In response to Zeegan Lawrence’s quote i will be investigating whether contemporary illustration shies away from society’s big debates and whether illustration has lost all content. I will look into the persuasive power of illustration; In particular looking at propaganda and mass communication techniques.
Edward Bernays, nephew of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, was the american/austrian pioneer of what is now known as PR, short for ‘public relations’. Combining research into crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical views of his uncle he created new techniques to sell products. According to Bernays’, consumer capitalism uses photography and illustrations that play to the public’s common interests and depict idealistic lifestyles in an attempt to sell more things that we don’t really need. By attaching an item to an instinctive human desire we may not notice the images content or comment but it has made its mark within your subconscious affecting your future consumer decisions within the range of choices we are given.
'the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society'
'We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of'
'We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of'
:Propaganda by Edward L. Bernays, 1928
Illustration plays a crucial role in visualising the ideal lifestyle we are manipulated into aspiring to. The government increasingly creates problems and sells us the solutions, the advertising campaigns often contain imagery that keeps the viewer feeling inadequate; fueling the burning desire for more consuming.
Edward Bernay’s writes at a time before the internet, where global communication is not as instant and easy. we now interact with media in an entirely different way; making his writings slightly outdated. today there is less focus on newspapers and radio and the people have a bigger platform to get their opinions heard.
We are sold the illusion of freedom in a world of billions of images, a market so saturated for the illustrator that illustration may seem as though it has lost its voice and influence.This is good for the economic elite, saturation of the market works to their advantage as the radical thoughts, ideas and debate worthy image making gets drowned out by the mountains of chit-chat and tittle-tattle of inner-sanctum nothingness. (zeegan lawrence)
“Consumers, he says “are like roaches, you spray them and spray them and they get immune after a while”
We have become so inundated with images that we are no longer seeing the comment or message as advertising is so deeply ingrained in humans that we don’t notice when an images sole purpose is to sell something to us. Advertising spreading into all aspects of life the logo of a brand represents the ethos of the company. Nike isn’t a sportswear company it’s a fitness and healthy lifestyle company, “its mission is not to sell shoes but to enhance people’s lives through sports and fitness.”
Illustration for big corporations such as nike would be solely to create an example of a better life; achievable by buying a product.
Throughout history illustrators have played a crucial role within society artistically critiquing social and political developments and changes. Illustrations are often made accessible through humour, but responds to important news and big debates within society; showing opposition to political developments and politicians; highlighting flaws and errors within popular belief and exposing the feelings of common people. The main aim being to ‘convey its message “quickly and ungently,” an urgent dispatch meant to swiftly strike a nerve’
Political satirist like Steve Bell or Martin Rowson, best known for their political cartoons in the guardian, continually oppose right wing bias in the media; or as Bell puts it, “the idiot stuff that comes out of the radio. It’s part of the process of shouting back at the radio that my wife and I have always done.” By exaggerating their subject these political cartoonists create very humorous images of current news and socio-political discussions. Raising awareness and documenting current global issues. Political cartoonists have the power to alter society’s opinions and make public figures aware of their public image. This has been an art form that dates back many hundreds of years. Named the father of the political satire cartoons, James Gillray (1756-1815) has been making light of important political issues since the 18th century. Freedom of speech should be upheld and respected but it is a dangerous tool to play with. In 2006 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten created cartoons depicting Islam’s prophet Muhammad started a global outrage and eventually violent riots resulting in over 150 people’s deaths. Later in 2011 famous Syrian satirical cartoonist Ali Farzat was brutally beaten and had both hands broken as a warning to not satirise leaders of the syrian government.
Then more recently in 2015 an attack on the weekly french satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo killed 12 people. Enraged by depictions of the prophet muhammad muslim terrorist extremists belonging to the a section of the group called Al-Qaeda carried out this attack, reigniting the debate about self censorship as an artist.
Clearly there are many illustrators out there that are very involved with societies big debates, political satirists and cartoonists that create very thoughtful delicate pictures in reaction to current events. Illustration is still very much involved within politics and plays a crucial role of arguing against the mainstream opinion. We are more exposed to illustration today through platforms like instagram so it is easy to think illustration has lost all comment or comment if you are not looking in the right places.
To conclude, Illustration is deeply ingrained within society; the commercial world and advertising relies on image makers to sell us products. The world is filled with images but if you look in the right places there are numerous artists focused on creating work about society's biggest discussions. Illustrations place within society is secured, the platforms through which illustration is seen are not.
Interview with Steve Bell - News and events, The University of York Website title:York.ac.uk https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/features/steve-bell-interview/
Jen Larsen: A Cultural History of Satirical Cartoons and Censorship https://daily.jstor.org/cultural-history-satirical-cartoons-censorship/
Naomi Klein, 2000. No Space No Choice No Jobs No Logo. Edition. Flamingo.
Bernays, E.L. (2017) Propaganda quotes by Edward L. Bernays. Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/481391-propaganda (Accessed: 25 January 2017).
Bernays, E.L. (1969) The engineering of consent. 3rd edn. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
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