American billboard

[imomus]

Although I'm back in Berlin now, I wanted to run one more state-of-America entry. No doubt the people who objected to Pompeii at the kiosk -- my mercurial reading of the nation's spiritual health via a selection of its magazine cover straplines -- won't like it, but I wanted to look at a couple of billboard ads spotted in New York City over the last couple of weeks, and just try to parse what they might be saying about American society.

Let's start with the Leo Burnett Stodgy Banker campaign for Washington Mutual. Here we see rich bankers of the old school making provocative statements like "Free Checking? Exactly how does that help the rich get richer?"



What's really remarkable about these ads is the way they play on class stereotypes in order to work up a sense of resentment against the rich. They're remarkably... well, remarkably communist! There's a kind of Weimar Republic satirical aggression to their tone, something that makes me think of Brecht and Weill, John Heartfield and George Grosz. This kind of hostility to the rich is something we don't associate with this country. Could it be that six years of Bush giving tax breaks to the rich has actually, finally stuck in America's craw? Have we reached the tipping point where people finally start to see the evil in the Gini? To wish for a smaller disparity between the rich and the poor? Are these posters (and they're also TV ads) being displayed in red states as well as blue ones like New York? (The ad agency that made them is based in Chicago.)

It's not before time. As the Wall Street Journal reported recently, Americans have tolerated inequality in their society because they believe that the US offers high social mobility to those who are talented, have motivation and ability. Anyone can make it if they work hard enough, according to the old mantra. But this is no longer the case. The US now offers less chance of social mobility than Europe, Scandinavia or Canada: "Despite the widespread belief that the U.S. remains a more mobile society than Europe, economists and sociologists say that in recent decades the typical child starting out in poverty in continental Europe (or in Canada) has had a better chance at prosperity." Studies show that France and Germany are now somewhat more socially mobile than either the US or the UK, and Canada and the Nordic countries are much more so. So come to Europe, land of opportunity!

Speaking of Europe, it's fascinating to see the way America portrays German cars.



"Bigger engine. Increased envy," reads the Mercedes ad I spotted in midtown. "German engineering in da haus," rapped the VW ad on 3rd Avenue. The Mercedes ad clearly alludes to Freud's concept of penis envy: "Penis envy in popular culture is understood to mean women's psychological response to their lack of a penis. It is also sometimes ascribed to males in regard to others with a larger penis." A number of not-so-subliminal meanings can be (cock-)teased out of this ad. First of all, men with small-engined cars (and again, as in the social mobility issue, we see a reversal of traditional images of the US and Europe: it used to be European cars that were seen as small-engined) are "unmanned", made into women. Secondly, men with American cars are less manly than men with German cars. They have smaller penises.

This idea carries over into the VW ad: here the "in da haus" copyline fuel-injects the semi-conscious idea that having a German car will give you a penis as big as a black man's. I mean, that's the only reason I can think of for advertising "German engineering" with black phraseology.

We Europeans, apparently, done got it uber alles: da Freud, da phallic cars, da social mobility. Reprazent, liebling!

Comments

[ratz.livejournal.com]

See, the thing I like about being American is that it is a big enough culture that I can find roots of this type of class warfare tracing back years, and I cling to that identity as "my America." Whenever people ask me how I feel living in a country symbolized by greed and right wing politicians, I just shrug and rely on my symbols... Will Rogers, Woody Guthrie and the like.

[silenceinspades.livejournal.com]

i've been to washinton mutual bank. it's a strange place. it looks more like an upscale thai restaraunt or a toy store than a bank. everything is open rather than tellers standing behind a counter they stand behind bright orange and yellow tables. they also have ads on the wall that proclaim the name of the bank as 'mu mu.' sort of communist, but also very twee.

[bardofawen.livejournal.com]

The phrase "in da haus" no doubt refers to Volkswagen's a recent ad campaign "un-pimp my ride" satirizing the trend of "pimp my ride" television programs. For example, the following commercial:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1158901779668604713&q=Volkswagen+commercial (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1158901779668604713&q=Volkswagen+commercial)

You may be right in that the entire concept of "pimping my ride" deals with penis envy. There's long been an argument that automobiles serve as a form of phallic overcompensation. I don't think the Volkswagen ads play into that idea of penis envy as much as parody the phenomenon. Then again, perhaps the two are not so dissimilar.

In regard to the billboards above featuring the corporate fat cats decrying breaks for the little people, I'd argue that mentality has been prevalent in American society for very long time. In fact, this is hardly the first time we've seen class tension exploited as a means of advertising. I think you're right in that resentment of the upper classes may be stronger now than it has been in decades, nevertheless I don't really find these ads shocking or indicative of a cultural metamorphosis.

I will say, however, that those ads provoke the opposite response in me. Who are those ads helping if not the rich bankers? Once upon a time, it was the privilege for banks to hold (and have access to) our money, a privilege for which we were reimbursed with interest. Now, it has become a privilege for us to use the banks, a privilege for which we now pay transaction fees for nearly every service rendered. My initial thought upon seeing the billboards, was, "how dare they expect us to be grateful for not charging us to have access to our money?" Unfortunately, I fear I am in the minority on that count.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

There are some weird American banks. Their names remind me of sects or churches. I used a machine at the Community Independence bank recently which spoke phrases in a Scottish accent! It was odd listening to an Edinburgh accent on East 86th Street.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Wow, that VW TV ad is odd! A German professor and his sexy assistant who "fail" an American and de-pimp his car, yet replace it with the sharkiest Volkswagen I've ever seen (what have they done to my lovely VW Golf, it looks like a stupid white killer shark now!)...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

In fact, have a listen to it yourself!

Independence Community Bank ATM (http://www.imomus.com/independence.mp3), East 86th Street, New York.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

But could it be that the "unpimp my ride" theme has a more social message -- and a more sinister one?

Americans drive "pimp rides" in lurid colours. They need the "white power" (and the cars used are all white) from Germany to "unpimp" their rides: purify them, removing the social stigma of the association of their "pimp rides" with low status black communities in the US. The sexy assistant giving the guy an F (for fail) further links his "pimp ride" to educational failure in the black community.

Then again, the fact that the new car (the white VW) looks pretty much like a pimp ride too, and that the advert retains the black terminology (pimp ride, in da haus), and that there's a well-known tendency for rich blacks (in rap videos etc) to display German cars as status symbols, and that there's this not-so-subliminal link between black men and large penises... well, VW (or their agency) are clearly having their racial cake and eating it too.

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

donovan has a got a bigger one than hendrix. that's according to rosi rosi, sixties german supergroupie amon duul the lot.
nick! 2 viagras and then back to cynthia.

http://www.cynthiapcaster.org/casts/_dicks/casts_momus_page/momus_page.htm

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Don't rub it in, NiceKarl! I am smaller than both Hendrix and Donovan! I must immediately go out and buy a Mercedes, mofo!

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

sorry, i forgot 2 sign.


K

[imomus.livejournal.com]

World Socialist website (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/mobi-m25.shtml) highlights the links between race and class that, ultimately, connect the themes of the two sets of ads I show here:

"Not only does Britain have one of the worst records of social mobility in the eight countries examined, but social mobility in Britain has actually declined. There was less mobility for those born in 1970 compared to those born in 1958. Wealth was more clearly linked to educational attainment in the UK than in any of the other countries, with children from poor backgrounds trapped in the worst schools and less likely to continue their studies.

"Even so, the US has the worst record for social mobility. As the authors point out, although the notion that the US is “the land of opportunity” still persists, such a belief is misplaced.

"While parental income is less important in determining educational achievement, the composition and level of economic activity in the US is such that higher education is the key to a much wider range of well-paid jobs than it is in Britain. Race is also a significant factor, due to the social position of most black families. Children of black parents are far less socially mobile than white children."

[jasongtokyo.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the (over)use of black. They remind me of the billboards in They Live.

And did you know that Americans like instant gratification (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060528/ap_on_re_us/impatient_nation)?

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

or a VW......

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Vz7MnOkNS-c&search=%22pink%20moon%22

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, colo(u)r me American in terms of impatience in queues. I don't see the point in paying a time-price for other people's inefficiency or loneliness (they insist on chatting to the check-out clerk because they're socially isolated). I notice I've become a lot more impatient since getting into the internet: everything in meatspace is so incredibly slooooooooooooow compared to the speed at which transactions happen online, it's simply unbearable.

Time to unpimp zee auto!

[squidb0i.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, the VW billboard ad plays off their TV ads, wherein a Karl Hungus- or Dieter-like character (played by the same actor that did Hungus in Big Lebowski) and his lovely assistant 'un-pimp' a 'riced-out' Honda or whatever by launching it with a catapault, or crushing it with a cargo container with a VW inside or whatever.

So basically VW is trying for a chunk of the 'young and fast' market by mocking their competition (easy to do) and hooking you in with multi-contextual humour.

[squidb0i.livejournal.com]

WaMu were one of the few banks to be all mac back in the day. When they finally switched over there was a massive outpouring of beige cubelets destined to become either landfill or fishbowls. =]

Re: Time to unpimp zee auto!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

"Multi-contextual" indeed! There's a racial pyramid with the white European VWs on top, and black "pimps" and Asian "rice rides" on the bottom two corners, apparently.

[soundofwaves.livejournal.com]

"So come to Europe, land of opportunity!"

Would that it were so easy! The lady and I have been scouring the internets for ways to relocate to Western Europe (particularly France) in the wake of the US's political, economic and social climates, but it is fairly closed for those coming from outside the EU. Tips?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

You could both marry me! But how do I know you wouldn't just love me for my European blood (and my money)? I want to be loved for who I really am deep down.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

What's the message in that one? That driving around in a multi-racial group in an open-topped cabriolet looking at the moon and catching fireflies is more fun than going to a party where people are behaving like drunken animals?

The 90s values are quite different in the "Pink Moon" spot, much gentler. America has changed, got sharkier.

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

gosh...typing is more sluggish than walking. no the message is that the new twee has already sold out 6 years ago.

[jasongtokyo.livejournal.com]

Then in that respect you must've preferred Osaka to Tokyo. People there have a lot less patience for lining up of any kind.

The almost sociopathic adherence to it in Tokyo is often maddening.

By the way, the spoken breaks in the closing track ("At Last I Am Born") of Morrissey's latest album reminded me a bit of your work. That's a compliment.

[diesel-pioneer.livejournal.com]

The Washington Mutual ads, to me, don't seem 'communist' (or anti-capitalist) as anti-'old money'. After all, the 'fat cat bank manager' has become something of an bete noire in pretty much every Western capitalist society I can think of. Therefore, he cannot represent the capitalist system as it currently is.

Rather, he represents the "old"—something which advertising ruthlessly attacks and satirises as a matter of course. In the examples you provide, there's something which directly relates to this "old money" thing: the cigar, the butler, the being "born rich".. All of these are outmoded signifiers of wealth. Were the adverts to cite more current signifiers of wealth, SUVs for instance, it'd be doubtful that the client would approve them at all.

Or something.

[robincarmody.livejournal.com]

There's a whole generation in Britain who find these harsh facts about the US very hard to accept. Broadly they're the ones who grew up in the 50s and 60s, for whom the image of the US was intensely enticing (see, for example, my essay at http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/itv50/evolution ) as a land where people wouldn't be trapped by class and economic circumstances, where - most poignantly of all - mediocrities wouldn't get the top jobs just because of who their fathers had been.

I think that's the reason why my mother, although she has all the socialist views which suggest that she *should*, can't bring herself to fully commit to the European project; the endurance of adolescent loyalties. I think that generation confused *cultural* divisions with *economic* ones; they assumed that a society where the most affluent were fully attuned to the values of commercial TV, rather than refuse to have it in the house, would be a society with unlimited opportunities for the social demographic equivalent to that which provided the core audience for commercial TV in the UK. In practice, things aren't like that; just as the setting up of the proletarian mass cultural model as the default culture for the British middle classes in a way unthinkable 50 years ago has not itself facilitated increased social mobility for the working class, so the US is a deeply riven and divided society despite its lack of a British-style ultra-traditional *cultural* class structure. We're only just realising the damage my mother's generation did to the cultural fabric here; not seeing where the future lay, backing the wrong horse at the one time that a difference could have been made ... in many ways, dreaming the European dream was the only rebellious thing I could have done with my life. My mother's generation will never fully understand that, either.

[robincarmody.livejournal.com]

A good analysis. This was essentially the Thatcherite dynamic; attacking "old money" from a capitalist rather than a socialist starting point. You can get a good sense of how old British people are by whether or not they think attacking "old money" *in itself* is somehow "rebellious" or that it inherently carries socialist dynamic. I might have said that "old money" vs. "new money" is not as inherently divisive in the US as it is in the UK, but now I don't know ... I do get the impression that some American neoconservatives disapprove of "old money" partially because they associate it with a more sceptical, less fanatically pro-Israel and anti-Arab foreign policy, and this is *definitely* a dynamic (perhaps the key dynamic) in the neo-Thatcherite/Blairite alliance's sneering at "old money" (along with "old-school socialists") in this country.