An outsider's perspective on New York City: creating a collective state consciousness through advertising

During my recent trip to New York I had many observations about life in the city: how easy it is to understand the street/avenue system; how clever the city was to build in blocks; how it seemed like almost everyone had the same brown Louis Vuitton bag (that I now own - when in Rome). The one observation that stood out to me though through a series of advertisements was the portrayal of the collective social group, "New Yorkers".

The traditional stereotype of the New Yorker, somebody who lives in New York City, depicts this person as "rude", "impatient", "uptight" and "snobby" (The Culture Trip, 2017). However, it could be seen that this is being challenged by the NY transport authority. One advert had the headline "New Yorkers are hard on the outside, but soft on the inside" suggesting that the New Yorker could be perceived as "rude" when they push past you on the street, but this rudeness is not a core of their personality. The "inside" of a New Yorker is portrayed as concerned, supportive and as a safe guarder. This could be seen through numerous adverts around the subway  with the titles "New Yorkers keeping New York safe" together with numbers to call if you notice something "strange" or "dangerous" on public transport. These adverts also challenge the stereotype of New York as a dangerous city; the collective social group of the New Yorkers choose to live here everyday, so it must not be dangerous. These adverts were accompanied with head-shots of New Yorkers: people of all ages, genders, ethnicities and sizes. It could be argued that this type of advertising helps to create a collective conscious of what it means to be a New Yorker through uniting citizens; despite differing ethnicities, ages and genders, they share a feature of their identity with others who live in New York City. Adverts portray a sense that all New Yorkers hold a duty of care to their city in a post-9/11 New York.

Indeed, this stereotype was not the only thing that helped collectivise the state of New York. Other adverts created a sense of a state consciousness. For instances, there was an advertisement offering support and legal help to New York citizens who had friends or family going through immigration problems. Another advert stated that healthcare was not just a luxury for the "rich citizens of New York" but something that all New Yorkers deserved to have. Whilst another advertised a number you could ring if you believed that you were not getting paid the minimum wage and your working rights were being exploited. All of these adverts show New York City to be a safe and caring city to live within. Similarly, these adverts depict New York City to be very liberal especially against the current back drop of Trump's America.

Of course, these adverts echoed liberal arguments surrounding basic rights for citizens; I witnessed anti-Trump/Pence marches; and citizens adorned Black Lives Matter t-shirts. You could say that, in the current political climate, that the city is rather left wing. What does this mean about the citizens? Does this reflect their political beliefs? Statistics show that the Democratic Party's candidate, Hillary Clinton won New York with 56% of the vote in comparison to Trump's 36% (NY Times, 2017). It is interesting, when looking at the map which breaks down areas of New York and their votes, that New York City was the city with the most, proportional, votes for Hillary Clinton within the state of New York.  It would be interesting to see how New Yorkers view these candidates now.

Although the politics of New York City may not be represented by the United States of America (e.g. Trump) the sense of identity and patriotism is. New York could be seen as a microcosm for American patriotism. The United States of America is exactly that, the country as a whole is very big and although the USA does a great job of creating a collective conscience of what it means to be American, New York has created its own identity.  Even something as mundane as car plates gives the owner an identity to which state they belong.  Perhaps this state identity helps citizens to distance themselves from political issues within the US as a country.

References:
 https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articles/13-stereotypes-about-new-yorkers-that-are-completely-wrong/
https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/new-york

“Enhancing your natural beauty”: my type of capitalist marketing

Adverts are ubiquitous. When I was growing up, the only time I would see adverts was while watching television. However, with the rise of digital technology, adverts have found themselves penetrating everyone’s life: whether you are watching a YouTube video or scrolling social media, you can even get adverts on the front of your smartphone’s lock screen dependent on push notifications of some apps. The one thing I have noticed whilst being forced to watch adverts is the rise of negative, preventative marketing of consumer products. What I mean by this is the rise of products marketed as “anti” insert an adjective here: “anti-frizz”, “anti-blackhead”, “anti-humidity”, “anti-spot”. This type of marketing perpetuates the idea that we must cover our “imperfections”, imperfections that are created and defined by these companies. Who decided that having frizzy hair, spots or blackheads was not ideal? Is there a health benefit to not having these? As far as I am aware, the only reason products aim to irradiate these characteristics is to profit from cosmetic ideals. This type of marketing is what causes self-esteem and insecurities amongst young women.

Of course, it can be said that any type of marketing involves selling a product to fulfil capitalist created material needs; but I have to say, I am a contradictory fan of capitalism and its many products. There is no way to eradicate these products, in a similar critique to that of work by Karl Marx: overthrowing capitalism is next to impossible. Therefore, my ideal beauty product marketing is selling the purpose of products as “enhancing the natural”. These products minimise the guilt I feel about indulging with capitalism and makes me feel like the product I have bought does not define my beauty: I am already beautiful, the product is just adding to this.  With or without this product my features are valid. I believe taking this marketing approach is beneficial to both companies and the consumer. The consumer will feel good about themselves, which in turn, may increase the chances of repurchasing this item. I have found that responding to this type of marketing is what has allowed me to no longer feel insecure about not wearing makeup. 10 years ago, I never would have considered going “bare-face” at work or at social events, but now it is my norm. Of course, this could also be due to my self-concept as I have aged, but I do think that positive marketing has had an impact.

Altogether, as we cannot stop the inevitability of capitalism, I believe that if companies are going to heavily market consumer products, it should be done in this positive, uplifting manner.