Clik here to view.
"Maybe These Maps Are Legends": Ghost Signs and the Traces of the Past
Austin, TX, Ghost Sign, image from FlickrThere is nothing in heaven above, in the earth beneath, in the water, or in the air we breathe but will be found in the universal Language of the Walls. ("The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Future City from the Past: Norman Bel Geddes’s “City of Tomorrow”
Image Credit: a456I’ve been thinking a lot about future cities these days, though I’ve mostly been focusing on real-world metropolises as futuristic settings in TV shows and movies. Today, I’m going to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The City upon a Hill at Halftime: Detroit, Unions, and the USA
Image Credit: Screenshot from YouTubeWhile baseball is more my sport, I haven’t missed watching the Super Bowl for the last couple of years. If nothing else, I enjoy analyzing the Super Bowl...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sex Sells?: Reading Romance Over the Covers
Image Credit: Screencap from VimeoH/T: Andrew SullivanI thought after my last post on Ryan Gosling that I’d be able to move on to more academic subjects, but when I saw Andrew Sullivan’s post on “The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pinterest and Panopticon: Self-representation Through Appropriation
Hacked Leviathan Frontispiece. Image Credit: David A. HarperIn the coffee shop where I ‘m writing, there are two large bulletin boards in a high-traffic area (the hallway leading to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Logos Isn't Working
Image Credit: storyful.comSo last week I suggested that my post on tennis, David Foster Wallace, and postmodernism might be my last for the 2011–2012 academic year. I lied. Here’s another 500–1,000...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Selling Beer and Selling Democracy: American Bald Eagle Logos Today and...
Image Credit: Commission on Presidential DebatesDespite its vaguely governmental-sounding name, the Commission on Presidential Debates is a private, non-profit corporation funded by a handful of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We Have Sold The Future: The Uses of Future Hopes and Fears in Petroleum...
Image Credit: ShellThe future of Norman Bel Geddes' Futurama is optimistic. Clean architecture and efficient technology aid people as they move through the business of their day. As promised in a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ads on Bodies and Bodies in Ads at SXSW
Image Credit: Magic Spoon Production's VimeoFew things will make a body more aware of its need of personal space than being in Austin during SXSW. At the height of the music festival, sixth street is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Casino's Law: Defending American Liberties in Personal Injury Attorney...
Image Credit: Screenshot from VimeoThe Super Bowl, with an audience of 111.5 million people, tends to be a place where the definition of “American” is equally invoked and contested. Not only do the...
View ArticleGays in Advertising
Hat tip to Seth Stevenson at slate.com's "Ad Report Card" for first calling my attention to this ad; I haven't actually seen it on TV:Stevenson wonders (with others) if the ad depicts a gay couple;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
American Gothic on Mad Men
Image Credit: Chicago TribuneMad Men, AMC's popular television show, has long garnered the attention of visual designers based on its subject matter (the advertising world of Madison Avenue in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
OMFMMLA!
Image Credit: Gossip Girl InsiderHaving returned back to Austin from an enchanting trip to St. Louis for the Midwest Modern Language Association conference, I thought I’d talk a little bit about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Glee Effect: New Media Marketing for Old Institutions
Screenshot Credit: YouTubeZounds! After Noel’s heartwarming welcome-back posting, I feel reinvigorated and ready to begin posting again here at viz. I did rest my blogging muscles over the break, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knockout Ads: Sexism and the Super Bowl
Image Credit: Screenshot from YoutubeSince almosteverybody elseon the Internetis commenting onthis year’s Super Bowl ads, I couldn’t resist offering my take. The obvious issue with the Super Bowl ads...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mechanized Spectacle: Lo-Fi Effects for Viral Content
Image Credit: Screenshot from YouTubeH/T: Hampton FingerLucky for you and me that before I started working on my blog post today that my friend Hampton asked me if I’d seen the new OK Go video for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Advertising in America
Image credit: screen shot of Emergence of Advertising in America database On March 26th Noel will be leading our workshop on Best Practices for Digital Images here at the DWRL and in preparation for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Satire Sandwiches: Stephen Colbert's Thought for Food
Image Credit: screen capture from ColbertNation.comFood policy can be pretty disheartening stuff: anything that combines environmentalism, worker's rights and public health in a single topic is likely...
View ArticleClik here to view.
All that glitters is not gold... or in good taste
Image Credit: posted by "Hellen Killer" on Regresty, originating from PeachyProfiles.comH/T to Megan Eatman for sending me the blogAs recent Twilight films have demonstrated, sparkling is one of the...
View ArticleGlitter re-visited (deadly and disembodied)
Image Credit: NortonH / T to my mom for sending me the video in response to last week's postLast week on Viz I posted about glitter as an undermining agent in images of solemnity. In this commercial...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Accessorizing Surveillance - Barbie Video Girl
Image Credit: screen shot from barbie.comH/T: NoelFrom coloring books to glitter to unicorns, my viz. posts seem to be revolving around adult repurposing of the trappings of youth. Naturally, we'll...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Picturing Survivors
October is breast cancer awareness month, so you may be seeing pink ribbons and products more frequently. While the pink ribbon is a powerful symbol of breast cancer awareness, "pinkwashing"...
View ArticleWhen Humor Hurts - Domestic Violence PSAs (part one)
Image credit: The OPCC via YouTubeH/T to Rachel for suggesting the topic sending me the clipAlthough Halloween is behind us, and we've packed up the glam make-up and eaten all the goodies, I'd like to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When It Can't Be Clever - Domestic Violence PSAs (part two)
In many of the ads, the abuse tends to occur off camera, subjecting the viewer/auditor to the sounds of violence without the spectacle (this French ad, for example, and this British one). These ads...
View ArticleClik here to view.
American Apparel's Imagined Bodies
Cropped version of American Apparel ad by Boris LopezI hate to be talking about this, because I hate to be one of the many people giving American Apparel attention, but I can't help but find their...
View ArticleSuper Bowl Car Commercials and the Uses of the Past
Now that our national gladiatorial spectacle has ended, we turn to the obligatory analysis of the major media event. How many Packers can get injured in a single season? Why, exactly, are the Black...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anti-abortion Rhetoric Then and Now
(Public Domain Image found at Wikimedia Commons)I came across this Russian anti-abortion poster from 1925, and thought it was pretty striking. The text translates to: "Abortions performed by either...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meat is Murder, PETA is Porn
Imogen Bailey; image from http://www.imogenbailey.com/peta.htmlIt's not news to say that PETA, in its quest to protect animals, regularly objectifies women in disturbing and disturbingly consistent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TOMS'"One Day Without Shoes" - Awareness, Activism, Advertising?
"One Day Without Shoes 2011," TOMS via YoutubeToday TOMS shoes conducted its second annual One Day Without Shoes campaign in which anyone (wherever in the privileged world) was encouraged to go without...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fast Food Morality
Image via Fast Food FAILS Ads vs RealityAppetizing, right? This image comes from one of severalwebsites devoted to examining the differences between fast food as-advertised and as-is. These sites make...
View Article
