One-of-a-kind Conformity

Advertising companies have mastered the art of appealing to society using visuals, catchy phrases or music, humor, and even personal critique. A company may spend weeks pouring over one magazine advertisement or one 30 second commercial in order to make it appealing enough to catch the viewer’s attention and potentially sell a product. In today’s culture, it is “cool” for people to be individual and outside of the norm. Ad companies use this appeal, making their products seem individualized, in order to convince a viewer that he or she can be unique with their product (that many other viewers will also buy in order to be unique). To appear as non-conforming individuals, people strive to wear unique clothing, to do unique things; even to smell unique! Ad companies, in particular perfume/cologne or clothing ads, often take advantage of these mindless (non-)conformers. The commercial advertising Tom Brady’s Stetson cologne uses visual and sonic elements to give a male viewer the desire to have a carefree and rugged lifestyle, to always have a girl by his side, and to be completely free, individual, and unique.

Using fast-paced and high-tempo music as well as “western-type” visuals, the cologne ad creates the desire to have a rugged lifestyle with no cares in the world. As Tom Brady speeds down a dusty open road in a nice car, the music blares loudly, creating a feeling of manliness or of being completely carefree. Blasting music while driving is often viewed as something for the “young and reckless,” which essentially means the “cool kids.” Clearly, this commercial is advertising Tom Brady’s Stetson cologne as something someone carefree and rugged, or “cool,” would wear. To add to the rugged feel of the music, the commercial includes “western-type” images. “Going west” symbolizes people breaking free from their normal and potentially unsuccessful lifestyle, and finding success and happiness starting from scratch in a new place. Naturally, with the long and open dusty road that Tom Brady is driving on, his almost-but-not-quite-clean-shaven-face, and his cowboy hat (which flies off his head), this commercial gives this happy and successful feeling of being a rugged adventurer. This commercial creates the desire in a man to be “cool” in a manly way, which means being rugged and carefree, willing to seek out adventure. According to the commercial, Tom Brady’s Stetson cologne gives a man this rugged confidence.

Along with appealing to a man’s desire to live a rugged lifestyle, this ad also gives him the desire to always have a girl by his side in order to be “cool” and happy. The entire commercial is fast-paced (which parallels the music), and Tom Brady and the girl in the passenger seat of the car are constantly having a good time. Repeatedly, the girl looks over at Tom Brady and smiles or laughs, indicating that she is wholeheartedly enjoying his company, and eventually she touches the back of his head to show her affection. Today’s culture tells young adults that to be happy, it is necessary to have a significant other. This commercial implies that wearing this cologne will make a man more “cool” and desirable, and therefore, that he will have no trouble finding a girl.

Even though the ad alludes to the idea that a man needs a girl by his side to be happy, it also creates in him the desire to be completely individual and free. In the commercial, the implication that a man needs a girl is not detrimental to the appeal to freedom, which connects to individuality. In today’s culture, individuality is “the new conformity;” people desire to be unique, but they achieve this uniqueness by emulating the actions or styles of another. Individuality also implies that a person feels free—free to do whatever he or she wants, however he or she wants to do it. In the commercial, a sleek and beautiful wild horse gallops next to Tom Brady’s speeding car, symbolizing power, strength, and freedom. The fact that the horse and Tom Brady are running side by side (or rather, driving, in Brady’s case) gives the impression that they are equals—equally happy, equally powerful, and equally free. There is no one else around, implying a certain uniqueness to Tom Brady’s experience while he is wearing his Stetson cologne. This uniqueness is implied in the idea that to be individual and free, one must remove himself from society and “find his own adventure.” This commercial for Tom Brady’s Stetson cologne creates a desire for a man to “find his own adventure”—to be free and completely individual (which, ironically, can be done by copying what Tom Brady is doing in the ad).

[The next commercial's link to embed has been disabled by YouTube. Please click HERE to view the commercial. I apologize for this inconvenience].

Another ad which obviously appeals to ruggedness, having a girl, and being individual and free, is this Levi’s commercial done to the song “Walk the Line.” Although this commercial is different from the Stetson commercial in that the music is not blaring, it is similar in that the music still implies a sort of carefree lifestyle that accompanies rugged confidence. The man in the Levi’s commercial isn’t “going west,” nor is he alone as he walks through the urban setting, but he is still set apart from everything else just as Tom Brady was in his Stetson commercial. The Levi’s ad implies that this man who is wearing their slim straight jeans is so “cool” and individual that he can’t be stopped by fences, a basketball scrimmage, construction, or a traffic jam. He is so “free” that he can just climb over the fence, walk straight through the basketball game, ignore the rubble from construction, and even walk over cars in the traffic jam. All of this is leading up to the one thing he is heading towards: a girl. This directly parallels the Stetson commercial in that the man is a rugged and free non-conforming individual, and this makes him cool enough to have a significant other who is happy with him.

Both the Stetson cologne commercial and the Levi’s commercial appeal to viewers, giving them a desire to have a carefree and rugged lifestyle, to always have a girl by their side, and to be completely free, individual, and unique. Using visuals that imply set-apartness from normal society, these ads convince viewers that their products are different, unique, and one-of-a-kind. The ad companies have successfully done their job if, while watching a commercial or looking at an ad that is advertising a "unique" product, the viewer believes he or she could potentially be totally individual and set apart from society because of that product.

Bryn Unger