Essay: Counter-Hegemony and Cultural Appropriation
Imaan Shah
25th June 2015
QVC1104
Cultural Appropriation and Sexual Innuendos in Advertisements
Cultural Appropriation: “Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of a different cultural group, especially if the adoption is of an oppressed people's cultural elements by members of the dominant culture” - Eden Caceda[1]
Cultural appropriation is a recent norm that has now become common place in society. Due to the globalisation of media and the free access to information via television, public broadcasting, and the internet, different aspects from worldly cultures have now been used in fashion trends, music and film. By ‘adopting’ these aspects, it is
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When a dominating or ‘more powerful’ culture steals elements from a minority, they have the ability to manipulate and mistreat it. By manifesting it as their own ideas about that culture, it can ‘erase’ and warp the originality of the minority or ‘less powerful’ culture.[3]
Image 1[4] - A ceremonial Native American feathered warbonnet is worn by a white model during a lingerie fashion show, purely for ‘decorative’ and costume purposes. No consideration has been taken by wearing this attire, in terms of the history that the Native Americans were subject to by the White colonialists. Counter-hegemony, cultural appropriation and generalisation can be seen in advertising, by wording and visual representations. The following example harnesses the power of sexual or pornographic elements to sell milk. There, however, is a subtle underlining of religious iconography and reference that has been manipulated as a sexual innuendos, as a means to sell their goods.
Image 2[5] - A Finnish advertisement for ‘Valio’, a dairy products
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The advertisements both contain the symbolism of the milk squirted in the face, but it is used as a sexual (and pornographic) innuendo and has connotations to semen being ejaculated into a woman’s face.i Image 4[7] - “Nursing Madonna” or “The Miraculous Lactation of St Bernard” by Alonso Cano in 1650.
This is an image portraying St Bernard being quenched of his thirst by the lactating Virgin Mary. This image was painted in reverence to the Madonna and the ‘miracle’ that St Bernard experienced. She appears to him after he had prayed to her and asked her to reveal herself to him. The myth is that she squirted either in his mouth (quenching him of thirst) or into his eye, curing him of an eye infection. This is a variant depiction of ‘miracle’, as there are many theories surrounding this biblical anecdote.
This image was the original artwork from which the advertisements have taken or ‘borrowed’ the element of the ‘milk being squirted on to their face’, and thus is considered cultural appropriation. There is no intended sexual innuendo with the artwork as there is in Image 2 and Image 3 (although there has been speculation), and the source from which the milk is coming from is visually
Advertisements are all over the place. Whether they are on TV, radio, or in a magazine, there is no way that you can escape them. They all have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. And of course they are selling their product. This is a multi billion dollar industry and the advertiser’s study all the ways that they can attract the person’s attention. One way that is used the most and is in some ways very controversial is use of sex to sell products. For me to analyze this advertisement I used the rhetorical triangle, as well as ethos, pathos, and logos.
In the fast paced world of today, advertisers have to keep up with the times. One of the best ways they do this is through the Got Milk ads. Milk is a part of everyday life and the advertisers for Milk show this through modern tactics and popular celebrities. By putting familiar faces on magazine ads and using interesting T.V. commercials, companies sell their products. The ways in which they sell the products is not by just stating that their product is good, they appeal to the human emotions, ethics and most of all what is logical. There are many ad campaigns out there that strongly target one area, such as your emotions, but the Got Milk advertisers campaign has all three of these factors.
Have you ever taken offense when you saw someone dressed in traditional garments from your culture? In America, this happens quite often. Some people may not recognize it and some refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. Cultural appropriation is a situation in which a dominant culture steals aspects of a minority culture’s, such as hair, clothing styles, and music.
Cultural appropriation is one of the worst phenomena to enter America’s social scope. People are taking aspects of cultures and using them for their selfish gain, undermining and taking away the spotlight of the originators in the process. Many white people have adopted this behavior, seeing it fit that they can steal anyone’s identity even though they have the greatest and ideal identity since the beginning of civilization. Justin Timberlake and Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (also known as “Adele) are primary examples of this ludicrous practice.
Culture Appropriation is the idea of taking one’s culture and adjusting it to another culture, and has brought about many debates for years. One specific ongoing debate is if writers have the right to write about other cultures without being classified as culturally appropriating their culture. Five articles have argued their standpoint and what they believe is the correct way to interpret culture appropriation: “Who Gets to Write What” by Kaitlyn Greenidge, “Dangerous Ideas” by Kenzie Allen, “Commentary: Cultural Appropriation Is, In Fact, Indefensible” by K. Tempest Bradford, “In Defense of Cultural Appropriation” by Kenan Malik, and “You can’t steal a culture: In defense of Culture Appropriation” by John McWhorter. While all the participants
Cultural Appropriation and Its Effects On Other Cultures This past Halloween I dressed up as a China Doll; in my black traditional Asian dress, white painted face, rosy pink cheeks, black eyeliner, and my hair held up in a bun with chopsticks. I originally thought that this costume would be rather attractive and fun. However, I began to question myself after a young lady approached me and asked, "Are you suppose to be an Asian person? " I immediately replied, "No, I am a beautiful China Doll".
In “Virgin and Child” made in early 14th century in Normandy, the Virgin Mary and Jesus are represented. The statue is made
The advertisement I chose to Analyse is for Fuze Shape drinks. The advertisement features an eye-catching picture of a woman’s very toned, naked butt and thigh with the fuze drink package design painted on it. In bold letters, at the bottom of the ad,
For example, readers may affiliate a nun with character traits of devotion and purity, however, including a pregnant nun that is eating ice cream into an extremely religious setting, causes for the advert to go past the point of promoting and to the point of criticism. Social myths with respect to religious misbehaviour are evident in the advertisement. By taking the social myth of a pregnant nun, someone that should not be pregnant, and including it in his advertisement, Antonio Federici imposes a very cynical opinion of the Catholic religion on the audience. This opinion is further magnified as Antonio throws the word religion around so easily in his company’s slogan “ice cream is our religion”. Social codes with respect to femminity, specifically focused on the social myth that women are easily tempted and fragile even further convince the consumer to buy the ice cream. The woman we initially see in the advert appears to be virtuous and clean, as seen through her perfect skin, face and neat clothing, which is made this way to show the ideal image. However when the reader looks a little bit closer, they can see that the woman is indeed pregnant, the idea that this nun who has sworn an oath to not to have sex somehow ends up pregnant shows that women are easily tempted. Seeing the social
"What Are the Pitfalls of Using Sexual Imagery in Advertising?" Http://www.Millwardbrown.com. N.p., 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. .
Since as long as we could remember, cultures were influenced by others and shared by others. When cultures cross, people adopt new ways of living and thinking. The world we live in has become increasingly interconnected and there are many ways that cultures have been blended; This act of infusing one culture with another is called cultural imperialism. While some
n his paper, “From Cultural Exchange to Transculturation: A Review and Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation” Richard A. Rogers defines cultural appropriation as being, “inescapably intertwined with cultural politics. It is involved in the assimilation and exploitation of marginalized and colonized cultures and in the survival of sub orientated cultures and their resistance to dominant cultures” (Rodgers 474). To put it simply cultural appropriation usually is when the majority race, white, try to adapt some form of a minority culture and often turning it into a sort of trend. This can happen to a variety of races in a multitude of ways, the use of Japanese kimonos, cornrows that are associated with the black community turning into
Appropriation is an art form that can be traced back to 1912 and has been extensively used by artists since the 1980’s. It is the form were artists transform pre-existing objects or images into something new and enticing, only changing slight factors of the original artwork. Many artists have different interpretations of appropriation which leads to many opinions.
from all walks of life. Brendan O’Neil’s, editor of Spiked and a columnist for The Australian and The Big Issue, wrote in his article, “The idea of ‘cultural appropriation’ sums up everything rotten in today’s intensifying politics of identity. It’s fuelled by the borderline racist idea that to mix cultures is bad.” The stance against culture appropriation is not about halting the mixture of culture, it is to try to explain the importance of learning about, appreciating, and then applying it the correct way. Cultures should but not for fashion or profit, but for educational purposes. It is important to learn about the many cultures and unique styles in the