually come around to how bad this was and put a stop to it. The Mcdonalds model is so strong, it's never going to stop. It's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger until it owns everything in the world. It already has, in a way, achieved world domination. Something that Hitler would be jealous of.

"If the world was less McDonliazed, people would be better able to live up to their human potential."

Mcdonalds Precursors (Nazi Holocaust)

This section of the book explains how the McDonalds system could be seen to have stemmed from the same system applied by Nazi Germany. 

The Holocaust - Mass-Produced Death

Page 29

"The holocaust can also be seen as an example of modern social engineering in which the goal was a perfectly rational society. To the Nazi's, a perfect society was one free of Jews, as well as gypsies, gays, lesbians and the disabled. Hitler himself defined the Jews as a 'Virus', a disease that had to be eliminated from Nazi society"

"The holocaust had all the basic characteristics of rationalisation (and McDonaldization). It was an effective mechanism for the destruction of massive numbers of human beings. For example, early experiments shown that bullets were insufficient; The Nazis eventually settles on gas as the most efficient means of destroying people. 

"There was certainly little attention to the quality of life, or even the death, of the Jews as they marched inexorably to the gas chambers. 

Page 30

"Like everything else in our modern society, the Holocaust was an accomplishments in every respect superior...It towers high above the past genocidal episodes."

"The Holocaust involved effort to make mass murder routine. The whole process had an assembly line quality about it. Trains snaked their way towards concentration camps, victims lined up and followed a series of steps. Once the process was complete, camp workers produced stacks of dead bodies for systematic disposal. Finally, the victims of the Holocaust were managed by a huge nonhuman technology. "

Making routine out of Mass Murder. Victims lined up like a Que. at  fast-food restaraunt. camp workers made a systematic disposal of dead bodies. etc. etc. 

"Needless to say, the Holocaust represented the ultimate irrationality of rationality. After all, what would be more dehumanising than murdering millions of people in such a mechanical way. "

Mechanical way

"Discussing the Holocaust in the context of McDonalsization may been extreme to some readers. Clearly, the fast-food restaurant cannot be discussed in the same breath as the Holocaust. There has been no more heinous crime in the history of humankind. Yet I have strong reasons for presenting the Holocaust as a precursor of McDonalization. First, the Holocaust was organised around the principles of formal rationality, relying extensively on the paradigm of that type of rationality --the bureacracy. Second, the Holocaust was also linked to the factory system, which you soon will discover was related to other precursors of McDonalization. Finally, the spread of formal rationality today, through the process of McDonaldization, supports Bauman's view that something like the Holocaust could happen again. "

Good Conclusion comparing Holocaust to McDonalds. Formal Rationality. the Holocaust system is a precursor of McDonalds and beyond. 

Conclusion 

Page 41

"McDonald's and McDonalidization did not occur in a historical vacuum; they had important precursors that remain important to this day.  The assembly line, scientific management, and bureaucracy provided many of the basic principles on which fast-food restaurant chains were built. Furthermore, these precursors provided the environment the fast-food chains needed to thrive: large numbers of factory workers and bureaucrcrats driving great distances between work and the suburban dwellings in automobiles that also allowed them to visit shopping malls in their spare time. "

More on the important 'precursors' of the McDonalds system. 

McDonalds Controlling customers




Page 116



"Whether they go into a fast-food restaurant or use the drive-through indown, customers enter a kind of conveyor system that moves them through the restaraunt in the manner desired by the managment. It is clearest in the case of the drive-through window (the energy for this conveyor comes from ones automobile), but it is also true for those who enter the restaraunt. Consumers know that they are supposed to line up, move to the counter, order the food. pay, carry the food to an available table, eat, gather up their debris, deposit it in the trash receptacle, and return to their cars. "


Good Quote on how we know how to follow the mechanical 'conveyor belt' system of McDonalds. 




Three mechanisms help control customers;


1. Customers recieve cues (for example, the precense of lots of trash receptacles, especially at the exits)  that indicate what is expected of them. 

2. A variety of structural constraints lead customers to behave in certain ways. For example, the drive-thorough window, as well as the written instructions on the menu marquee at the counter (and elsewhere) give customers few, if any, alternatives.

3. Customers have internalized taken-for-granted norms and follow them when they enter a fast-food restaraunt. 




COLOUR


"Much the same effect is produced by the colours used in the decor. "Relaxation isn't the point. Getting the hell out of there is the point. The interior colours have been chosen carefully with this end in mind. From the scarlet and Yellow of the logo, to the maroon of the uniform;everything clashes. It's designed to stop people from feeling so comfortable, they might stay."

The colour used make us want to leave the restaurant. 

COP3 - Secondary Research - The Sign of the Burger

The Sign of the Burger: McDonald's and the Culture of Power (Book)

"I didn't want to remain a hick from the mountains... In my cultural naivete I saw McDonald's as a place somehow where modern culture capital could be dispensed. Keeping these memories in mind as years later I monitored scores of conversations about the Golden Arches in the late 1990's, it became apparent that McDonald's is still considered a marker of a modern identity."

So begins a complicated journey into the power of one of the most recognizable signs of American capitalism: The Golden Arches. The Sign of the Burger examines how McDonald's captures our imagination: as a shorthand for explaining the power of American culture; as a symbol of the strength of consumerism; as a bellwether for the condition of labor in a globalized economy; and often, for better or worse, a powerful educational tool that often defines the nature of culture for hundreds of millions the world over.

While many books have offered simple complaints of the power of McDonald's, Joe Kincheloe explores the real ways McDonald's affects us. We see him as a young boy in Appalachia, watching the Golden Arches going up as the -- hopeful -- arrival of the modern into his rural world. And we travel with him around the world to see how this approach of the modern affects other people, either through excitement or through attempts at resisting McDonald's power, often in unfortunate ways. Through it all, Kincheloe makes clear, with lucidity and depth, the fact that McDonald's growth will in many ways determine both the nature of accepting and protesting its ever-expanding presence in our global world.

Introduction

Page 7 

"if this world s to have any extended future, Mcdonald's needs to be cut out. .When you eat a hamburger, you're also eating a section of the South American Rainforest and the air it purified. McDonald's is currently in a cozy situation as it seems our country is being run by a plutocrat, but hopefully we will see the problems McDonald's is creating even without the government shadowing our view before we have to start worrying about the world running out of oxygen. (Interview, September 20, 2001),"

"Readers can sense in these episodes that powerful concepts and symbols are circulating around the Golden Arches - concepts and symbols that none of us (myself included) sensed in our first contacts with the corporation."

Page 8

"Such ubiquity and conflicting perceptions make McDonald's a symbol for an age. The power of McDonalds to elicit dreams and fantasies from people around the world illustrates its compelling impact on the collective physhe. Numerous children I interviews talked about wishing for an infinite supply of McDonald's hamburgers. Some wished they could someday own a McDonalds restaurant; many others wanted to raise hamburger trees on a fantasy farm they would someday run. 

Page 9 

"Thus Mcdonalds has captured the publics imagination, playing many roles in the contemporary society : all-American success story, creator of Happy Meal fandom, symbol of western economic development, concrete representation of Modernity, corporate bully, postmodern sign value, object of disdain, patron or cultural dislocator of McWorkers. 

"Vandana Shiva (1997) contends that McDonald's power has much in common with pre-perestroika Soviet Union. The biggest difference, she argues, involves the ways the world has reacted to the two power weilders. Whereas the whole world was outraged by the concentrated , centralised control of the communist regime, most people are untroubled by the authoritarianism of transnational corporations that have no accountability to anyone."

BRILLIANT COMPARISON of MCDONALDS to SOVIET UNION. Backs my case up with someone else opinion. 

Page 10

"Indeed Mcdonald's the power weilder stands ready to do battle with anyone who messes with its power, with the positive valences of its sign value. The company understands the hegemonic worth of it's signifiers as mechanisms of social regulation. George Ritzer see's Mcdonald's production process as an old-fashioned, modernist form of rationalisation__an accurate understanding, for the most part---but the company's relationship to sign values is a good example of how the hegemonic process works in a postmodern context. Thus, the discourse about Mcdonald's generated by Ritzer and his supporter and critics, as well as this book (I hope), has an importatnt realtionaship to some of key debates in the early twenty-first century."

HEGEMONY (hegemonic): The processes by which dominant culture maintains its dominant position: for example, the use of institutions to formalize power; the employment of a bureaucracy to make power seem abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any one individual); the inculcation of the populace in the ideals of the hegomonic group through education, advertising, publication, etc.; the mobilization of a police force as well as military personnel to subdue opposition.

"In this context we ca see that McDonald's represents a new kind of business power---not a manufacturer or some other traditional form of industry, but an entertainment-based, fun-producing firm that extends to every last corner of the globe. Along with Coke and Disney, McDonald's produces power via pleasure."

Page 17

"...by winning the consent of individuals to dominant forces of power. McDonald's wins this consent by attatching its signifiers to prevailing belief structures such as family values, patriotism, and nostalgia for a culturally homogeneous small-town America."

Good Quote on how Mcdonalds play on family values, patriotism and nostaliga to sell. 

COP3 - Secondary Research - McDonalds Logo, Colour, Brand

The Complexity of Marketing Sign Systems 

found here : http://www.marketingsemiotics.com/pdf/semiotic_brand.pdf

As a sign system, brand communication is achieved through a complex matrix of signifying elements, including material, structural, conventional, contextual, and performative dimensions. Let me illustrate this reference to the logo for the McDonald’s...

• Material – a visual icon. 

• Structural – golden arches, red background, brand name superimposed on the arches in white, squared font. The arches located to the left of the square so the logo moves off to the right, suggesting movement. 

• Conventional or Codified – the golden arches, the color scheme, and the brand name consistently signify the company and brand offerings for the McDonald’s company. Anywhere in the world, in various languages, this logo tells the consumer that a burger and fries are not far away. (French McDonald’s, on the right) A brand is a system of signs and symbols that engages the consumer in an imaginary/symbolic process that contributes tangible value to a product offering.

• Contextual – The time and place in which the logo is situated contributes to the subjective connotations of this sign system. For example, while some consumers in the U.S. market may associate McDonald’s with cheap, unhealthy fast food, in many markets in the world, such as China, McDonald’s represents a special treat. The contextual environment may also embed brand communication in cultural archetypes and myth, creating either positive or negative associations derived from local interpretations of the message. (Example below)

• Performative – Marketing sign systems engage consumer/spectators in a communication event by means of codes inscribing subject positions for I and you in representation. This dimension is crucial for building brand relationship and for calling the consumer to action, i.e. making a brand choice.

Marketing Semiotics : Signs, Strategies and Brand Values

found here :    

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NpH-_tnQN_8C&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=mcdonalds+logo+semiotics&source=bl&ots=Qbo0AhjOqw&sig=mI9Ir8dL68ZJXGSB0LVr9m5uQx0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qiBCUt61E6mL0AXo9oGYCA&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=mcdonalds%20logo%20semiotics&f=false

Semiotics, The Golden Arches, and Baby McFry

found here  :  http://btmm1011d.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/semiotics-golden-arches-and-baby-mcfry.html

Semiotics is the study of signs. Roland Barthes is the main theorist of semiotics.He saught to decipher the cultural meaning of visual signs, particularly those perpetuating dominant social values. Before Barthes a swiss theorist designed the components that make up any analysis of a sign, his name was Saussare. Saussare said in every analysis of a sign there is a signified and a signifier.The chapter really explores more of what Barthe called mythologies of the sign, for instance the symbol of the "yellow ribbon". I found it so interesting how it's meaning was deconstructed over time. it still begs the question how did that start? In my search for representative media for semiotics I found much of it dealing with simply the sign and the signifier, and signified, but I am really interested in Barthes idea of the mythology for signs. 

Something I considered comparable to the "yellow ribbon" are the world famous McDonalds "Golden Arches", because in it's simplest form it is really just a letter M, but when it became the golden arches the implications became so much more. It now has a mythology. I think in some ways just the word arches denotes it's like a "wonder of the world" the 8th, right up there with the statue of liberty and the Taj Mahal. it sounds crazy, but it is so engrained in us as actual arches that the word and image have that power. It's really a stroke of advertising genuis. Arches meaning always welcoming, and big enough to house the whole world. This may be going too far but there is also something spiritual, biblical, angelic in the figure of a golden arch, like walking under it will bring health, etc, and to think it's really just an M in the word McDonalds. i think the arches are half of the reason McDonalds is the biggest fast food chain in the world. This is a theory of my own, i guess, and I could not find anything specific linking the arches to semiotics, but just when I'd about given up hope I came across this, baby McFry. So what can we see in this image, what are the signs saying? I think a lot.

Examples Of Semiotics Within Advertising

FOUND HERE : http://carlymatch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/examples-of-semiotics-within.html
Semiotics are frequently used within advertising to portray an advertiser's message through the use of signs or symbols. Often there is a visual image used within advertising campaigns to encourage the consumer to buy the product. For example a restaurant at a service station on the motorway may advertise their products on a strategically placed billboard, enticing and encouraging drivers to pay a visit to the services. Placing something as simple as a picture of a dessert on the sign may be just enough to encorage the curiosity or perhaps the appetite of the passerby. McDonalds is a well renown company across the globe, this advertisement below is cleverly designed using symbols and semiotics. We, as consumers instantly recognise the familiar 'M' of the McDonalds sign and it provokes the thought of hunger within our minds. We associate McDonalds with fast, quick, convenient food and therefore when an advertisement like the one below is placed alongside a motorway it encourages us to go in. Red is an intense colour, it instantly catches the eye and is a strategic plan by McDonalds to catch the attention of passers by.



Semiotics within advertising can also be symbol based as apposed to photography. Take a packet of cigarettes for example. There is often a symbol on the back of a packet of cigarettes not only to act as a warning but also a deterrent of smoking. For example their may be a picture of a skull and cross bones, we instantly know that a skull and cross bones means death, danger or some potential hazard. This is what semiotics is all about,creating a visual communication between the consumer and product.

Design Elements of McDonald’s Logo

found here : http://www.famouslogos.org/logos/mcdonalds-logo

The McDonald’s logo is used worldwide to project the meaning intended by the company and also to avoid tarnishing of the company’s proposed picture. McDonald’s logo encompasses the durable characteristics of the food chain.

Shape of McDonald’s Logo

The two golden arches were initially designed to resemble the new arched shaped symbols on the side of the newborn restaurant. Later, the designer of the McDonald’s logo merged the two arches to outline the famed “M” now identified globally. Hence, the McDonald’s logo possesses a simple golden colored “M” which reflects the name of the food chain.

Colour of McDonald’s Logo

Two prominent shades, golden and red, are used in the McDonald’s logo to represent its bold nature. Golden hue is employed to color the two arches, now merged to form “M” in the McDonald’s logo. Nonetheless, the red color is utilized to fill the background of the distinguished McDonald’s logo. Boldness, power and strong corporate image are truly reflected by the use of these two confident colors.

Font of McDonald’s Logo

In spite if the “M” on McDonald’s logo, the insignia also grips the name of the food chain. “McDonald’s” has been imprinted in a thoroughly simple font which defines the bold picture of the firm. The simpler the font of the logo, the more radiant it becomes for the spectator.

COP3 - Secondary Research- The objects of Affection / Semiotics and Consumer Culture

"The objects of Affection / Semiotics and Consumer Culture


In this book, preeminent semiotician Arthur Asa Berger decodes the meanings of common objects of consumption and their perceived “sacredness” in consumerist cultures. Using semiotic theory, consumer culture is dissected in new and fascinating ways. The first part of the book introduces semiotic theory and its key theorists and practitioners. The second part applies semiotic theory to interpret advertising, marketing, and branding. With levity and precision, Berger leads students to think critically about our lives and the menu of lifestyles promoted by corporations that profit from branded consumption.

_________________

Semiotics : The Science of Signs

Page 14

Symbols

"Symbols are a complicated matter...symbols are never completely arbitrary, suggesting that there is usually some kind of bond between symbolic signifiers and what they signify."

"Semiotically speaking, symbols are things with important historical and cultural meanings, such as the cross for Christians, the Star of David for the Jews, and the American Flag for Americans. These symbols are ties to history and play important roles in every society." 

"Fron the point of view of any in particular individual, such symbols are largely given. He finds them already current in the community in which he is born and they remain, with some additions, subtractions, and partial alterations he may or may not have had a hand in, in circulation he dies."

"Geertz argues that we learn the meaning of symbols as we grow up in certain culture or subculture and that the symbols importance is enhanced by historical events and other happenings in that culture. Symbols help us make sense of things and play an important role in shaping our behaviour in many areas: religion (the cross), nationalism (the flag), status (the kind of car we drive). 

Denotation & Connotation 

Page 15

"Denotation involves a literal and detailed description of the meaning of a word or the measurements of objects. Connotation, on the other hand, involves the cultural meanings and myths connected to words and to things."

Page 16 & 17

Metapohor & Metonymy 

"Metaphor : My love is a rose 

Simile : My love is like a rose"

"Metaphors, as it turns out, are an important part of our thinking...We have found...that a metaphor is persuasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphoric in nature... They also govern our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details. Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we relate to other people."

"Metaphors, then, play an important role in determining the way we perceive the world and act in it because our concepts govern the way we behave...through analogies, including comparisons and contrasts, that we make sense of the world." 

Page 18

an Example of a metaphor is lifestyle is...

If you want to know what goat meat tastes like, you can ask someone who has eaten goat and if he or she says "it tastes a lot like chicken", you have a pretty good idea of what goat meat tastes like.

"Becasue they provide shortcuts to generating information, advertisers use metaphor and meonymy a great deal. Metaphor allows advertisers to convey information very quickly, and metonymy allows advertisers to use information sotred in our brains, in the form of codes, for their particular purposes...These can also be expressed in images in advertisments and commericals, which means they often have a powerful emotional impact on us."

Page 23 / 24

Codes 

"What we call culture can be seen as a collection of codes that tell us what to eat, how to dress, and how to relate to others... most of these codes are imprinted on children as they grow up in a family in a region of some country."

Good quote on how most of these semiotic codes are implanted on children at a young age as they grow up in society. This happens through Mcdonalds in our age and it's what happened also with Hitler Youth. 

"If the codes we learn when we are children so, in fact, shape our beaviour in profound ways, we can understand Freud's suggestion that "the child is the father of the man." He meant it psychologically, but we can also suggest it applies to our national cultures."

Bringing Freud's theory into it slightly on how children are effect behaviourally from early symbols and signs. 

Page 25

"Codes shape our behaviour as individuals and as members of groups,societies, nations and cultures. "

"The important thing to recognise about codes is that they pervade our lives.; you can think of them as culturally specific rule books that we have internalized that tell us how to make sense of the world and how to behave in all different situations that we find ourselves in. Codes affect everything from how we think about cheese, what we wear, what we find suitable for eating, how we raise children, what gestures we use and how we look at other people, to how we are buried after we die."

Another great quote on how these codes control our life and how we think about everything!

Marketing Theory and Semiotics

Page 56

"Todays marketing isn't simply a business function . It's a philosophy, a way of thinking and a way of structuring your business and your mind. Marketing is more than a new ad campaign or this months promotion. Marketing is part of everyones job, from the receptionist to the board of directors."

Good quote on how in depth marketing is in this day and age. The mundane details are controlled some might say, like that of what Hitler said - could link it to this?

Brands and Identity : We Are Our Brands

Page 75

"A brand name, term, sign, symbol, design, or combination of these elements that is intended to identify the goods and services of a seller and differentiate them from these competitors. A Brand name is he part of the brand that can be vocalised.... A brand mark is the part of the brand that can be recognised but is not utterable, such as a symbol, design or distinctive colouring or lettering....A trademark is a brand or part of the brand that is given legal protection;it protects the sellers exclusive rights to the use the brand name or brand mark."

Semiotics & Brands

Page 78

"From a semiotic perspective, brands are signifiers (often in the form of icons) companies use to establish their idenitites. Brands generate ideas and notions we have, generally provided by advertising by also by word of mouth, about the qualities of certain products and, by implication, the way they differ from competing products. "

"the opposite of a brand is a generic product or one that has become a commodity."

Page 79

The essence of branding lies in the claims a product have to being distinctive and having special attributes not found in competing products....Some products are integrated into films and television programs, a practice known as product placement. The products pay to be shown in these texts, so product placements can be considered a form of advertising."

Another great quote on PRODUCT PLACEMENT. This can be linked to the way Hitler used product placement in his own way, to make sure that branding visual scheme of the Nazi party was seen everywhere all across Germany. He didn't have to pay for it, but in a sense, it's the same sort of concept. 

"Non branded products son't advertise as a rule and are purchased on the basis of their functionality;they are, sociologically speaking, functional alternatives to branded products."

Page 80

"Brands are everywhere: in the air, on the high street, in the kitchen, on television and, maybe on your feet. But what kinds of things are they? .... The brand, a medium of exchange between company and consumer, has become one of the key cultural forces of our time and one of the most important vehicles of globalisation. "

The Objects of Our Affection

Page 116/117

"Behind every object there are usually teams of artists, designers, engineers and others who are responsible for bringing the object into existence, whether it's an MP3 player, a pair of running shoes, or a package of cereal. "

Page 129

The "Evangelical" Hamburger.

"McDonald's offers the hamburger without qualities for the man without qualities. It must be seen as more than a gaudy. vulgar oasis of tasteless ground meat, a fountain of sweet, syrupy malted milks in a big parking lots that caters to insolvent students, snack seekers, and hard-up hungers who grid it's bloody gristle through their choppers at fifteen cents a shot. No! McDonalds is not just a hamburger joint...it is America, or, rather, it is the supreme triumph of all that is insane in American life."

AMAZING QUOTE! about Mcdonalds and the shit it serves! 

"But we purchase our McDonald's hamburger at great cost. We cannot have it rare or well done, we cannot have it without "the works" for that would destroy the genius of the McDonalds hamburger. No! WE get the great national hamburger---prepared to hamburgize the masses---which forces us to sacrifice our individuality, our gastronomic identity, for a few pennies. Instead of a hamburger being prepared for our tastes, we are forces to adapt ourselves to it; we must become, so to speak, moulded to its taste. The triumph of McDonalism is the death of Individualism and the easting of a Mcdonalds hamburger is the next thing to a death wish.

A Mcdonalds hamburger reminds you how very mortal you are, how you too will be thrown away someday in the moral equivalent of a paper bag."

ANOTHER AMAZING QUOTE. This time it talks about how the hamburger is never changed and we have to adapt our taste to it. Indivisuality is lost in Mcdonalds, there is no choice or freedom and this very much relates to how Hitler took individuality away from the German masses and certainly away from the Jews. 

Page 130

"I saw a small white building with huge arches and an electronic sign, full of rapidly rising numbers, indicating the number of people who had eaten McDonald's hamburgers. It struck me that the arches had a religious significance to them and the electronic sign indicated that people who ate a Mcdonald's hamburger were members of a community, or, even stronger, a congregation. And the way one ordered a hamburger seemed very structured or, in effect, a ritual. The fifteen cents could be constructed as an offering to the new religion."

GREAT QUOTE. referring Mcdonalds to a cult in some ways. 

"In 1999 there was one fast food restaraunt for every 196 households in the United States."

Page 131

"Mcdonalds in China is making 'steamy' print advertisements and even steamier television commercials linking beef to manliness, luxuriousness, and sexiness"

"There seems to be good reason to suspect the growth of these fast food restaraunts, with their fat-filled products, have contributed in some measure to the epidemic of obesity in the United States and elsewhere in the world. Obesity now is a problem in China, India, and many other third world countries."

"I can recall hearing a news program recently in which a doctor pointed out that because of all the fast food they eat, the vein and arteries of many adolescents now are similar to those of people in their fifties and sixties."

"So there are major social, political, and economic considerations tied to every bite a person takes of a Mcdonald's a hamburger."

Comments on Mcdonalds, Advertising and Obesity. 

COP3 - Secondary Research - Century of the Self (2)

Sigmund Freud Theory 


Century of the Self (Freudian Theories Applied)

It's Democracy through consumerism. We believe that we are free because we can purchase whatever we like such as a car, clothing and food. But that's the trick that has been laid down by the corperations. It's like a drug that keeps us docile even through our lives might not be all that great. The consumers are creating wealth for those in power whilst temporarily filling our needs which makes us temporarily happy.

During Albert Cummings 2002 Documentary  "Century of the Self" we learn that Bernays created many techniques of mass production which have continuously been used in the centuries to follow. One of which is linking products with famous figures and also product placement. Bernay's was the first person to take his uncles psychoanalysis theories and put it into practice on 19th Century Industrialised America. He wanted to make money by manipulating the unconcious. He played on humans irrational emotions.

The corporations realised that they had to transport how Americans thought about products. They must shift American from a needs to a desire culture. Create a new mentality that a man’s desires should overshadow his needs. The man at the centre of this change was Bernays. The God of the physiological theory.

In the 1920’s, a new idea of how to run democracy was in place. The government would make people happy and docile to create a feel good factor which will not alter the circumstances but peoples outlooks on it. Bernay’s wanted to maintain the power over the masses by altering the publics physiological state even though their lives where the same.


In Nazi Germany, in the 20th Century,  Hitler recreated the same control over the masses using the same Freudian theories except he used his face as the Icon and linked his movement

COP3 - Secondary Research - Century of the Self

Century of the Self - Documentary (2002, BBC)


The Century of the Self is an award-winning British television documentary series by Adam Curtis. It focuses on how the work of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people.

This is a great source to look at when relating the points raised in my Dissertation.





 

Most important points raised in Adam Curtis’s documentary ‘Century of the Self’ ;

Think about the False needs, our actual desires, our instincts and Freud’s notion of the unconscious. 

- The Corporations and Government uses Freud’s theory to control mass crowd.

- Edward Bernay’s. First person to take Freud’s ideas and manipulate the masses. Showing American corporations that they could link American goods to human desires and sales.

- At the end of the 19th Century, America was industrialized. Bernay’s turned to his uncles psychoanalysis theories. He wanted to make money by manipulating the unconscious. He played on the humans irrational emotions.

- Governments starting to use this to make it more serious and political. The power of controlling people’s instincts is ceased upon by the government.

- The American industry was afraid of over production. Will people have enough goods to just stop buying?


- Creating a false need for desirable objects to generate profit from the masses. The crisis of overproduction, producing too many goods. So making people believe they need these products that they have spare from production to keep the profit going.


- The American government created a system about tapping into peoples desires and tricked into buying these things to make a better life when actually it didn’t. The system creates wealth for the powers but not for the public.


- Democracy through consumerism. We believe that we are free because we can purchase different things such as a car, porn, clothing but that is a trick that has been laid down by PR. It’s like a drug that keeps us docile even though our lives are actually pretty shit. We are creating wealth for those in power but think that our needs are getting what we want which makes us temporarily happy.


- Bernays created many techniques of mass production which we live with today. Such as linking products with famous film stars and also product placement. He dressed stars in clothes and jewellery linked to his companies so that the masses would have a desire to be like their idols.


- Edward Bernays. First person to take Freud’s ideas and manipulate the masses. Showing American corporations that they could link American goods to human desires and sales. At the end of the 19th Century, America was industrialized. Bernay’s turned to his uncles psychoanalysis theories. He wanted to make money by manipulating the unconscious. He played on the humans irrational emotions.


- His most dramatic experiment was to persuade women to smoke. At the time there was a taboo about women smoking in public being frowned upon, so the company asked Bernay’s to find a way about breaking it. Bernays was told by a PA that the cigarette was a symbol of the penis. He said that women could have their own penis by smoking, symbolically.


- The women of an event protested by lighting ‘their torches of freedom’ being a cigarette. Bernay’s knew that the press would be there, so he promoted this phrase to encourage women to smoke. They could have FREEDOM! The women are ‘HOLDING UP THE TORCH’. This was all over the world by the next day.


- From this Bernays found that by linking products to people feelings and desires, this could increase the sales. Products could become a massive statement that somebody makes. The idea of an emotional connection with a product.


- The corporations realised that they had to change how Americans thought about products. They must shift American from a needs to a desire culture. Create a new mentality that a man’s desires should overshadow his needs. The man at the centre of this change was Bernays. He created many techniques of mass production which we live with today. Such as linking products with famous film stars and also product placement. He dressed stars in clothes and jewellery linked to his companies so that the masses would have a desire to be like their idols.


- In the 1920’s, a new idea of how to run democracy was in place. The government would make people happy and docile to create a feel good factor which will not alter the circumstances but peoples outlooks on it. Bernay’s wanted to maintain the power over the masses by altering the publics physiological state even though their lives where the same.


- Saatchi & Saatchi's campaign for cigarettes in the late 80's focussed on two hidden human impulses … EROS and THANATOS which is… EROS – pro create, to have children, to be free, to live a full life and THANATOS – the desire to kill, self destruction, mess everything up. Drug addictions and the rock and roll lifestyle are physiological connected to this. We know something is wrong but our ‘death’ instinct is taking over.

-  Other Key Freudian Concepts are... Oral Fixation (nipple substitute), Vagina Denata and Penis Envy.

Notes on the documentary

- The Corporations and Government uses Freud’s theory to control mass crowd.

- Edward Bernay’s. First person to take Freud’s ideas and manipulate the masses. Showing American corporations that they could link American goods to human desires and sales.

- Satisfying peoples inner selfish desires.

- 100 years ago Freud’s ideas were hated by the world. Embarrassing and anyone questioning the human mind and showing feelings was a threat to them.

- Freud Analysed dreams and he unearthed that humans have powerful sexual feelings that we repress because they are to dangerous. We picked these up from a historic animal instinct.

- Bernay’s main client was opera singer Caruso. He opened in Ohio and America announced they was entering the war between Germany and Austria. Bernays was employed by the American government in promoting the idea home and abroad

- Propaganda – War. Bernays wanted to use the propaganda used for war but change it for peace! Propaganda turned into a bad word so Bernay’s had to use a different way to go about this.

- At the end of the 19th Century, America was industrialized. Bernay’s turned to his uncles psychoanalysis theories. He wanted to make money by manipulating the unconscious. He played on the humans irrational emotions.

- His most dramatic experiment was to persuade women to smoke. At the time there was a taboo about women smoking in public being frowned upon, so the company asked Bernay’s to find a way about breaking it.

- For a large fee a PA told bernays that the cigarette was a symbol of the penis. He said that women could have their own penis by smoking, symbolically.

- The girls of an event protested by lighting ‘their torches of freedom’ being a cigarette. Bernay’s knew that the press would be there, so he promoted this phrase to encourage women to smoke. They could have FREEDOM! The women are ‘HOLDING UP THE TORCH’. This was all over the world by the next day.

- Bernays created the idea of a women smoking is more independent which is an idea that still exists today. From this he found that by linking products to people feelings and desires, this could increase the sales. Products could become a massive statement that somebody makes. The idea of an emotion connection with a product.

- The American industry was afraid of over production. Will people have enough goods to just stop buying?

- The corporations realised that they had to transport how Americans thought about products. They must shift American from a needs to a desire culture. Create a new mentality that a man’s desires should overshadow his needs. The man at the centre of this change was Bernays. The God of the physiological theory.

- Bernays created many techniques of mass production which we live with today. Such as linking products with famous film stars and also product placement. He dressed stars in clothes and jewellery linked to his companies so that the masses would have a desire to  be like their idols.

- “You all look the same on the street with the same clothes, same hats. Express yourself better in the way you dress.” “Why do you like short skirts.. Cause theirs more to see. It makes you more attractive.”

- Later Bernay’s promoted the idea that normal people should be able to buy shares using money from the bank and millions of people did this. Bernays became famous for knowing how to work the crowd. 

- In 1924 – US President Calvin Coolidge approached him. The press portrayed the president as a dull figure so Bernays persuaded famous film figures to visit the white house. This went on to create a headline of “The President nearly Laughed” and everyone was happy in Bernay's words.

- Bernays suggested that Freud should promote himself in the US. He asked him to write and article for Cosmopoliton but Freud disagreed and said he hated America.

- Freud later believed he had underestimated the aggressive tendencies in humans. He said men was the most ferocious animal of all and he hated all men. He was known to be a pessimistic man in his later years.

- The irrationality and the animality is the main drive of the mob. People were lead by their spines and not their minds. In the 1920’s wrote a book to claim he knew how to control the masses. He said that you could tap into the masses deepest desires to make them vote.

- In the 1920’s – a new idea of how to run democracy was in place.  The government would make people happy and docile to create a feel good factor which will not alter the circumstances but peoples outlooks on it. Bernay’s wanted to maintain the power over the masses by altering the publics physiological state even though their lives where the same.

Re-cap of the Documentary

- Governments starting to use this to make it more serious and political. The power of controlling people’s instincts is ceased upon by the government.

- Creating a false need for desirable objects to generate profit from the masses. The crisis of overproduction, producing too many goods. So making people believe they need these products that they have spare from production to keep the profit going.

- The American government created a system about tapping into peoples desires and tricked into buying these things to make a better life when actually it didn’t. The system creates wealth for the powers but not for the public.

- Democracy through consumerism. We believe that we are free because we can purchase different things such as a car, porn, clothing but that is a trick that has been laid down by PR. It’s like a drug that keeps us docile even though our lives are actually pretty shit. We are creating wealth for those in power but think that our needs are getting what we want which makes us temporarily happy.

Further Notes from the rest of the documentary...

- 29 Oct 1929 - The market collapsed. The effect disastererous as people stopped buying goods they didn't need. Bernays fell from fame as did what he built. The effect was also massive across Europe. There was street battles in Austria and Germany. 

- Against this backdrop Freud was battling cancer in his jaw and wrote a book called civilasation and its contents. He argued that civilisation was created to control our animalistic needs inside. 

- Humans can't express themselves because it's too dangerous. we much be controlled.   

- March 1933, National socialists elected to power in Germany. They took control ofbusiness and workers leisure time was also planned through state. The Nazi's saw this as an alernative to the democracy to bind the nation together.

- Looking at mass crowds, Freud explained how the irrational behaviour inside human beings can emerge in such groups and forces of desire are given to the leader. Freud wrote this as a warning but the Nazi's were deliberately employing these ideas in order to control. 

- Crowds and Their Behaviour. And angry population too out their frustration on the corporations who who to them had caused this. 

- President Roosevelt (1960) employed Gallop and Roper who rejected Bernays' view and thought theat people could be trusted to have a voice with political situations of the country. People are rational and make good decisions. Giving everyone a voice in how things are run. 

- Business fought back to wins the heart of America. At the heart of this was Edward Bernays. The campaign shown that it was business not politicians who had produced modern American. He used billboards and newspapers to get the word out. The government fought back by making films against it saying their methods are a great danger to democracy. 

- In 1939, New York hosted the worlds fair. Bernays insisted that the theme was linking american democracy and business. There was a white dome that Bernays named 'Democracity'. The central exhibited was a large scale model of America's future. 

- It was a success and captured America's imagination. A form of Democracy in which business responded to citizens desires and demands which is something that the government could not achieve. The people are not in charge but their desires are. 

- In May 1938. Freud came to London on a work permit to escape Nazi Germany. His cancer was advanced and as the second world war started, 3 weeks in, he died.   

Dynamic Unconscious

Oedipus Complex

Castration Anxiety –  Boys envy their father because he has the phallus and the power and fear of getting castrated.

Penis Envy – Girls envy the fathers penis because they cant have sex with their mother.

Id, Ego & Superego

Ego --- is in the conscious personality of which you know something about but not everything.

Id --- represents biological instincts. Wanting to eat and sleep. Male and Female.  Primal Urges and desires to see something want it and get it. This could be sexual or just the desire to eat, sleep, fight and kill. Repressed and imprisoned in us which we don’t allow to come out. Uncontrollable and Infantile. Small children are walking Id’s. They will just shout something out, shit anywhere or steal. The id throughout life is controlled by the super ego.

Super Ego --- The manic controlling voice that teaches you that the Id is wrong. It is not just rational but also irrational. It uses methods like shame, guilt and self pity.