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Last year, some of you might have noticed your local Banana Republic asking "Are you Don?" or "Are you Betty?" This struck me as some of the more tone-deaf tie-in advertising I'd seen; yes, the clothing in Mad Men is period-accurate, nicely detailed and certainly good-looking, but one of the central themes of the show is the clash between the characters' polished, perfect exterior appearance and their tumultuous, conflicted (and frankly dysfunctional) lives. So while I can totally see a luxury clothing store holding up the wardrobe of the show as a thing of desire, holding up the characters themselves as something to aspire to seemed a bit...off.
Today, however, I've officially found a product tie-in with even more mind-bogglingly problematic implications:
Now, I don't know how many people on my friends list are familiar with The Hunger Games or its sequels, but here's a bit of a recap - the Capitol, a centralized city-state where the wealthiest and most powerful people live, is surrounded by twelve districts. The Capitol produces nothing itself, merely consumes the goods produced by the twelve surrounding districts (up to and including two of their children each year for The Games, produced solely for their entertainment). The denizens of the Capitol are almost universally portrayed as airheaded and fluffy, concerned with nothing other than their luxurious lifestyles and following the latest ever-more-extreme fashion trends (skin dyeing, for instance). Needless to say, it's a pretty negative depiction, as well as being a thinly-veiled satire on modern American culture.
The unkind part of me wants to note that there's really nothing wrong with the ad, since the people they're trying to sell nail polish to are those who would see nothing wrong with emulating the lifestyle of the Capitol's citizens. But surely there's at least a decent portion of their consumer base who'd rather not be associated with such a meaningless and suppressive lifestyle?
On the other hand, somehow I doubt that many of the people who see this ad will think about the implications enough to be insulted by them. Certainly not enough to counteract the "Ooo, I loved The Hunger Games! I should buy this nail polish!" factor. The fact is, people are more likely to buy something if it has a name on it they recognize; therefore, there's no reason for them not to piggyback on a huge advertising campaign, even if the implications of said piggybacking only serve to prove the point the original story was making.
Had I come across this out of context, I would have assumed it to be a parody of advertising tie-ins (sadly, it's not; I pulled it from a Sally Beauty Supply flyer). But once more, the line for satire has been pushed back, as people seem absolutely hell-bent on living up to the most ridiculous exaggerations of their worst characteristics.
Today, however, I've officially found a product tie-in with even more mind-bogglingly problematic implications:
Now, I don't know how many people on my friends list are familiar with The Hunger Games or its sequels, but here's a bit of a recap - the Capitol, a centralized city-state where the wealthiest and most powerful people live, is surrounded by twelve districts. The Capitol produces nothing itself, merely consumes the goods produced by the twelve surrounding districts (up to and including two of their children each year for The Games, produced solely for their entertainment). The denizens of the Capitol are almost universally portrayed as airheaded and fluffy, concerned with nothing other than their luxurious lifestyles and following the latest ever-more-extreme fashion trends (skin dyeing, for instance). Needless to say, it's a pretty negative depiction, as well as being a thinly-veiled satire on modern American culture.
The unkind part of me wants to note that there's really nothing wrong with the ad, since the people they're trying to sell nail polish to are those who would see nothing wrong with emulating the lifestyle of the Capitol's citizens. But surely there's at least a decent portion of their consumer base who'd rather not be associated with such a meaningless and suppressive lifestyle?
On the other hand, somehow I doubt that many of the people who see this ad will think about the implications enough to be insulted by them. Certainly not enough to counteract the "Ooo, I loved The Hunger Games! I should buy this nail polish!" factor. The fact is, people are more likely to buy something if it has a name on it they recognize; therefore, there's no reason for them not to piggyback on a huge advertising campaign, even if the implications of said piggybacking only serve to prove the point the original story was making.
Had I come across this out of context, I would have assumed it to be a parody of advertising tie-ins (sadly, it's not; I pulled it from a Sally Beauty Supply flyer). But once more, the line for satire has been pushed back, as people seem absolutely hell-bent on living up to the most ridiculous exaggerations of their worst characteristics.
