171 Assignment 9

"Designed for hospitality" Coca-cola ad 1949
Retrieved from: http://www.thejumpingfrog.com

The Cold War was a war of ideology, a war fought with ideas and often design. There was conflict between the social and political issues surrounding communism (lead by the Soviet Union) and capitalism (lead by USA). Emerging from this war came propaganda from America, in a way that showed the key to freedom was consumerism. Through marketing and design of products it was shown that happiness, success and freedom were all achieved through consumerism and the consumption of products. This was not welcomed by many European parties, with Jane Pavitt saying, "The French left-wing critic Henri Lefebvre defined Americanization as 'that ideological commodity imported in the name of technical progress, "consumer society" and the mass media." (Pavitt, 2008)

I feel that this ideology of consumerism is still fueling design and the branding of design in modern times. Today's marketing campaigns for all kinds of products pursue the idea that their product will offer the consumer a better life. In all kinds of advertisements seen, a sort of utopian life is shown, with the products in focus seeming like they create this, seducing the observer into consuming the product. 

The Coca-Cola brand has been around for over one hundred years and their advertisements are an example of the consumerist propaganda America projected during the Cold War, as well as their modern day campaigns showing the continuation of this consumeristic approach to advertising and design, as well as the "utopian" world they create. The first image below is an advertisement for a shop window from 1949. The first line reads, "Designed for hospitality" and this and the image of the perfectly happy female figure, is an example of the consumeristic propaganda, as the brand entices the consumer (in those days females) by targeting them and suggesting something of a happy, free and successful life (and good hospitality!) from consuming the product. The second image is an image from Coca-cola's 2009 "Open Happiness" Campaign, which was built off the previous campaign "The Coke Side of Life". The graphics and layout of the advertisement is different compared to the earlier example but the messages are very similar. Simply saying, "Open Happiness" is suggesting that consuming the Coca-cola product (or merely even opening it!) will result in happiness for the consumer. This shows that consumerism is still a driving force of ideology when it comes to the design and design branding today.

"Open Happiness" Coca-cola advertisement 2009
Retrieved from: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2009/coca-cola-open-happiness/

References:

Pavitt, J. (2008). Cold War Modern. "Design and the Democratic Ideal". V & A Publishing.