In class on Tuesday we briefly
touched upon the concept of advertising using lots of white space and the
meanings behind the use of the color white.
The ad above is for Ketel One
Vodka. In class we mentioned that white
typically brings feelings of purity and cleanliness. I am not sure how vodka relates to either of
these qualities; perhaps the company wants to disillusion people into thinking
that vodka will bring about purity and cleanliness, however we also mentioned the potential racial
meanings behind the color white as well.
When advertisers make the conscious
decision to use the color white as a focal point in their advertisement, are
they truly thinking about race or about how a white background will make
whatever images they choose to use “pop”? Are the makers of Ketel One Vodka
trying to make a racial statement about who should drink their vodka? Probably
not- they just want to sell as much vodka as possible to reap in the profits
and they likely do not care what race the purchaser is.
I like the white color, and my apple products are all in white, even thou I got them all as gifts, i think the people who bought them for me only thought white apple products were a better fit for women while black ones were for men, instead of any race-related considerations. In fact, I never thought the white color had anything to do with white people until Tuesday...
ReplyDeleteI wanted to be clearer, that I don't think ads like these are consciously about race. More, that our long-standing cultural association of positive traits with whiteness are something to be aware of. Toni Morrison writes about this in her book of literary theory, Playing in the Dark: we have for centuries associated blackness with evil, horror, and filth, while we see whiteness as purity, sophistication, and goodness. Our skin is never exactly white or black--so the use of these words to describe our appearance means we bring some of those associations to our feeling about ourselves and each other. Make sense?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification! I was just thinking how sometimes it feels like people are trying way to hard to find symbolism in things that perhaps really and truly just that color for the visual effect and not to make a subliminal statement.
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