Advertisements, photographs, and art bear more than an obvious written message or a call to action. Details like the historical context, the color scheme, framing, and political inclination can indicate numerous connotations that the author did not intend. In advertisements, these elements signal a particular culture rather than a contextualized marketing message. By examining historical marketing campaigns, one can uncover the social context of the visual media piece. This essay will analyze and interpret the 1952 marketing image titled “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!”
Political and Ideological Agenda
Firstly, to thoroughly analyze the message that the visual media communicates, it is essential to examine its political and ideological agenda. Given the time and the business context of the advertisement, the Schlitz Brewing Company did not intend to include any particular political meaning. However, since its beer was advertised to the working-class males and produced in the 1950s, the marketing material aims to communicate the idea of the male-dominant household. People of most significant influence, especially in government, were men, and this power dynamic also transcends to the media of the time. The abstract idea that this advertisement provides is a cliché image of a husband as a provider and protector of the family who is capable of hard, both manual and intellectual, work. A female in this scenario is presented as a mere server of the husband master who forgives her for the carefree and incapable nature out of the goodness of his heart.
Audience and the Intended Interpretation
Given that the advertisement appeared more than fifty years ago, the difference between the modern interpretation and the original intent of the creators is vast. Regardless of how the ad might be interpreted now, the Schlitz Brewing Company targeted a different audience and wanted them to feel particular emotions. For instance, it focused on the majority of the working, middle to high-class American families. Despite the apparent male-dominant context, there is a high chance that the advertisement also targeted women as a regular magazine audience. For them, the beer campaign was supposed to provoke the desire to buy the beer to please over-demanding husbands. The context of the ad implies that it can solve any problem that a woman can have in her routine household chores. For men, however, the advertisement appealed to the typical scenario of redundant family values and provided an option to brighten it with the alcohol beverage.
Historical Context
The historical era of the image is what mostly determines the messages it projects. This advertisement was created in 1952, which falls into the postwar period when people started to rethink the role of family and its values. At the time, the society enjoyed the stable economy and the American dream was restored. A picture of a perfect household was established: women were supposed to become housewives while their husbands worked to provide for the family financially. As a result, many females sacrificed their careers and education to pursue this concept. The image reflects the reality of the period: a family-focused housewife and a working man. Thus, it can be assumed that this picture is a product of the postwar American ideal family concept, specifically the demeaning gender roles of the 1950s that prioritized men.
Visual Evidence
Emphasis
Close examination of the advertisement can provide extensive evidence for the hidden meaning of the image. When looking at the ad, an audience sees a man and a woman at the center of the picture standing in the middle of the kitchen (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). A crying female holds a tissue and a burning pan, while the man smiles and points to the table. On the foreground, the table is served with two bottles of beer and a glass, while the background showcases a dirty stove (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). The framing and the disposition of the objects emphasize the couple, while the details of their clothing and setting give the audience clues to the context.
Framing
The framing also separates the space onto two opposing sides: the male and the female. Feminine side on the left displays a messy kitchen with a burning pan, smoke, and a leaking stove (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). On the right, the man reflects calmness; there is an orderly table with a clean white cloth and lively yellow drapery in the background (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). The advertisement presents two people and their power dynamic as a center of attention. For instance, the man is significantly taller and dominates the picture, hinting at his overpowering importance.
Color Choice
The color choice of the picture also plays a vital role in interpretation. The surrounding as a whole is bright and colorful, like a yellow curtain on the right and the white stove on the left (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). A female figure is dressed in colors that complement the setting, implying that she belongs to the kitchen. On the other hand, a man wears a monochrome suit, which indicates that he is alien to the kitchen and only comes there as a guest, or a master.
Text
The text ties the message of the visual piece together and brings attention to the beer. The caption on the top right corner reads, “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” (Schlitz Brewing Company 1952). This text indicates what the husband says to his wife, and brings the audience’s attention to two bottles on the table. The font is industrial and official, emphasizing the man’s seriousness.
Atmosphere, Tone, and Mood
The aforementioned details of the emphasis, framing, color choice, and text create a caricature mocking atmosphere. Given what the man says, the tone is supposed to appear as humorous, but also derisive. Despite his spouse’s failure as a housewife, a working man forgives her for her clumsiness and lack of skill and turns to the only solution to his family’s incapability – beer. The visual clues like contrasting framing and color choice imply that a woman is frivolous and incapable of basic household tasks. At the same time, the man is portrayed as the ultimate provider of the household who wholly supports the family. His professional occupation and dominance are apparent from his clothing. He also comes across as a superior yet all-forgiving and indulgent figure.
Target Customers
The producer of the advertisement is the Schlitz Brewing Company. As Schlitz beer was the most popular alcoholic beverage in the US multiple times throughout the 20th century, its target demographic included a lot of middle-class working Americans. Given the context of the analyzed advertisement, it was marketed to people with families, both young and old. As an alcoholic beverage that was promoted with masculine appeal, the majority of the clients were middle-aged men who were most likely to experience the family setting and exercise typical gender roles.
Conclusion
In conclusion, advertisements can be a projection of the cultural and political context of the time of their creation. “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” is a reflection of the ideal postwar American family, which is seen in the image’s framing, emphasis, color choice, and connotation. Although the message of the campaign might be classified as overtly sexist today, it reflects the reality of gender roles of the 1950s.
Reference
Schlitz Brewing Company. 1952. “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” Web.
Duties Of Corporate People
A corporation is a lawful body that is governed independently from its members. Corporations have the legal capacity to sue and to be sued and the right to own property employ workers and engage in legal and viable contracts as separate legal entities from the owners. It also has the capacity to make by-laws that govern the internal functioning of the organization; the rules and regulations are supposed to guide the conduct of all the parties of the organization (Charan, 1998). The most important characteristic of the corporation is its restricted liability which means that corporate shareholders have the right to have a hand in the profits, stock share and dividends. The directors of corporations, shareholders of the corporations, and the officers play an important duty in the legal duties of the corporate process (Ford, 1992).
The board of directors of the corporation is responsible for maintaining and controlling the operations of the company. The board of directors of the public corporations provides corporation continuity by setting up legal statutes and structures and representing the corporation’s stand by interpreting its products and services (Charan, 1998). The directors have the responsibility to appoint and select the Chief executives who will be entrusted with the administrative responsibilities. They govern the organizations by assigning duties and priorities to the chief executive and employees and they have the capacity to review their work. They should look for resources to run the corporation and finance the products and services effectively. They are held accountable for the expenditures and the funds of the corporation. There is not much difference between the closed corporate and those in the public corporations except those of the closed corporations have extra responsibilities in that they can serve as a corporate court of the appeal and enhance the image of the company in the public and they are held responsible for the company’s debts (Ford, 1992).
Shareholders are those individuals who own part of the shares in a corporate. In closed corporations, they have a lot of duties as compared to those in the public corporate. In closed corporate, those with a lot of shares are entitled to control of the corporations. Controlling shareholders have a lot of responsibilities in the corporations as compared with those with little shared some of the duties of the controlling shareholders include: the right to decision making, participation during the election of the board of directors. Usually, they are entitled to one vote per share (Charan, 1998). They have a duty to participate in shareholder resolutions, duty to purchase new shares of the corporation (Ford, 1992).
Corporate officers are those employees of a corporation that manage the daily activities of the corporation. They include the president or the Chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO) treasurer and the secretary. The president should direct and supervise all the technical and administrative activities of a corporation, they can amend or alter the budget in any manner they deem fit and at any time (Charan, 1998). The treasurer’s duties involve the duty to report to the board of directors concerning matters the financial status of the corporation, recommendations in the financial policies and the procedures, and report approval by the financial committee among others. The corporate secretary’s duties include preparation and distribution of notices and memos, preparation and distribution of minutes that were discussed in the board meetings, maintaining corporate records and other books (Ford, 1992).
References
Charan, R. (1998). Boards at Work: How Corporate Boards Create Competitive Advantage. San Francisco. Jossey-Bass.
Ford, R. H. (1992). Boards of Directors and the Privately Owned Firm: A Guide for Owners, Officers, and Directors. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
How Money And Wealth Depicted In The Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby”
Introduction
Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby documents a classical manifestation of the implications of social status and wealth. Fitzgerald uses numerous examples to illustrate material and wealth as though very influential and make people powerful; it cannot imply or buy happiness for an individual. In essence, wealth is portrayed as a valuable possession whose presence brings a lot of impact on a person’s life. The novel shows how wealth is a major element in the social order by showcasing, how money corrupts individual, classifies social groups and segregate others, has influence and power, yet cannot guarantee certain values in life.
Body
Fitzgerald’s two major characters; Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby help the reader to understand several features of wealth and differences between “old money” and “new money.” Gatsby is an important person when explaining the role of money in the novel’s society (Wang 235). Ideally to him, money is a means of achieving certain goals or dreams in one’s life. Therefore, he struggles to amass wealth motivated by the family of Buchanan. He also helps to illustrate the difference between the two types of money in this novel. On the one hand, within the novel, old money is considered as wealth inherited from a lineage, for instance, people who were born from wealthy backgrounds had this kind of money. On the other hand, new money describes fortune gained from hard work within the current lineage. First, Tom is an “old money” as he highlights the personality qualities of people from well-established backgrounds. He is an heir of rich generations with higher social ranks. Unlike Gatsby, who had an unsuccessful lineage, he is portrayed to have higher mortality and etiquette in his behavior. Therefore, although Gatsby may have amassed a substantial amount of money in his life, his residence and social ranks may not match Tom’s position. Therefore, he is portrayed as an old-school individual who is not exposed to formalities alongside other modern values, thus, flashy and inexperienced with money.
Likewise, throughout the novel, wealth seems to possess some unique privileges and influence. Tom’s family is rich and works as a certain class of people who categorize peers based on race and economic statuses. On the opposite side, Gatsby is struggling to become the same status as Tom and admires Tom’s lifestyle because he has a lot of wealth. This example used by Fitzgerald focuses on helping the reader understand that sometimes money can make someone love a person but will never change the social norms (Jiang). Gatsby’s wealth becomes influential when he uses his finances and belonging to attract Daisy, illustrating how privileged wealthy people are among community members. At the same, it also shows how money corrupts morals among people because Daisy ultimately changed her loyalty and could pay more attention to the highest bidder. Therefore, Fitzgerald seems to concentrate on how materialism overcomes affection with special interest alluded to the power of money; no genuine love seems to illuminate societies except where there is considerable income.
The rise and fall of Gatsby provide an example to us that all the wealth gained can be useless because people cannot buy happiness or life itself. From the beginning of the story, he stands as a rich and ambitious young man who is focused on amassing resources that he tentatively forgot his background. The new money he acquires fails to help him fulfill his ambitions and ends up back to the family lineage. Through this novel, it is important to note that money only helps Gatsby attain certain missions, including having a relationship with Daisy (Fitzgerald 5). On the contrary, Buchanan spends his wealth with no clear intention but seemingly to affirm the power and dominance of Gatsby’s people. There are instances where people in contemporary societies use their economic influence to assert either political interest or position to the common citizens because they can afford to pay daily expenses. Nonetheless, they all fail to attain maximum happiness and fulfillment in life because money can never be everything a person needs to survive. Seemingly, however rich or poor a person could be in a society, joyfulness is an individual choice. Richness comes with massively ending sacrifices that sometimes may cause mayhem in families.
Conclusion
To conclude, Fitzgerald’s novel gives examples that can exist in our societies through art that documents several aspects of a pragmatic society. He depicts wealth as one major driving force that may segregate or unite people depending on the user. Thus, wealth is not only cherishable but also vital in determining the influence of an individual in power and possession. Seemingly, can buy love and manipulate people into making decisions in a relationship, yet it cannot change the social history or standings of such individuals. Essentially, wealth makes people strive and move without attaining any sort of happiness. Therefore, Fitzgerald uses the setting to help the reader understand that all materialism and plastic money that individuals struggle for are all worthless and vanity. Nonetheless, life is priceless and no amount of wealth or money can buy happiness. Thus, people need to embrace true happiness and love to become successful in life.
References
Fitzgerald, Scott. F. The Great Gatsby. RIPOL Classic, 2017.
Jiang, Jinxuan. “The Analysis of the Tragic Reality of The Great Gatsby.” 2019 4th International Conference on Humanities Science and Society Development (ICHSSD 2019). Atlantis Press, 2019, pp. 471-475. Web.
Wang, Chenye. “Similarities and Differences between Tom and Gatsby in The Great Gatsby.” 2017 4th International Conference on Literature, Linguistics and Arts (ICLLA 2017), Francis Academic Press, 2017, pp. 234-236. Web.
Essay Voice-over