The History of The Cube
Years ago, millions sat in front of the television and quietly watched the popular and long-running Secret (deodorant) commercials coin the slogan “Strong enough for a man, but pH balanced for a woman.”
Powerstripe came out a few years later, and in an attempt to keep up with the changing attitudes women have about their bodies, they appropriately took advantage of the evolution of the female super hero (think Charlie's Angels, Alias…). Sure, a commercial with seven women in tight black leotards is clearly adhering to the old adage: sex sells. But something had changed. Women, though arguably over sexualized, were kicking ass.
Secret, in a clever attempt to continue it's deodorant reign, had a slogan makeover, subtle enough few have noticed, but the message has changed dramatically. Secret's new slogan is “Strong enough for a woman.”
The dialogic shift in the slogans in these ads show that media is not just a mind-numbing mechanism to control the consumer. Shifting cultural ideologies are acknowledged and shape the development of the advertisements, further propagating those shifting ideologies.
Television commercials, in addition to all other forms of mass advertising, are the center of cultural production and change. Thirty seconds can reveal more about the ideological shifts, political beliefs, fears, hopes, and desires of the mass media culture than the “cultural” arts. And for this reason, I have chosen to focus on the use of the commercial slot as a location for artistic expression. The white cube, as has been long discussed by artists and critics, is not the autonomous, classless, utopia of art; commercials are the new medium and television is the new cube.
More coming soon...
Hopefully the NEWCUBE.tv Video Manifesto will be available here soon...
Until then, please contact me for further information.
Site created and maintained by