Sarahel's Semiotics 4U

facebook wants me to become a fan of a particular brand of deodorant, if I'm a fan of people wearing deodorant ... and over 133,000 people are fans of this brand of deodorant. I'm a fan of not having waxy gunk in my ears, and Qtips are pretty good for removing waxy gunk from ears, but I'm not going to "become a fan" of Qtips ...

I just wonder is this fandom authentic or ironic. Is it an attempt to make the ad go away and see what comes next? I'm fascinated by this, because it is thoroughly baffling to me.

declaration of allegiance to a particular product is a declaration of individuality

if I'm a fan of people wearing deodorant

how did facebook posit the question? "If you looooove wearing deodorant, join Arrid today!"?

xp - The thing that gets me the most about the deodorant thing is that it's a product that isn't a traditional "I buy this, I'm a this kind of person" type of product.

the question was literally, "if you're a fan of people wearing deodorant, become a fan of (brand name) deodorant..." then under the picture, "133,xxx people are fans of (brand name) deodorant"

haha what a weird way of phrasing the question. "if you like to eat, join the McDonald's Facebook group..."

I do think deodorant brands do make an effort to map themselves onto different personality types: Axe is for, well, it's obvious, Old Spice has the stink of old money, Mitchum is for no-nonsense people who want no odors.

in many ways, deodorants are just practical perfumes

so do brands of tampons, but unless the type you buy are organic or something special and virtuous, I just don't see the appeal of advertising one's fandom of a product that is functional and corrective of bodily functions one doesn't want to advertise. ...

facebook isn't really too surprising a venue for this type of behavior, as its success lies in the ability for its users to concoct the perfect admixture of movies, TV shows, music, quotes, religious views, blood type, etc. to stand in place as their avatar online. stanning for a particular brand of deodorant to me seems like a natural extension; you could probably start a deodorant poll on ILE right now and get 100 new replies in 24 hours.

it totally makes sense for this type of advertising to exist on facebook for the reasons you mention, but the way the question was posed and the particular product and the 133,000 + fans made me go wtf

xxp I dunno, I can't tell what kind of tampons are in use when walking on the street, but I certainly can tell when someone walks by who has just liberally applied Axe all across the chest of their open faced polo.

to me, deodorants are a way of aspiring to the use of a perfume as identifying marker without actually admitting that it is one's purpose; i.e. someone for whatever reason doesn't feel comfortable with the idea of buying a perfume or cologne to give themselves a distinctive scent, thinking it's too forward, or foppish, or whatever, but feels perfectly alright with buying a deodorant with a distinctive scent since it's for a 'practical' purpose, and well one has to use deodorant anyway so why not choose a brand one likes?

^^ sounds like that's more of a guy thing then?

open faced polo? I meant to say popped collar. I guess open faced was my way of describing the accompanying look of not having any of the buttons fastened.

I roomed with a guy for a summer program once whose toiletry kit consisted entirely of Gillette products. Gillette razor, shaving cream AND shaving gel, aftershave, deodorant, body wash, probably some other products I am forgetting. he would also bring back all the bottles of beer he had drunk and line them up next to his bed. he was part of a fraternity.

xp yeah, it's a way for guys to have a 'scent' without being accused of foppish tendencies.

this was a deodorant for women ... or at least the ad had a woman in it with her arms outstretched. I think I used said brand for a little while as a teenager.

hah, then I have no idea. oddly enough this discussion has given rise to the desire to proclaim what deodorant I use, which is Gatsby Unscented.

I have no brand loyalty for products like that ...

takin it way back to croquet and use of the word "baby"

i call my BF baby sometimes, is this bad? i dont think i do it in an annoying way. no one has ever really called me that, though i did date a guy who said "babe". i was ambivalent about it tbh

my current boyfriend went to a Grey Gardens-themed croquet party thrown by our very flamboyant friend and he got mad and hammered the ground with the mallet

lol

No, I don't think it is bad ... it's one of those things I'm ambivalent about, because on one hand you have the "infantilization" thing, but it has become so ingrained in culture, that there are other signifiers as well that cloak it.

croquet story is lol ... did he make a hole?

okay - I've been thinking some more about what I find weird about the woman's deodorant fandom on facebook thing:

Historically, the objects of fandom were aspirational: sports teams/athletes; cultural works/artists, authors, musicians, actors; political parties/politicians; religious movements and figures. Other historically common objects were things that were associated with pleasure: food/alcohol, architecture, nature, sexual practices. With further advances in capitalism, people became fans of particular brands of goods - though these were generally associated with public display and/or leisure, fashion and cars, to name two obvious categories.

For something like a women's deodorant to command or demand fandom (which connotes a public display of appreciation/liking), is definitely a departure from these historical categories. Primarily, because it is what I would call a corrective product: something one would use to remove deficiencies in order to conform to societal norms. By expressing public appreciation for products like this is to the publicly admit that one has these deficiencies.

Granted, one of the trends of advertising is to more prominently and frankly discuss these deficiencies -- it wasn't until the 70s that feminine douches were advertised on American television, partly to make up for loss of revenue due to the ban of cigarette ads. However, these products tend to be things that people use and if they work, are grateful for, but aren't likely to publicly praise.

There are definitely products that are exceptions to this, though these tend to be things that are more uniquely liberating, in that the deficiencies they correct aren't universal. Contact lenses are a good example of this. I can understand someone being a fan of contact lenses, because they allow their users to appear like those fortunate to not require them. Deodorant, on the other hand, is not.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/lolatlife.jpg

^^^the incident covered upthread

well, right after it tbh

guess I shouldn't be too harsh on croquet, since I'm entertained by mini-golf ...I think my problem with my ex being a croquet aficionado was that it was just another signifier of a certain sensibility that came to seriously annoy me.

the word "momma" in songs. do you like it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oiLfTnrC40

posted this in that thread, partly for cute animals, partly because due to years of going to loud shows my hearing is kinda fucked and I honestly mishear lyrics a lot.

[brand name women's deodorant] is making sure all your hugs are the freshest. Give your BFF a hug today. (And smell great doing it.)

now up to 259,000+ fans ...

which is better:
http://startupblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/dyson-vacuum.jpg

or

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IEIb52dl720/SekjpU5-H2I/AAAAAAAAAF4/dTwwK-bBzp8/s400/dyson-vacuum.jpg

i saw some marmosets the other day

the yellow one with no personality.

i'm kinda leaning towards the pink one because it's more dynamic

on the other hand the straight verticality of the yellow one signifies a firm no-nonsense appliance.

it looks hapless on youtube, you can't blame it though.

i think i came across the relevant thread during an insomniac random thread click.

i know those well.

how many post have you made now? this is 5192 for me.

s

uh oh 5202 for me

<3

thank you for indulging my vacuum cleaners

thank you for indulging my interest in your posting total.

Straight one is like a straight, "You suck."

Flying one is like someone in a sing-song voice, "You suuUUUuuuUuuck!"

well, it has multiple connotations. It could be interpreted as "you suck," but as the vacuum cleaner is the thing doing the sucking, it could just as easily connote "i suck," or "this sucks"

pol·y·se·mous (pl-sms)
adj.
Having or characterized by many meanings:

haha i love what bamcquern said

i saw that yellow dyson at the store this morning

i love it too.

meanwhile - over a million facebook users have become fans of vitaminwater

damn them

apparently vitamin water is successful enough that some other company has come out with vitamintea

sue them

both products have the same sans-serif font product label thing going on. The vitamintea (one word) company is "Pureamerican" - which makes me wonder whether sans-serif fonts in food packaging and in supermarkets are supposed to connote organic-ness and purity or something.

sure!

did innocent smoothies invent that thing where every product label acts like ur pal. kept expecting the directions on the frozen pizza box 2 call me "bro," prolly serves me right for reading them tho

i dunno - Odwalla juice did this quite a while ago. That was the first time I noticed it. I read these things as well.