Blog Post #3 Jiaqi Gao

In” Ways of Seeing”, Berger reports that advertising can make us richer in some ways by encouraging everyone in consumer society to buy more to change themselves and their lives. Even if the money we spend makes us poor, advertising persuades us to change. It creates glamour by showing people who have significantly changed and generating consumer envy. Also, glamour is a new concept for people in today’s life. It is for those who cannot accept that they are unattractive. Therefore, the charm has a certain commercial value, which is very important for advertising. Berger also explains the difference between what oil painting shows and what advertising photography shows. There are many commonalities between the two, but one is pure art and the other is commerce. At the same time, more commercial advertisements imitate oil paintings to create an ideal atmosphere for consumers, to achieve greater commercial value. It also reveals that society is changing constantly. People are no longer pursuing pure art, but more pursuing their charm and more wealth. Nevertheless, in “The Dream a Far Away Place”, advertisers use different situations to create a different atmosphere for consumers. This atmosphere is often the life that consumers aspire to achieve. And advertising precisely manipulates consumers to obtain the maximum commercial value by promising them a beautiful blueprint.