Taste for exclusivity
–
A visual image analysis on the representation of social class and taste in Jil
Sander’s advertising campaign.
Katharina Eveline Stump
Visuell Kommunikation Kandidatnivå, 15hp K3, Malmö Universitet VT 2020
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to create a deeper understanding on how brands today are part of culture, creating meaning and effects, persuading customers through hidden messages and cultural communication codes. The starting point for my studies has been a European approach, with a German brand as empirical material. As a visual communicator it is especially important to critically understand how each element in an advertising campaign creates meaning and therewith influences consumers unconsciously.
My study has the ambition to research how luxury products are portrayed by examining visual markers for taste and exclusivity that indicate that the Jil Sander advertising campaign (2018) is directed towards members of a higher social strata. This has been done by using a qualitative visual image analysis based on social semiotics. Representation, taste, status and social milieus are the theoretical key terms in this study which are linked to my image analysis which shows that the characters are members of the same scene belonging to the same social milieu, were they share social norms, dress codes, linguistic codes such as signs and symbols. All of them are visual markers of a higher social class, taste and capital.
Keywords : Visual Communication, Socioeconomic status, Culture, Luxury Fashion
1. Introduction………..3
2. Background………...4
2.1 Jil Sander………..4
2.2 Clothing & culture………4
2.3 Social Status & consumption………...5
2.4 Storytelling & marketing………...6
3. Problem & purpose………..7
3.1 Research question………...8 4. Delimitations……….8 4.1 Media Production……….8 5. Theory………...9 5.1 Representation………..9 5.2 Visual rhetoric………..9
5.3 Signs & myths………..10
5.4 Cultural capital & class-based taste……….11
5.5 Milieu & scene……….12
6. Related research………...13
6.1 Essay 1: Luxury Brands’ Storytelling on Social Media ………...13
6.2 Essay 2: A qualitative study of cultural values in commercials …………...14
7. Method: Qualitative visual image analysis………14
7.1 Social Semiotics………...15 8. Material………...16 8.1 Selection of material………17 8.2 Selected material………..18 9. Analysis………..22 9.1 Clothing………...22 9.2 Setting………...23 9.3 Storytelling………...25 10. Research result………...26
11. Discussion and conclusion………27
1 Introduction
Advertising plays a significant role in our daily lives, we see it online, on television or hear it on the radio. Each brand has its own advertising methods and techniques. This research project has two main aims in mind. The first aim was to extend my knowledge about which rhetoric tools a luxury fashion brand uses in order to communicate with their target audience and the second aim for this research was to analyse how luxury clothes are portrayed which will be answered by analysing film stills showing visual markers for taste and exclusivity indicating that the advertising campaign is communicating with members from a higher social strata.
“Paused by Wim Wenders” is an advertising campaign for the high-end German fashion brand Jil Sander, directed by Art House film director Wim Wenders in cooperation with creative agencyBuero Swiss. The campaign is a series of five short films released online over a five month period to coincide with the launch of the Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 collection. The films were shot in different locations in and around Berlin, Germany. Considering, the artistic style of these advertising films and the unusual sudden ending as well as the cooperation between director Wim Wenders and German luxury fashion brand Jil Sander, these ads captured my interest and therefore is an interesting topic to research within the field of visual communication. In this research I will not elaborate on other markers of social identity other than class such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality or religion as researching the visual markers for high-class is my main focus within this essay however the researcher is aware that the chosen images show intersectional issues between class and gender, class and ethnicity as well as between class and sexuality within the selected material which will be mentioned briefly but not extensively within the essay in order to not exceed the time frame for this study.
Still Image from the Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 advertising Campaign: “Jil Sander Paused by Wim Wenders”
2 Background
“Brands are often equated with feelings of belonging, authenticity, patriotism and community - all important aspects of one’s emotional and civic life that are unlikely to be fulfilled by a consumer product” Sturken & Cartwright, 2017 (p. 262). With this essay I want to look closer at markers for luxury and exclusivity within two of the five short films for Jil Sanders advertising campaign. How does the brand communicate with an high-income audience through emotional storytelling? - I want to have a look at social class and the modes of communication that are constructed through visual elements in advertising. I therefore will start to discuss the context of luxury fashion and culture, what social status and consumption have in common and continue by looking at the connection between storytelling and marketing .
2.1 Jil Sander
Heidemarie Jiline "Jil " Sander born in 1943 in northern Germany and raised in Hamburg is a German designer who founded the luxury fashion brand Jil Sander. The brand is critically known for monochrome clothing with high prices as well as the lack of advertising on channels other than their own website and instagram. The brand is continuously spending
money on collaborations with prestigious photographers and directors, such as the famous italian photographer Mario Sorrenti, Swedish photographer Lina Scheynius and the acclaimed film director Wim Wenders. Since the couple, Lucie and Luke Meier took over as Designers at Jil Sander the visual communication changed to more surreal and dark campaigns which is what sparked my interest and I started to ask myself how the luxury brand communicates with its audience and what they have in mind by working together with a famous Art House director for an advertising campaign.
2.2 Clothing & culture
Everyone of us has to get dressed each day. Some people dress because it is necessary others because they have a strong interest about clothing and fashion in particular. Whether or not interested in fashion, we all communicate something by the way we dress. In previous centuries clothing was expensive and entirely created for the upper class, in order to wear fashionable clothes individuals were required to observe the style from those within the upper strata of society (Diana Crane, 2000). Clothing is seen as a form of culture and often carries cultural meanings. Whether or not we like och dislike clothing, the selection and designs of garments, choice of fabrics and colours work to signify our identities and belonging to a certain group of people conscious or unconscious (Hall, 1997). Rare designs, fabrics and colours are automatically more expensive and more desirable for the consumer, that is to say that these items are not necessarily essential to one's life. Non essential, rare and expensive clothing or goods are defined as ‘luxury or high-end clothing’ (Ko & Woodside, 2013). The majority of people consume luxury clothing for what they symbolize, which is either because of their quality or of social codes. Hence purchasing luxury items is to belong to a culture since it represents a form of expressing one’s values (Dubois & Duquesne, 1993). According to Dubois & Duquesne (1993), “The symbolic and social value attached to the consumption of luxury clothing reveals a significant impact of culture”. Consumers choice of wearing high-end products is driven by a desire to differentiate themselves from mainstream consumers, with this in mind, it is no rarity that customers prefer less explicit brand identification such as invisible logo tags or prints, in order to stand out from the crowd. This subtle way of branding is only decodable by others in the know and is therefore seen as exclusive and luxurious (Ko & Woodside, 2013). This is important for my research in order
study the symbolic and social value attached to Jil Sanders clothing indicating taste and exclusivity (Ko & Woodside, 2013).
2.3 Social Status and Consumption
Veblen (2009) developed a theory about material consumption, claiming that consumers use product prices in order to display their wealth. While people with a higher income buy exclusive clothing as an attempt to differentiate themselves and their style from others. People with a lower economic status purchasing expensive clothing are attempting to belong to a certain group of people , they want to be identified with a reference group, serving as a role model ( Bourdieu, 1984). The discussion about class has been dominated by three social class theorists, Karl Marx, Max Weber and later Pierre Bourdieu who is influenced by Karl Marx class theory. According to Bauman (2007, p. 100), “The consumerist culture is marked by a constant pressure to be someone else”. Consumer markets focus on changing consumers needs and challenging their identities by cultivating constant disaffection with the products used in order to seek new products. This consumerist circle is promoted but disguised as a privilege of our culture (Bauman, 2007). There is a remarkable difference and more variety in cultural consumption of individuals in more advantaged social positions than of those in less advantaged position. Members of higher social strata consume not only more highbrow culture but even more middlebrow and lowbrow culture (Chan, T. W., 2010).
2.4 Storytelling & marketing
Storytelling is considered to be a unique and powerful tool in human relationships and marketing which we have used for a long time and still use everyday. Storytelling includes stories, myths and fables and they can be oral, written or figurative or a combination of several (Thompson & Bordwell, 2016). One reason why storytelling has become a medium which is used in marketing and communication is that human-beings store information in form of stories and especially those that involve us emotionally. Emotional advertising can stimulate ideas, communicate knowledge and entertain the viewer (Mossberg & Nissen Johansen, 2006). For instance, clothing in itself cannot satisfy our longing for the meaning of life. Therefore, we construct meaning through imagination, dreams and romance, a concept companies are using in order to convince customers. The consumer then chooses to like companies that represent the same meaning and express the same values as themselves for
example, lifestyle, history, experience and feeling. When consumption is the key to a community, the literature speaks of “consumption community”. This theory is based on the fact that the participants feel a community and belonging as they share the same consumption values and behaviors, which can result in friendship, among other things. Another concept is the “brand community”, based on relationships between consumers who appreciate the same brand, are therewith part of the same group showing similar lifestyles, clothing, taste and habits. Mossberg & Nissen Johansen (2006) argue that storytelling is not hierarchical since a story can attract different listeners and viewers regardless of, gender, age, education and profession (Mossberg & Nissen Johansen, 2006). But in how far is storytelling not hierarchical if the story or the advertising shows people wearing clothes that only can be purchased if the consumer owns a certain amount of capital, that is to find out in this study.
3 Problem and purpose
The task for advertising campaigns is to inform, persuade, remind and promote in order to increase sales and raise brand awareness. However brands today are part of culture, creating meaning and effects, persuading customers through hidden messages and cultural communication codes (Sturken & Cartwright, 2017). The starting point for my studies has been a European approach, with a German brand as empirical material.
As a visual communicator it is especially important to critically understand how each element in an advertising campaign creates meaning and therewith influences consumers unconsciously. It is above all meaningful to study the social significance of advertisements and how hierarchies and social class differences are visually communicated, considering Gillian Rose’ (2001) statement: “A depiction is never just an illustration it is the site for the construction and depiction of social difference”, which is a necessary reason why we as visual communicators need to analyse the impact advertising has and what it conveys.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how luxury products are portrayed examining visual markers connoting taste and exclusivity indicating that the Jil Sander advertising campaign (2018) communicates with members of a higher social strata. My study
has the ambition to research status symbols within the two films I have chosen and is based on the theory of social rhetoric (Sonja, K. Foss, 2004) and sociocultural theories of culture and taste by Pierre Bourdieu (1984) as well as the theory of Die Erlebnisgesellschaft by Gerhard Schulze (2005). I will be answering my research question by analysing selected sequences from the advertising episodes Anything and The Lake (2018). This research is especially interesting from a scientific perspective because only few studies exist on how social class is visually presented in advertising from a visual communicators point of view, mostly all studies are either grounded in marketing or sociology research. To conclude, this study is interesting for those interested in cultural representation and how messages and meaning are constructed through visual rhetoric.
3.1 Research question
- How does the advertising campaign communicate with members from a higher social class ?
- How can social semiotics help in order to understand how the advertising campaign portrays the ‘elite’ and what it visualizes for the audience.
4 Delimitations
By choosing to focus on how luxury products are staged by examining the visual markers and symbols of status and exclusivity which indicate that the advertising is aimed to communicate with members of a higher social strata, I will exclude all other markers of identity such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality or religion as researching the visual markers for class is my main focus. Although, the researcher is aware that an intersectional class analysis would have been interesting however, the researcher only was able to focus on one aspect of social culture as this would otherwise exceed the time frame of this study. The researcher is aware that the chosen images show intersectional issues between class and
gender, class and ethnicity as well as between class and sexuality within the selected material. Neither will the researcher analyse any technical film aspects of the advertising films. The researcher will only briefly describe sound but will not analyse it, as the main task for a visual communicator is to look at the visual components. Finally, only eight screenshots of sequences from two films will be analysed as explained more in detail in material,which is due to the limited time aspect. Since I’m analysing still images from the films this is an image analysis and not a film analysis. Further limitations in this study will be stated in each paragraph.
4.1 Media production
In addition to the 15 hp written thesis, another 15hp media production is part of the course. My media production, is based on my chosen major within Visual Communication, which is photography and is about Female Public Art in Malmö. My media project is a visual research project about the representation of gender within the public art scene. The aim of my media production is to draw attention to gender inequality within the public art scene. Whereas the aim for my written thesis is to analyse symbols of status and how social class differences are communicated in the Jil Sander advertising campaign.Thus, there is no connection in thematic, problem or purpose however I am using the theory of representation in both of the exam studies, but both with a different focus.
5 Theory
In this section the theories and academic literature are presented and critical thought is used in order to motivate theories in relation to the purpose of the study. I will make use of the theory of representation by Stuart Hall (2003), the theory of Visual Rhetoric by Sonja, K. Foss (2004) as well as the theory capital forms and taste by Pierre Bourdieu (1984) and examine milieu and scene constructions based on the theory of Die Erlebnisgesellschaft by Gerhard Schulze (2005).
5.1 Representation
Clothes have their own visual language and fashion advertising films use the representation of symbols and cultural codes in order to communicate meaning to their target audience. The British cultural, sociologist and theorist Stuart Hall, developed the theory of representation, which connects meaning and language to culture. Representation is the process which links things, concept and signs together. Hall (1997) explains that, “People that belong to the same culture interpret the world in roughly the same ways and can express themselves, their thoughts and feelings about the world in ways which will be understood by each other”. In order to understand each other, individuals have to speak the same cultural codes such as body language or facial expressions. Hall (1997) continues to explain that these cultural codes carry meaning because they operate as symbols. It is to say that the representation of class and taste needs to be in context with a person. Having said that, the meaning for all signs or images can always bear more than one interpretation depending on culture and if individuals interpret the world in similar ways, their context is important (Hall, 1997).
5.2 Visual rhetoric
The theory of Visual Rhetoric is used in order to understand how Jil Sander’s advertising campaign is showing markers for status and taste and how clothing is representing a certain class or scene in different milieus. Visual rhetoric has its origin in traditional rhetoric and dates back to ancient Greece and Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) who introduced a system of rhetoric that was “based on people's experience rather than based on logic” (Waern, 2004 ). According to Aristotle, there are three appeals: Logos, Ethos and Pathos. Logos or the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason. Ethos or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author's credibility or character and Pathos or the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions (Waern Y., 2004 ). Even if traditional rhetoric is about speech, it can be used in visual rhetorics as well and in 1970 the first visual rhetoric image study was performed (Smith, K. 2005). Douglas Ehninger (1972) defined rhetorics as: “The ways which humans may influence each other’s thinking and behaviour through the strategic use of symbols”. Summarized, visual rhetoric is a system of signs using visual symbols in order to communicate. Smith, K. (2005) explains the system of three markers which have to conform with the subject in order to qualify as visual rhetoric. The markers are as following, firstly “The image must be symbolic,
secondly humans must engage in the process and thirdly, visuals have to be presented to an audience in order to serve the purpose of communication”. In comparison to traditional rhetoric which proceeds sequentially and the speaker has control over the order, visual rhetoric can be read one after the other, but the time to perceive the image or sequence of a film is usually much shorter than the time to listen to speech and therefore we have to plan the message we want to communicate thoroughly in order to communicate with the intended target audience (Waern Y., 2004).
5.3 Signs and Myths
In order to interpret the screenshots of the two films from Jil Sander’s advertising campaign it is important to understand the function of signs within visual studies. Signs operate as labels, that will say their function is to ‘denote’ the most basic meaning of an image or text. In addition ‘connotations’ are extra associations that come from our social experience which are linked to the denotation of a word or image and together they produce a particular message which is called the making of ‘myth’. Myths is part of semiology, the term Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) first introduced. Considering the importance of understanding signs and the social messages they produce, myths can change over time because they relate to a certain context and history in culture. Bignell, J. (2002) point out that : “In Advertising visuals, text and so on are not just used to denote something but also to trigger a range of connotations attached to the sign”, which is especially important in order to understand the myth-making about director Wim Wenders and places in and around Berlin that are shown in the advertising films. Nick Lacey (2009) explains that stereotypes are mythic since they are neither true or false but reproduce specific attitudes and beliefs that the individual or group within society thinks are true. Lacey (2009) argues that : “The degree to which a stereotype is accepted as being ‘true’ or not is dependent on an individual's knowledge of the group in question and the degree to which they are prejudiced. However all stereotypes present themselves to be common sense”. In my analysis myths and stereotypes about class and exclusivity are based on my personal knowledge about Berlin and of Germany’s social class structure whilst underlining my assumptions with the theory of Gerhard Schulze (2005) and his academic research Die Erlebnisgesellschaft.
5.4 Cultural capital and class-based taste
Pierre Bourdieu (1930 - 2002) is a well-known French sociologist and is most famous for his concepts about cultural capital, habitus and field (Michael Grenfell, 2008). In his theory about fields Bourdieu explains that the individual enters into society which consists of a number of spaces and subspaces, he calls these spaces ‘Fields’ (Bourdieu, 1986). Although there are an unspecified number of such fields, the economic field, the political field, and the field of cultural production are among the most important key concepts in Bourdieu's theory about capital forms. While entering these fields the individual always has the habitus with him. Bourdieu defines the habitus as a property of ‘social agents’ , these social agents are individuals, groups and institutions. Habitus is the combination of one’s past and present circumstances, such as family upbringing and educational experiences. Habitus is therefore the amount of capital an individual has and stands in relationship with ‘fields’, since the individual always has their habitus with him or her when entering these economic, political or cultural fields (Grenfell, M. 2008). The more cultural capital the individual has the better and higher the individual's social status, in order to measure what and how much capital an individual has, Bourdieu (1984) came up with the theory about three dimensional spaces. One dimension measures if an individual has economic or cultural capital, the second dimension measures how much capital they have and the third dimension measures shows where the individual is on his or her path in life in terms of status and career (Grenfell, M. 2008). He continues his classification by defining in which three forms an individual’s or agents social capital can exist. Firstly, as embodied cultural capital, i.e., in the form of resources we store in our mind and body through our upbringing with our family as well as socialisation with other individuals throughout our lifetime. Secondly, theobjectified state, which is the form of physical and material objects we possess such as cultural goods, clothing, cars and the food we eat. The individual communicates his or her economic level by wearing expensive clothing and so on. And thirdly in the institutionalized state, which is the cultural capital which is received through educational degrees from universities or and professional certifications from work places (Bourdieu, 1986). According to Bourdieu, differences in habitus and lifestyle explain the different positions in social class and taste which is associated with the individuals different social backgrounds in society, that is to say that people from the same social backgrounds, share similar taste in things e.g. such as clothing or interior. However, Bourdieu (1984) declares that: “Cultural consumption never exists in some
pur realm of aesthetic appreciation, but is always an expression of certain way of being in the world - of taste.” Meaning, that all favours in taste only exists because an individual is part of a certain social group, thus the individual expresses a particular class position by the way he or she dresses which points out that a cultural hierarchy of taste does exist, according to Bourdieu’s theory about taste (1984).
5.5 Milieu & Scene
German sociologist and professor at the University of Bamberg, Gerhard Schulze has criticized Bourdieu’s theory to be outdated and interpreted his theories about class in a more contemporary way, in his theory he is making assumptions that taste is not completely personalized and structured in contrast to Bourdieu (1984), but that taste is more about everyday patterns and favours of the individual. Schulze theory is based on the concept of a society which is obsessed with the need of experiences and the search for happiness which he called it Die Erlebnisgesellschaft (1992), english translation: The experience society (Stump, 2020) . Unfortunately, his works have never been translated into English, however in Germany he is one of the key sociologists of our modern time and has been quoted in many relevant works within sociology studies. The main components of Die Erlebnisgesellschaft (2005) is the importance that individuals in a society are obsessed with the need to have experiences. Schulze (2005) wanted to move away from the term of social class and subdivided people from different social areas and identified within five different population groups that he calls social milieus, which are: The harmony milieu, the level milieu, the amusement milieu, the personal fulfillment milieu and the integration milieu. It is possible to change one's social milieu however it is determined by the individual’s amount of cultural, social and economic capital, which depends on the individual’s social status within the society. In order to find out more about the individuals within the different milieus, Schulze (2005) outlined the aspects of the preferences of the different individuals in to cultural preferences, taste of music, preference of tv programs, taste in reading, leisure activities and preference in style and occurrence. The second part of Schulze's theory is the Scene. A scene is the network of people with the same cultural beliefs that reside in the same milieu. Each scenes has its regular customers, their permanent locations and their typical range of experiences in which they share mutual life-style, traditions, social norms, dress codes, linguistic codes such as signs and symbols (Schulze, 2015). Schulze’s study is especially
useful for my analysis due to the cultural preferences he has listed. Which makes it possible to identify in which scene an individual is moving and thus a decision can be made about the milieu to which the person relates. Finally, conclusions about an individual's amount of cultural and economic capital can be made. In Die Erlebnisgesellschaft Gerhard Schulze (2005) comments on Bourdieu’s theory about cultural hierarchy as : “ Not systematically worked out system”, and continues by argumenting that milieu are not something that is naturally fixed but can be changed by the individual him or herself. However Schulze’s theory about the Die Erlebnisgesellschaft, the search for happiness and experiences, is more contemporary and up-to date than Bourdieu's theory, not less because he avoided the term of social class and redefined it into milieu and scene. Schulze is especially important for my analysis since his research relates to social structures within a large city in Germany which is helpful in order to understand the myths and stereotypes around these urban places in Berlin.
6 Related research
I chose the following Master's and Bachelor’s for my related research, because they treat the subject of advertising as well as luxury brands’ storytelling. The theory about representation, a social semiotic approach as well as a qualitative research analysis which I myself include in my Bachelor’s thesis. My study differs from these essays mainly because my study is about the visual and cultural markers rather than about luxury or cultural values and strategies.
6.1 Essay 1
Luxury Brands’ Storytelling on Social Media is a master’s-thesis written by
Klara Ekebring and Catarina Mellqvist (2019) on how luxury brands are communicating through brand storytelling on social media, and how luxury brands adapt to the medium . They perform a qualitative research analysis on observation of different Instagram accounts and interviews with six different luxury brands using a theoretical framework about storytelling for luxury brands. What was especially relevant for my own research is the model of six different notions about luxury values (Kapferer, 2012), involving:”(1) Knowing that luxury is a hedonic occurrence, (2) the price of an item surpasses the functional value of that
object, (3) luxury is attached to heritage and brand culture, (4) distribution is restricted and organised, (5) personal service is of the essence and lastly, (6) luxury is connected to social status and maintaining a sense of prestige”.
Ekebring and Mellqvist’s (2019) come to the conclusion that, how luxury brands communicate their luxury values through storytelling remains unchanged compared to a time before social media. And their research result is: “That luxury brands communicate their luxury value through storytelling on social media platforms by recognising the features of the context and the interaction, which is argued to be fundamentally supported on the platforms”. (Ekebring and Mellqvist, 2019). Their research overlaps with mine in the sense of luxury brands and their communication. On the other hand, it clearly differs in theory and research execution since it is more about the luxury values than about markers of luxury which tie a certain group of people to a particular social class, which is what my research is about.
6.2 Essay 2
Culture as a strategic resource. A qualitative study of cultural values in Åhléns’ digital commercials is a Bachelor’s-thesis written by Anna Juhlin and Olga Kåks Dufvenberg (2018) examining cultural values in digital advertising campaigns. Their study research topic is about: “How cultural values can be used in digital advertising strategies to build a strong brand, and how these values can be communicated using multimodal signs”. Their study is within analytical communication however, it was interesting to me how Juhlin & Kåks Dufvenberg (2018) research about how storytelling is building a cultural brand and how they use similar theories about representation as well as social semiotics as a method. Unlike my thesis, they include gender studies and their focus point is on marketing and strategy rather than on visual communication. Their results show that gender equality as well as individualism can be found in the commercials and conclude that these are the relevant values in a contemporary culture.
This chapter describes my methodological approach in order to answer the purpose and research question of this study. I will perform a qualitative image analysis in order to get an understanding on how luxury products are portrayed in the eight screenshots taken from the sequences, which I chose from the two Jil Sander (2018) advertising films. Thereafter I will examine the social context of the films by using social semiotics as a method, focusing on how symbols and meaning of class get portrayed. My study is based on the discussion how brands emotionally involve consumers through storytelling and how the filmmaker can plan in advance which desired effect the film will have on the viewer, through representation and staging of products. Advertising campaigns are a part of culture with effects and meanings that express signs. Thepurpose of this study is to research the visual markers for social class and taste that are visually communicated in Jil Sanders advertising campaign. In order to not extend the study I chose to have a closer look at eight selected screenshots from two campaign films, as previously presented in my material section. Furthermore I will not go into any detailed technical film aspects such as composition, lighting, camera shots or movement however I will mention some aspects of mise-en-scène in my analysis. Gillian Rose (2001) argues that “visual images have to address questions of cultural meaning and power”, suggesting that qualitative methods are most appropriate for visual analysis.
7.1 Social Semiotics
I will be using social semiotics as a method for my visual image analysis as it is especially relevant for my study in order to understand and consider the meanings between the people, places and symbols in my chosen material (Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001). In order to study the screenshots from the Jil Sander advertisement (2018) as a critical form of visual discourse analysis it is important to understand the meanings of class and exclusivity that can be carried by certain visual elements within the films. Much like Roland Barthes (1977) described ‘semiotics’, as the symbolism which is producing meaning of individual elements. Social semiotics is interested in examining the meanings and their social context. Images do things such as, influence or persuade or explain things to the viewer. There are two different kinds of representational patterns within the social semiotic analysis of visual communication, narrative representations and conceptual patterns. The latter one is the most relevant to my analysis, the conceptual representation, since one kind of conceptual pattern is the classification structure which is specifically interesting in order to analyse whether people,
things or places have something in common like similar characteristics or components which makes them belong to the same category or class (Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001). With this method I want to analyse how people, places and symbols are staged and mean within their social context in the advertising campaign in order to answer my research question.
8 Material
Paused By Wim Wenders (2018) is an advertising campaign in the form of five short film clips. Each of them is between 30 - 60 seconds long, no dialogue is used in any of the films and all of them are paused at a key moment. The pentalogy is filmed in and around different places in Berlin, Germany and are commissioned by the German luxury fashion house Jil Sander and shot by German filmmaker Wim Wenders who is especially known for his Art House films as written in the introduction of this thesis. For this study I have chosen to analyse sequences (I took screenshots of) from two chosen film clips that are best suitable to describe how symbols of status are represented within the advertising films. In order to give an illustration of my focus point on how symbols of status are visually portrayed I am going to do a visual image analysis of the short clips. All the film clips are available on Jil Sander’s website and on the video platform Youtube, as linked in the reference section. In my selection process I visualize how I chose to select my material. In my opinion, all of the still images I have chosen to analyse, represent symbols of status and exclusivity which is important in preparation for answering my research question about which visual markers indicate that the advertising campaign communicates with members of higher social strata. Creative Directors Lucie and Luke Meier explain that the idea behind the films are: “An ode to the purity of emotion and the delicate balance between innocence and sophistication” (jilsander.com, 2018). - But what is it that the film clips really communicate? – Even though this is a fashion advertisement, no prices are included, in fact exclusive clothing brands often prefer less explicit brand identification such as invisible logo tags or prints, in order to stand out to make their customers to stand out from the crowd (Ko. & Woodside, 2013). In my material the clothes are subtle and none of the characters clothing is showing any logo tags or prints, it’s not until the end of the film clips that we can see the Jil Sander logo. I will analyse my material with focus on status and exclusivity.
8.1 Selection of material
Each of the five films from the Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 Campaign were released one each month, over a five month period to match with the launch of the 2018 collection. I started my process of selection by choosing the films and sequences which are the most relevant for my research question, problem and purpose. At first I watched each of the five films chronologically, in preparation for my analysis. Then I chose two of the films that showed most indicators for class-based taste and exclusivity. Then I continued by choosing the sequences showing markers for class and status. Below I’m going to present my process of selecting two film clips and sequences .Therewith I’m not choosing to analyse episode 2 The photoshoot, episode 3 Paternoster nor episode 4 The restaurant. Both film clips and story might not depend on each other, although they share the same characters. Finally, I came to analyse the first episode Anything and then the last episode The Lake.
8.2 Selected Material
Episode 1 - Anything, Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmBGPPsOu0E
Still image from the film
In the first 51 seconds episode of Jil Sander paused by Wim Wenders we see a man standing in front of a wall of windows, a green neon sign reading “Anything” inverted. The sky is dark and city lights are flashing in the background, cars are driving by as he puts on a record on a floor standing jukebox by the window. Dressed in a yellow, brown and white patterned chunky knitted sweater and a pair of black loose trousers as he is turning to look outside the window, electronic bass music starts to play. In the next sequence we see the sign stating Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz as we see the man looking staring outside the window, overlooking the street. It is dark in the space he is located, red lights are reflecting on his face as we see a scuba diver coming out from the underground station, looking at a fish in a plastic bag while carrying finns in his other hand. We hear the ambience sound of cars driving in the rain while the music unfolds further. The men is keeping a straight face while he spots a women crossing the road in a long, brown coat holding a bag under her arm while entering the underground station. Turning his gaze back to the crossing controlled by traffic lights observing another man crossing the road dressed in black trousers, brown loafers wearing a white fishnet top over a black shirt, covered with a jacket which is open while holding a cognac coloured briefcase. Suddenly, he is facing away from the streets as a woman enters his apartment. Walking down the hallway as pink lights are flashing. The man, standing in his
apartment is still keeping a straight face, while the women is walking towards him with certain steps, getting closer when she suddenly stops in front of him. Finally, she puts her bag down on the floor and strips off her coat. In the next sequence we see the man's bare torso as he pulls off his sweater. As we come to the last sequence in the short film, the beholder looks at the women and man from the outdoors as the film clip stops and we see the Jil Sander logo and the text Paused by Wim Wenders.
Selected sequences fromAnything in chronological order which I’m going to analyse in my Discussion & Analysis section.
Film still 1 Film still 2
Episode 4 - The Lake, Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBMAP_pJPOE
The fifth and last episode of Jil Sander paused by Wim Wenders Spring/Summer 2018 Campaign is 56 seconds long and begins with an introduction to the location where the film is set in. We see garden furniture leaning against a tall analogue clock, indicating that the time is 10:37 AM, just besides a lake. The sky is grey and in the distance we see a forest, some trees appear to be bare and others trees still have golden leaves. On the right side of the image frame we can see a red water slide on a distant beach and in the middle of the lake we can glimpse a swimming platform. The lake water is dark green, we hear birdsong and a string orchestra playing gently as we suddenly hear a whip-like sound. Forthwith, the string orchestra is playing faster and louder, as we see a red-haired women in a light blue coat, closing a brown bag with her black leather gloves all while she is slowly turning her head looking over her left shoulder. In the next sequence we see two people, a man and a women, standing parallel to each other with the mans back pressed against a yellow tiled wall as he is holding one hand in front of a brown-haired womens mouth and the other hand holding her hands. Thereafter we return to the red-haired women in the light-blue coat, now looking over her right shoulder then again, turning her head faced forward, her lips being slightly parted as she holds the gaze at the lake, as we can see in the following sequence. All of a sudden we see water splashing followed by another sequence of the red-haired womens face, her lips still parted now looking down to the ground and then up towards the lake again. Suddenly, we see a scuba diver appearing above the water surface. Again, we return to the red-haired women, yet again, for the third time, gazing down towards the ground, then lifting the gaze
up once more. Her lips are moving but without making any sound. In the next frame we are seeing the scuba diver again, slowly walking towards the red-haired women, who we see is now moving her right arm towards her brown bag. Thereafter looking down to the floor one more time and moving her lips up and down, while we hear a clarinet playing together with the string orchestra as we see the diver, now on land, standing in front of the red-haired women. He as well, is now looking down to the ground, tilting his head to the right looking up in the direction of the women as we see a close-up on a gun held in front of a brown bag, and a light-blue coat with tight-fitting leather gloves, as she closes her bag, looking up, at the scuba diver. The scuba diver is now looking forward faced as well, as he is slowly walking backwards, while gently putting up his arms.Finally, we see from left to right, the scuba diver standing half in the water, half on the beach with his hands up, in the centre we see a man in a black suit lying on the ground with his eyes closed facing the viewer. His left arm is lying on his chest while the right arm is lying, palm facing upwards, in the sand. And to the right of the image we see the red-haired women pointing a gun at the scuba diver, who is looking back at her, as suddenly the film gets paused and we see the Jil Sander logo and the text Paused by Wim Wenders appear. Below are the selected sequences from The lake in chronological order which I’m going to analyse in my Discussion & Analysis section.
Film still 5 Film still 6
9 A visual social semiotic image analysis
I’m going to perform my analysis using the theoretical means as described in the theory part of this thesis in order to carry out the visual image analysis on how luxury products are arranged in Jil Sander’s (2018) advertising campaign and which products visually indicate that the brand communicates with members of a higher social strata. I am using social semiotics as a method in order to explain cultural and social class structures and their meaning in my chosen material. All eight images show different products that portray symbols and visual markers for status and taste. Using Schulze's theory of theories about Die Erlebnisgesellschaft and its connection to taste, Bourdieu's theories of class and taste I divided the analysis in the following categories: Clothing , Setting and Storytelling.
9.1 Clothing
Clothing is not only a reflection of one's lifestyle or identity it is the most visible marker of an individual's social status (Crane, D., 2000). Since this is an advertisement for a luxury clothing brand most of the screenshots from the films portray clothing (see film still 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 in material ). In this section I will analyse both of the films within the same paragraph. In
film still 8 (from the episode The Lake) two of the three characters are dressed in, as i see it, sophisticated clothing. While the third person is wearing a scuba diving wetsuit. The women is wearing a light-blue long blazer coat, black suit trousers and elegant black leather shoes, as well as leather gloves, a brown square bag and diamond earrings. The men who is lying on the ground is dressed in a black suit and black leather shoes. None of the characters clothing is showing any logo tags or prints. This subtle way of branding is only decodable by others in the know and is therefore seen as exclusive and luxurious (Ko & Woodside, 2013). With this campaign film, Jil Sander addresses an audience that is interested in fashion and culture, while all of the films appear to be trailers of different movies but not a campaign for a fashion brand. Decoding the clothing the characters are wearing, they connote, exclusivity, elegance and success. It seems to me as the directors intention is to represent individuals sharing similar cultural codes by displaying characters with a high economic income. My assumption is based on Bourdieu’s (1986) classification system and the objectified state, which is an
indication on how capital can present itself by the way an individual is dressing. In both of the films ( The Lake and Anything) the characters communicate their economic level by wearing clothing with rare designs, fabrics and colours which are automatically more expensive and more desirable for the consumer, that is to say that these items are not necessarily essential to one's life. Non essential, rare and expensive clothing or goods are defined as ‘luxury or high-end clothing and we can interpret the amount of cultural capital the individuals have. Looking at Schulze’s (2005) theory, my hypothesis is that the characters in the film are supposed to belong to the same scene of a milieu as their (potential) customer. The viewer of the advertisement, ideally recognises him or herself through self-awareness and same cultural codes (Hall, 1997). Resulting in the intention that Wim Wenders, the director of the film is engaging the viewers feeling and therewith persuading the consumer using pathos, making the viewer either recognize himself or wanting to belong to the same social group, wanting to dress equally exclusive and elegant and therewith wanting belong to the same class and therefore residing in the same scene within similar milieu.
9.2 Setting
All of the films for the Jil Sander advertising campaign (2018) have been shot in various places in and around Berlin. Yet again, it is to my advantage analysing and interpreting these places from my personal experiences. One of the films, is set by a lake, the other one is set in the city. I will analyse the film stills from the two films I chose, one after another in different paragraphs because the settings differ drastically from each other.
The Lake: As seen in film still 5 is the last episode of the five films by Wim Wenders. The sky is grey, the water is dark and the trees have already started to shift colour. My impression is that this episode was filmed on a cold early autumn day, probably in October. The setting connotes, melancholy and a somewhat mysterious atmosphere. It is not the typical day people usually visit an open-air bath at 10:37 in the morning during autumn.Which indicates to me, that something mysterious is about to happen. From my point of view the location could be at Wannsee lake, which is where most of the wealthy people from Berlin live. Max Liebermann, the famous German painter, had his summer residence at Wannsee and even Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie once lived there for a period of time. Even this location connotes, wealth and exclusivity demonstrating the taste of the individuals.
In filmstill 6 we see a woman holding a handgun which connotes female power, especially the way she takes the gun out of her bag seems to be goal oriented, owning a gun in Germany, feels either criminal or a luxurious way to defend oneself. The gun is connoted as a symbol of power, pride and authority, and intriguing, especially if held by a women dressed in designer clothes. In filmstill 8 we can see a scuba diver slowly coming out of the water who just appeared after the murder happened. It seems to me that even scuba diving is a luxurious hobby and an amusement for upper-class society, especially in Berlin scuba diving seems unnatural and an exclusive thing to do.
Anything: The second film is set at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platzwhich is an area around a square situated in the city centre district of Berlin Mitte. Yet, again it is to my advantage that I grew up in Berlin and therefore know that the area around Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz is a high-earning neighbourhood with highly cultural people living in it. It is situated just next to a very famous theater (Volksbühne) as well as next to lots of exclusive clothing shops, bars and restaurants. Berlin Mitte connotes, young urban creative professionals to me. Looking at Gerhard Schulze’s (2005) theory about Die Erlebnisgesellschaftwe can understand that the individuals living in this area of Berlin are either part of the Level milieu which are predominantly educated people, older than 40 and part of the high culture scene who like to spend their freetime in the theatres, operas and museums. As per Schulze their prefered style of clothing is elegant, minimalistic, quality conscious yet conservative. While there is an additional group, below 40 dominating in the district of Berlin Mitte, which are individuals from the Personal fulfillment milieu people which are younger than 40 years with a degree from a higher education institution. Their preferred freetime activity is going to exhibitions, theatre, jazz and rock festivals or other activities within the new cultural scene and they like to dress alternative, sporty and elegant. The film still 2 exposes in which building the film is set in. It is the L40 building situated on Linienstraße 40, one of the most popular addresses in Berlin since it is right in the city centre. As we see the women walking down a hallway in
film still 4, we get an understanding of how the apartment is laid out. We see nothing but white walls and it looks to me like there are windows only on one side of the building, which reminds me of a gallery or museum and makes me assume that the apartment is planned to
provide space to residents collecting art. In my opinion this is the scene where Jil Sanders potential customers reside and Berlin Mitte residents represents everything the brand Jil Sander is trying to communicate with their commercials, which is upper-class exclusivity.
9.3 Storytelling
Jil Sander depends on storytelling in order to create meaningful messages in their advertising campaigns because clothing itself cannot satisfy our longing for dreams, romance or fantasy but stories and myths can Mossberg & Nissen Johansen (2006). In order to satisfy the customers needs for stories, the brand is working together with famous directors such as Wim Wenders, which highlights the credibility for the brand (ethos). That is because both customer, brand and director reside within the same social milieu and network of people (szene) ( Schulze, G., 2005) and therefore the exchange of meanings work as Hall (1997) describes. As presented in 2.4 in my background section, Mossberg & Nissen Johansen (2006) argue that storytelling is not hierarchical since a story can attract different listeners and viewers regardless of, gender, age, education and profession (Mossberg & Nissen Johansen, 2006). But in how far is storytelling not hierarchical if the story or the advertising only shows people wearing exclusive clothing.– Jil Sanders advertising campaign is produced in order to address a specific target group. As explained in my analysis about clothing as well as setting. Markers for status are represented in the way we dress , were we live and reside, what we do in our leisure time and what kind of degree we have. All those markers of status can get represented visually, and that's what Wim Wender does for Jil Sander. Wenders, is consequently using p athos in Anything and The Lake to emotionally involve the viewer. In my opinion, Wim Wenders tries to use the good old storytelling technique of “sex sells” because I cannot see a deeper meaning of the advertising other than that Wim Wenders seems to try to engage, rich people within the high culture sector with boring lives. In the second film The Lake the narrative develops from an initial situation of conflict between a women and a man ( as described in material), the men which has been shot dead by a women. A long withAnything it looks like Wim Wenders is trying to represent Jil Sander's customers. I interpret a dramatic tale of jealousy, where the protagonist, the red-haired women shot dead her lover because he maybe was deeply in love with the her who actually is still married to a rich husband, but now she had to kill him in order to continue
living her wealthy life. Little did she know, that she wasn’t alone on the beach. The ending to each of the five short films leaves us to speculate on what might happen in his future which leaves us wanting more because we emotionally got involved in the films (pathos).
10 Research result
I performed a qualitative visual image analysis on eight screenshots of the two episodes Anything andThe Lake from the Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2018 Campaign directed by Wim Wenders. I examined the social context of the films by using social semiotics as a method. I chose to divide my analysis in different parts (clothing, setting and storytelling) where in each of the sections i focused on how luxury products are portrayed. . By using Stuart Hall (2003) theory of representation, the theory of Visual Rhetoric by Sonja, K. Foss (2004), the theory of capital forms and taste by Pierre Bourdieu (1984) and examined the milieu and scene constructions based on the theory of Die Erlebsnisgesellschaft by Gerhard Schulze (2005). I have come to the result through the use of visual social semiotics which revealed how products are staged and how visual markers indicate that the advertising campaign communicates with members of a higher social strata. Status symbols are communicated through clothing, surroundings and storytelling within the advertisement which was not evident at first sight. Looking at Schulze’s (2005) theory, my analysis shows that the characters are members of the the same scene belonging to the same social milieu, were they share social norms, dress codes, linguistic codes such as signs and symbols. All of them are visual markers of social class, taste and capital. The viewer of the advertisement, ideally recognises him or herself through the cultural codes that are represented (Hall, 1997). Besides of communicating with their target audience through visual markers, Wim Wenders builds both of his films on pathos and ethos, persuading Jil Sander’s customers. In order for the brand to make a connection with it’s viewer, their cultural, social and historical background have to align with the brands target group of upper class customers. You have to be part of a certain social group in order to understand the language within this particular group.
11 Discussion and Conclusion
As a visual communicator it is especially important to critically understand how each element in an advertising campaign creates meaning and therewith influences consumers unconsciously. My aim was to understand how the advertising campaign portrays the ‘elite’ and to extend my knowledge about which rhetoric tools a luxury fashion brand uses in order to communicate with their target audience and the second aim for this research was to analyse the visual markers that indicate that the advertising campaign is communicating with members from a higher social class. My research showed that Wim Wenders builds both of his films on pathos and ethos in order to communicate with Jil Sander’s target audience. It was above all meaningful to study the symbols of status which are represented within the film stills. However there are many different aspects a visual communicator could analyse from this material. All the theories I have used, representation, visual rhetoric and social semiotics, discuss signs and their meanings. Which helped me in order to answer my research question, since they all build on the same idea about understanding how visual language and cultural codes are constructed. Gerhard Schulze’s book Die Erlebnisgesellschaft(2005) has been an academical, complementing theory which has helped me in order to understand Bourdieu's theory about class and taste (1984) from a more modern and contemporary perspective. Gerhard Schulze’s (2005) theory was especially useful for my research as he is a German sociologist who has been researching about the different scenes and milieus within an urban region in Germany, which was suitable for the material I researched, as it was set in Berlin as well as directed by Wim Wenders who is German and based in Berlin. This made it fairly easy to classify the characters in the film and Jil Sander’s target audience into Schulze’s different social milieus and scenes. The brands as well as Jil Sander’s origin is in Hamburg whereas Wim Wenders is based in Berlin. There is still an inter-city rivalry going on between the two biggest German cities and one could ask whether or not the advertising has been created for a German audience recognizing the places which can be seen in the films or an international audience. Berlin is known for its vibrant city life and strangeness and it has been called: “Arm aber sexy” (Wowereit , 2003) by the major of Berlin. ( Eng.: Poor but sexy, (Stump, 2020) ) whereas Hamburg is known for its wealthier harbour life. It seems like Wim Wenders has created a parody, where he portrays stereotypes such as the wealthy young
red-haired women, the latin lover, the hetero couple living in an expensive neighbourhood and combines them with strange places in Berlin. Typical for Wim Wenders is the slightly strange character of a scuba diver, which adds a mystic mood to both of the films. By shooting the films in and around Berlin, one could guess that the brand is desperately trying to achieve a younger, more easy-going audience. By choosing Wim Wenders as a director the brand additionally receives attention from another group of people within the film and art scene gathering people from both of the different scenes. By adding these new groups of people Jil Sander gains a wider target audience to their already existing clientele, automatically intending to push sales. Now people who buy Jil Sander’s clothes are not just part of a minimalistic, sophisticated high-income audience but they are even film nerds identifying themselves with Wim Wenders art house films and younger people identifying themselves with the urban lifestyle of Berlin. Together Wim Wenders and Jil Sander are even more exclusive together, contributing exclusive material for an exclusive brand and their exclusive audience.
Earlier I discussed about whether or not Wim Wender’s intention was to create a parody between the rich and the poor , between cool and dirty, between art house and commercial advertising. Another point that proves this hypothesis is the title Paused By Wim Wenders which could be understood as if Wenders wants to stop Jil Sander doing her business. He wants to pause the brand, putting it on hold connoting someone to be quite. There are a lot of messages that can be read from the films and these have only been a few trying to find markers for exclusivity and taste.
For further research, it would have been especially interesting to compare the Jil Sander campaign to another luxury fashion brand’s advertising or doing interviews within the methods of qualitative research collecting data about people from different social milieus on how they would interpret the film stills on different socio cultural aspects. One thing I have noticed in the advertising campaigns is that Jil Sander does not portray diversity of ethnicity or sexual orientation but uses stereotypical characters as mentioned . How come that a luxury fashion brand only portrays heterosexuell relationsships, this could be a question of power and status within society. Jil Sanders advertising is focused on portraying upper-class individuals in their advertising campaigns, if they really want to gain a newer, younger audience they should think about a different representation of social norms and taste within society and not just portraying people in the cool environment in and around Berlin as well as
using an acclaimed director. Jil Sander might have gained attention with this commercial however a critical and ethical discussion should be made in order to understand the meaning behind the films. This research projecthas been very helpful in order to understand the work of a visual communicator and prepared me for my future career within visual communication. At first, I got interested in the advertising films because of their artistic look and storytelling. I liked the idea to pause the films at the most intense moment. However, after spending five months with the material and analysing every part of the commercials it is clear to me that the first impression got me persuaded, just as it was supposed to persuade Jil Sander’s target audience. It is important to be aware of all the choices a visual communicator has to take regarding all visual markers such as characters, settings, clothing and visual rhetoric in order to communicate the correct social values.
12 References
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