Culture Notes

Image is everything

Postmodernism favors form over content, image over truth, desire over reality. This is why contemporary educational theory is not much interested in teaching anything and why today's politicians can be so free and easy with the truth. Now, this postmodernist skepticism has made its way to the advertising industry. The latest fashion in commercials is to have a clever ad without bothering about actually showing the product being advertised. Some Nike ads have little to do with shoes, presenting only the logo of the swoosh. A Mercedes ad shows only a giant yellow duck, with logos for eyes. The Honda Acura commercial depicts a blur and a whoosh, but never shows the car. In these postmodern commercials, there is no real content, just rhetorical persuasion. Image really is everything. Perhaps the oddest ad campaign in this vein is the series of Nissan commercials. A road cuts through a surreal landscape, with no car in sight, as an actor pops up with a sign that says, "Smile." A boy chases a baseball into a barn, where he falls into subterranean garage filled with Japanese cars. A G.I. Joe-figure steals Barbie away from Ken, as they drive away in a toy sports car. All of these advertise Nissan automobiles. What ties the commercials together is the appearance of a zen-like Japanese guru in a bow tie and baseball cap. He is supposed to represent Yutaka Katayama, the original head of Nissan operations in the U.S., known as "Mr. K." Though these ads have won advertising awards, critical acclaim, and wide attention, according to a Wall Street Journal report, they are not selling many Nissans. The public has no idea what the ads are selling, and car dealers are complaining to the company. Next year, the ad agency is promising more conventional ads. The problem with postmodernism-as is evident in education and politics no less than in advertising-is that style is ultimately no substitute for substance.