Brigitte Bolanos
English 100
April 20, 2014

We live in a world of consumerism thanks to advertising art, which over the last century has had some influence on our society by portraying a high standard of living. With half of the American population in credit card debt, advertising leaves an impression of positive memories and feelings that over time people’s beliefs are effected. Could it be that advertising shapes our desire for a more creative lifestyle like those portrayed in ads? In Advertising as Art Michael Schudson questions whether advertising consciously gets people to have faith and buy the advertised product, or subconsciously works when attitudes and assumptions implied in advertising become real to the people surrounded by ads. Today’s advertisements don’t ask to be taken literally, yet marketers have to be careful to not be misleading when targeting a certain group of audience. For instance, in a Bergdorf Goodman magazine ad a male model is wearing a blue suit with a small smirk on his face. Bold-white font writing brings the viewer’s attention to the phrase “A Goodman finishes first.” Everything in this ad seems it can be true to those who wear suits. The ad successfully targets middle class or white-collar men who seek fulfillment in their lives.

The phrase from the ad is trying to prompt the audience to believe that they will get what they desire, whether it’s girls, a raise, or attractiveness, by wearing the suit. The male model looks confident standing in an upright position with one hand in his pocket and the other hand by his side. A description is on the bottom of the ad that describes that the model is a political affairs officer. The ad’s assumes that successful and good-looking men shop at Goodman’s Men’s Store. This assumption will make men more inclined to buy a suit if they happen to land an interview for their dream job. Furthermore the model’s name is placed alongside his job description to make the audience believe he is a real man with a notable job, creating an abundance of material prosperity within the ad. We are conscious of life as it is lived and life as it is pictured on commercials, but people with no perception of real life fall to the belief of the ad, to obtain the picture perfect life. Others happen to pick up the “sleeper” effect, discussed in Schudson’s work, when the consumer is ready to go buy a suit, he will see the Goodman brand in a different light and will more likely purchase it. The phrase “A Goodman finishes first” is a response to the saying ‘nice guys finish last,’ promoting that a Goodman isn’t necessarily nice. He can be the horrible boss that badgers over employees, or the jerk coworker who hits on the opposite sex. Nonetheless the ad screams success will come when wearing a Goodman suit in a conscious level.
The purpose of many advertisements is to make consumers want to buy a product so that they will 'be like' the person in the ad. The model in the ad seems he has his life figured out followed by the serenity on his face, a contributor to the unrealistic world the ad is creating. With only one button buttoned, this man has the uttermost confidence out of the entire suit wearing men in the world. Normally when sitting down the lower button has to be unbuttoned but when standing up it has to be fastened otherwise it may come off a bit rakish in a conservative work environment. The model comes off as daring by how he is wearing the suit, this form of advertisement is effective because it not only sells products but also helps people feel better about themselves. Male audiences will look at the man and think “I want to feel what this man is feeling.” Thus the attitude implied on the advertisement becomes the attitude of the men that glance at the ad, working on a subconscious level.
( REVISE ABOUT WOMEN) What makes people go buy an advertised product depends on the similarities the consumer has with the advertisement of the product. The Goodman ad will more likely bring white collar men than blue collar men, by where the ad is placed. The ad came from a vogue magazine which a majority of middle class married woman read, so the wife flipping through the magazine might think of her husband then later force upon him to buy it. Some wives who aspire to be upper class, but are not, will see how attractive and successful the model is and will subconsciously want her husband to look the same. Even though the ad was not found in a men’s magazine it is still successful in reaching the middle class to white collar men.
The danger of advertisement may be that it creates false belief to the general populace, making people following the attitude and assumptions that advertisements imply may not be good. The statement on the ad is too absurd to be taken seriously, not all Goodman suit wearing men will finish first. This ad works in a larger sense, the less people believe in the ad the more powerful it is. However the ad is not asking for belief, but rather it’s creating an ideal attitude of confidence by placing the well poised model in the middle. The model’s small smirk portrays satisfaction along with his intense stare in his eyes assures audiences values that they will know satisfaction when they obtain the suit. We all have needs and desires this represents people’s value and assures the audience’s common ideals .
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Even if most of us say we make our own choice when buying something we often choose well-advertised items, the popular ones. We like to believe we have complete control of our choices but ads work in a subconscious level that sometimes influences control. There are many companies with deceptive ads to lure consumer to spend, but as long as we are aware of how the advertisement world works we can stop from spending.

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Work Cited
Schudson, Michael. Advertising as Art. New York: Basic Books, 1984. Print