American Consumer Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PFwNAJmCdw

I have chosen to look at the 2011 Ray-Ban Sunglasses commercial which is entitled "Never Hide". Initially I was drawn to the commercial because of its title. The commercial is based around a water fight where none of the participants hide, they all come forth and fight this battle. I think the title of the commercial is interesting because it is a sunglasses advert, if you put sunglasses on, your eyes are hidden. Yet Ray-Ban decided to call this commercial Never Hide.

The background music and no dialogue is something I found interesting in this commercial as it is almost a modern, western movie theme. I think this suggests what Ray-Ban were trying to connote to their viewers. The use of guns, western movie music, the sun placement covering people's faces in some shots and the slow motion shots but quick cuts all imply that Ray-Ban were trying to create a modern Western in this commercial. This is a common feature of American advertising as the cowboy/western was seen as a hero, this links back to the title of the commercial "Never Hide" saying that, the heroes of westerns never hid, if you wear Ray-Bans neither will you hide and you can become hero. Therefore dismissing the fact that if you're wearing sunglasses your eyes are hidden, if you wear Ray-Bans they are not and neither are you.

The use of the water guns in the commercial itself is interesting. Although they are water guns the actions that are portrayed by the characters in the commercial are very gun like. For example we see the woman that was running at the beginning of the commercial pull two guns out from the side of her shorts much like a real gun. Then, again at the end of the commercial you see three men drive past in a car, two of these men are pointing the water guns out of the window. Again like we see with real guns in TV shows and movies. By using water guns as a way in which to advertise their product, I think Ray-Ban have tried to target an American audience as they know this pseudo gun set up will appeal to many Americans, as we found out in previous weeks.

To conclude, I think it is intriguing that Ray-Ban have reverted back to using Western ideas and connotations in their commercial. These ideas were popular from the 1950s-1970s but have since lost impact so it is interesting that Ray-Ban would decide to use this concept as a way to sell their product in 2011. I believe that the reason they have used this idea is because originally cowboys were cool and rebellious but in a positive and heroic way. As Ray-Ban are trying to promote the tag line "Never Hide" this iconic concept allows them do so. I feel that they have used this idea and made it contemporary and urbanised it, as the setting is a typical American street. This therefore, still allows their audience to relate to the commercial and think, that could be me and thus by the product.