Blog 9 week 5 Modernity,Spectatorship, Power

I feel most self conscious when I am doing an exercise or using a machine at the gym. I feel as if I am on display and as though people notice every little nuance of my movement. Sometimes I feel that people notice every little droplet of sweat that rolls off my body, even though they don't.

A product advertisement that would work well with this situation would be some sort of enhancement supplement. First, I would enter the gym as the subject of everyone's gaze. My gait would be very calculated and self conscious as I feel people's eyes running over my awkward movement. Next, the camera pans to me doing an exercise with which I have a lot of trouble and people are noticing my strife. Since people are noticing my frustration and poor performance I resort to a little help from an "absolutely essential" supplement. Self conscious and obviously frustrated with my lack of strength I open my gym bag. I then pull out a large bright green drink container that is an enhancement supplement. Then an announcer's voice chimes in saying,"Can't seem to find that extra edge in the gym? Want to increase your strength, vasodialation, and looks? Well get a Monster Muscle! It's not a work out withour Monster Muscle! Then the Camera pans to my ,now, muscular fingers ripping off the lid and taking a drawn out 3 second gulp followed by a sigh of refreshment. After this gulp my body has a glow and miraculously women begin to look at me and whisper about me. Now, very self confident I walk over to another machine, load up the heaviest weight, and pull out ten reps with ease. The camera pans out again to a shot of the Monster Muscle container resting atop my bag with me in the background confidently entertaining a group of attractive females. This pariopticon would allow people a view into my life simulataeously allowing them to level with my feelings of inadequacy until I use that special product. The words "It's not a workout without Monster Muscle" flash across the screen and the ad ends.

This ad, like most ads, thrives on tapping into people's self conscious worries. The ad implies that we are not inherently sufficient and cannot function at our optimum without certain products. Once we have the product we immediately become self confident, effective, and powerful. Essentially, what this ad and most ads like it are selling the idea of incompleteness, an inherent lack of perfection, or inadequacy. They are selling you the idea that your are not wholly complete and effective without their product. It is shameful how slimy, yet effective, this type of advertising is in the US today.