As Much As You Can

Since a century we’ve seen a lot of campaigns against smoking however, most of them weren’t effective, smokers still smokes and a lot of teenagers are starting to smoke too (you can refer to my post “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke” below). After banning smoking in public areas in Lebanon, a lot of people were against this law. Rare are the people who followed it for different reasons. I was surprised for the fact that a lot of educated people are with smoking, therefore I wanted to do a campaign of a different kind using reversed psychology, the main topic in today’s advertising strategies.

First I’ve started my intervention with two teaser campaigns aiming to empathize with smokers rather than attacking them, showing them that we know that they really understand the consequences of smoking but it’s hard for them to quit:

“I know people think I’m not educated, but they don’t understand how hard it is to stop”, “I know people think I don’t care, but they don’t understand it calms me down”, “I know that people think I’m killing myself, but they don’t understand it’s a great companion”.

Later , I announced a competition: “SMOKE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN”. I invited people to enjoy smoking and try to smoke the most number of cigarettes at one time. The message is getting smokers to see clearly their smoking attitudes and to think again about quitting cigarettes. I was inspired by the campaign “Sheyef halak” on LBCI, which I consider a very successful example of using reversed psychology in advertising. Hanging posters of the competitors smoking with grades and tags saying “I’m cool”, “I have 100/100” and so, will show them how ridiculous they appear . Unfortunately, the program coordinator of the university didn’t allow us to have the competition or hang the posters on campus. So, it was held on Facebook, people started to post pictures of themselves smoking. You can check the pageAs Much As You Can and the event Smoke As Much As You Can.  In university, most of the students thought that the competition was a prank! Some of their reactions was: “Are you trying to kill people?”, some of them removed posters, others were complaining to the program coordinator about this campaign! For the smokers, many were willing to participate and take the challenge while others said they wouldn’t do it, because they know how harmful it is, and, it’s a waste of cigarettes!! 😛

You can check our video to see student’s reactions on this topic.

All in all, visual perception does not deal only with graphical images but also with the psychology of humans behind it. Advertising campaigns should focus on  all the aspects of visual perception as well as the current needs of the society in order to be fully successful.

The Global Flow of Visual Culture – Discussion

Hello class, what was great about this chapter “Visual Culture Flow” is that we all got involved and got very excited about each part of it. And especially especially Despina!

First of all she was so fascinated about the part “BORDERS AND FRANCHISES: ART AND THE GLOBAL” she started talking and talking about the series she is recently watching which is called WHITE COLLAR and which is about an art thief working for the art department of the FBI – a very smart idea- and how art thieves are also artists, how much they appreciate art to steal it and with that humor sense they have, you cannot conceive them as criminals!

I searched about this a bit and found this interesting novel that we’ll all start reading it soon 😉

Second, when we were reading about how web provides a mean to share cultural products, we went investigating about that. I headed directly to the library and got some interesting information! Can you believe that in our small campus university we have 97,077 electronic books! We have 55,649 Full-text electronic journals! And we have 136 online databases! WOW! And they ask about how culture flows!

Later, we read about Ugly Betty and how it was taken from the Columbian telenovela, Rita remembered a very famous Mexican series that was really famous when we were kids… Who of us didn’t watch MARIA MERCEDES?? And then she started talking and telling about her childhood and how she grew up watching MICKEY MOUSE AND POWERPUFF GIRLS and then when she got a bit older she moved on to DISNEY and its shows LISSIE MGUIRE AND EVEN STEVENS, then as a teenager she watched MTV shows nonstop and STAR ACADEMY! All her childhood was based on western culture and western productions. THAT’S GLOBALIZATION COSTA, she said!

Rita interfered again and made us notice how “b lebnen kil shi byekhdoo min bara” Star academy, arabs got talent, the doctors and a lot a lot more, and how our music videos and movies are influenced by the American culture, for example the new Lebanese movie, “The last valentine in Beirut” talks about prostitution but in a very cheap way, and it is using sex appeal to attract audience! And even the fact that it’s NC 18 rated, makes teenagers crave to watch it!

And while we were laughing having a good time reading the chapter, a very shocking story came to disturb us! We were all astonished and kind of afraid 😛 The story is about Sarah Baartman, the khoisan woman from south Africa, she was a slave for a Dutch family. Since she had a big buttocks and an unusually large labia, a brother from the Dutch family took her and put her body on displays and sideshows in France then took her to Paris where she was displayed by an animal trainer (can u believe that!!!!). But wait I didn’t finish the story… after the animal trainer she was examined by French naturalists, she died in 1815, HER REMAINS WERE DISPLAYED IN “MUSEE DE LHOMME” IN 2002 NELSON MANDELA, president of South Africa, demanded her remains back to her country, she reached south africa without her BRAIN since it was mysteriously lost !! And here we started laughing again about the Brain Issue! 😛

Later in the discussion about how the geographical boundaries of nations vanished with the Internet, Shady elaborated on the subjects in means of design. He said that in the old days design was not so important, you would buy commodities by seeing the product and testing the quality. After that package design was a great commercial tool, it became enough to see the visual appeal of the product and most importantly the brand! But now with online sales you just get to see the picture!! And sales became dependent on how much this picture or bunch of pictures are visually appealing.

When we were talking about GLOBAL BRANDS, I remembered the sociology class… and when the professor used to tell us that even in this classroom there is nothing made in Lebanon…. even the pens that we are writing with are made in china, we have parts from all over the world.. we’re using apple American products… notebooks and pencils made in China… LCDs are most probably made in Tokyo.

Later on, in the part about satellites, we read how in 1957 satellites were used to spy on the enemy and in year 2000, 8000 satellites became used for TV stations and GPS.. Shady got a big smile and said, oh to identify with a criminal they used to draw his picture or take a B/W photograph of him/her. Nowdays they track him on watsapp on facebook twitter, on his cell phone using satellites, There’s no privacy anymore, and this is how the world became a small global village. But more than that, they can track you from behind the walls! The wifi Radar!:A surveillance device that uses WiFi radio waves has been devised to see through walls to detect, in military and surveillance parlance, moving personnel targets.

Shady concluded with the idea that about 500 years ago, the American culture was built from all the immigrants coming to it, Europeans Asians and African, it was built by physical immigration. However, nowadays America is spreading its culture by the use of media, within minutes a lady gaga movie clip gets thousands of hits and within hours, a published book sells thousands of copies!

Thank you folks!

SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE

Smokers, did these ads make you feel like:

a. Quitting?
b. Having a cigarette?
c. Have no effect on you?

These shocking ads might repel, disgust, intrigue, confuse you but certainly they won’t make you quit smoking! Anti-smoking ads do not work.

In a research by Martin Lindstrom, they scanned the brains of participants while flashing ads at them. The results came out that cigarette ads increase desire for nicotine instead of deterring smokers from smoking. Shocking ads trigger the same part of the brain that stimulates desire for nicotine.

“Another study have shown that such graphic advertisements are effective in persuading smokers to quit, but they have also often led to opposition from smokers, who call them alarming and demeaning.” http://healthyinfluence.com/wordpress/2012/03/20/12785/

“Also,  research has shown that Antismoking advertisements with smoking cues and weak antismoking arguments could produce boomerang effects on smokers through urge elicitation.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666377/

Other than research simple observation shows that cigarette ads triggers in you the desire to smoke, you see it, you want it! Some people feel guilty when seeing the bad effect of smoking so they smoke more to control the guilt, like overeating. And if we go deep the main reason for the failure of these ads may be reverse psychology.“The idea of reverse psychology was originally introduced in 1970 by the German psychologists, Adorno and Horkheimer. The theory was that people would say, do, or believe the exact opposite of what you want them to. They tested this theory and found it to be entirely correct.” Stanley C Loewen. When somebody tells you don’t smoke you feel like you want it more, you rebel to assert your freedom, and you feel angry at the person restricting your freedom. If you want to prevent your teenage stubborn child from smoking, yell at him/her, Goddammit I told you to smoke, now either you get in there and light up or you will lose the car for a week!”

In conclusion, advertisers should think out of the box, psychology is a very essential aspect when you’re dealing with human beings. U.S government spends 629.5 on smoking campaigns but 281.9 million dollars a year on cancer research! Government should stop spending money on ineffective ads and focus on psychological research to make their campaigns more effective.

Here are some tips to stop smoking:

1- Live underwater, it’s the perfect way to quit with no drawbacks at all.

2- Become a NASA astronaut it is very difficult to pop out for a quick ciggy on the space station.

3- Live 0n mars, you have no oxygen to light up a cigarette.

4- Get caught stealing, its difficult to use a lighter with no hands.

5- Wear some sort of flammable suit 😉

A Wolf and his Sheep.

 

“Bas Mat Watan” is a political mockery and slapstick show written by Charbel Khalil and broadcasted on the Lebanese station LBC since 1995. The title of the program is a pun, as in Lebanese Arabic the title can refer to either “death” or “smiles” of a nation. Bas mat Watan is the longest-running political satire program in Lebanon.

The National Audiovisual Media Council (NAMC) decided on Friday 23 december 2004, to suspend it for four weeks after it caused panic in the national and international official circles by reporting the arrest in Lebanon of the terrorist Osama bin Laden, before admitting the announcement was a “joke” in a comedy show. As the English Lebanese newspaper Daily Stars wrote, the show displayed two mock flash newscasts, presented by LBC news anchor Bassam Abu Zeid, which fooled the viewers. The first bulletin reported that a dangerous terrorist, whom Abu Zeid did not name, had been arrested in Lebanon after a secret and bloodless security operation. The only details that were given were that this was one of the most sought-after criminals in the Arab world and that he was not Lebanese. The next segment “clarified” the situation, saying undercover security forces had found Osama Bin Laden hiding in Tripoli in Omar Karami’s attic. During the announcements, the word “lie” appeared on the screen instead of the term “live” that is usually used for news flashes but the viewer thought it was just a spelling mistake. After viewing the first part, viewers rushed to their phones to find out who this mysterious personality was. The incident caused alarm among officials attending a dinner hosted by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. President Emile Lahoud was reportedly upset by the incident and contacted the NAMC. The prank harmed the states image and the reputation of Lebanese media, it has shaken the country’s stability and the Lebanese public was very upset. They were about to shot LBC down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzYLDLsyQk&feature=youtu.be

On May 11 2009, in an interview, Charbel Khalil says that he doesn’t regret it, even if it almost started a war.

“What do you mean you almost started a war?”

[Laughs] Well, I announced that we’d found Bin Laden in [former Prime Minister] Omar Karameh’s attic. We were shut down for a month that time. I remember there was a diplomatic dinner with PM Hariri in Phoenicia and they started getting SMS messages about Bin Laden’s capture [laughs]. The Lebanese and Syrian armies were on alert at the time and both CNN and Al Jazeera reported the incident. We kicked Wall Street up by nine points just with that bit of theatrics.

Another event, the U.S. government declared the death of Osama bin laden on May 2, 2011. They said the corpse was thrown in the sea, they didn’t release but one photo that many believes its photoshoped. No DNA testing report. No clear evidence. The only difference between these two events is that the later was announced by a higher official source and it was not followed by a declaration of the Joke or the “Lie”.

A combination between Bin Laden’s photo and a photo of another dead man.

 “It may be true that you can’t fool ALL the people ALL the time. but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.”— Will Durant, The Story of Civilization

The real concern behind these famous events is the credibility of news and media. How can we make sure that reporters are reporting the real event and they are not just actors with a script controlled by the government and big conspiracies? And what can we know about politics if we’re programmed to listen and repeat what they fool us to say and what they want us to believe without being critical and doing our independent research? Well actually politicians are just TV actors, reporters and news anchors might be also actors but the responsibility falls on us. We bunch of sheep receivers that naively believe whatever we are fed by media.

Actors on Stage

The Story of Resemblance

As Andre Bazin said: “ At the origin of painting and sculpture there lies a mummy complex”. It’s The preservation of life by a representation of life.

In this article we’re going to explore realism; the psychology behind realism.

Our story begins in ancient Egypt. Humans were scared of death and of the unknown mysteries behind it. So they tried everything to survive, and for them survival was the preservation of the body against the passage of time. In order to do that, they invented mummies. Then, when preserving flesh and bones was not guaranteed they made sarcophagus, statues and sculptures. And this is when realism and the passion for duplicating real life began. It went later to the representation of gods and people through painting. After that was the invention of the camera obscura, the perfect machine for a perfect reproduction of real life. Whom of us doesn’t look at an old picture to bring back the memories of an ex-boyfriend? Or who doesn’t keep photos of his deceased grandparents? Pictures revive in us those old memories with all the emotions attached to them and take us back in time where we really want to believe its reality!

That was all before this century. Now, what does technology bring to us to feed our hunger for eternity and our fear of vanishing? Oh, Cloning!

“Yes, it is the same dog,” Ms. Otto says definitively. “Yes, it is the same personality. Yes, we got more than we ever bargained for, and we were thrilled to death.” “Maybe we’ve set ourselves up wanting it to be the same dog, and it probably is not the same dog. Just leave us alone in our beliefs; we’ll be happier.”

Edgar and Nina Otto spent $155,000 in getting their beloved deceased dog, named Sir Lancelot, cloned. Though they may have been shocked when it actually happened, the Ottos were prepared and first had Lancelot’s DNA stored four years prior to his death when they first heard that cloning technology was beginning to be developed.

“I only was hoping to get the essence of Lancelot back,” Mrs. Otto said. “The only problem with dogs is that they have such a short life. Cloning means you could have the opportunity to have the same dog with you for your entire life.”

Clearly, this is the real psychology behind realism not copying life but preserving it. However  the question is, do we have the courage to bring a deceased parent, sibling or son back to life, back to reality?

Here is a link to a cloning game where you get to know more about the techniques of cloning. Enjoy!

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/clickandclone/

Mass Deception

I want to communicate to you what I experienced regarding to the interpretation of visual perception. Although many people may interpret it differently, many others would experience it the same way I did. I’m talking about “Twilight” the movie and its parody “Vampires Suck”.

A small survey has shown different opinions on the topic. Here the interrelation between watching “Twilight” and/or not watching “Vampires suck” is explored. Although 12/17 haven’t watched “Vampires Suck”, 11/17 didn’t like “Twilight”. However what’s important for this survey is that 60% of  people who watched “Vampires suck” didn’t like “Twilight”. As it seems, “Vampires Suck” changed our interpretation of “Twilight” from the romantic fantasy movie to the ridiculous one. At least, so it did for me! Lets see extracts from the movies and experience how It would affect us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF1WscMzg0s&feature=plcp

The reason is “intervisuality”: “the decoding of visuals is dependent on the interaction of a variety of modes of visuality and different media forms”. So our interpretation of this movie may be dependent on the ironic version of it as it may be dependent on other factors in each culture. When I first watched twilight I loved it, I saw in it the romance as we usually expect it in movies, the codes and conventions of that romance were there and perfectly shaped so my ideologies of a romance movie made me see it as common sense. I was that dominant-hegemonic reader. However when I watched the parody of it and then watched the last part, I looked at it differently. I started to negotiate my interpretation (I became the negotiated reader). Now I got two points of views, unconscious (hegemonic forces) and conscious (counter-hegemonic forces). I wasn’t that passive viewer anymore; I became the oppositional reader receiving and deciphering visual information in a very active way, and now I’m proud to say VAMPIRES SUCK!

Behind a Smiley Face.

Do you think that smiley faces dates to the 20^th century  pop culture era? Well think again! 

If we go back in history to the Neolithic era (2500 BC) we find a stone. Where? In Nimes, france. A pictograph showing two rounded eyes, an arch making a mouth carved on a perfectly rounded stone. However the first drawn smiley face in the 20^th century appeared in Ingmar Bergman’s 1948 film “Hamnstad” and then in the 1950’s for a promotional campain for motion picture Lili and Gigi. It became popular in 1964 when Harvey ball the co-owner of an advertising and public relations firm in Worcester, Massachusetts designed it in 10 minutes for an insurance company. In 1971, more than 50 million smiley faces buttons were sold, in 1999, the U.S. Postal service produced the first smiley face stamp and in 1999, it was the first world Smiley day.

This simple tiny symbol had many uses since then, however, it held many different connotations.

1- The smiley face became frequently used in IM conversations.

Unicode smiley characters :

U+263A or alt(+)1      White Smiling Face    ☺

U+263B or alt(+)2      Black Smiling Face    ☻

According to psychologists, communication in real life is 90% non-verbal. It involves gestures, facial expressions and hand signals more than verbal expressions. So smiley faces in online communications are used to fill the void of being there, having real face to face communications and seeing how the person is acting and interpret the meaning of his words.

“Online, smileys are a powerful way to transport emotions. The typographic smileys are generally known as emoticons. Placed with care and read with an eye for detail, they clarify the meaning of a statement and improve interpretation.” http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/15-popular-codes-for-smiley-faces-their-meanings/ ”

First, the smiley faces were used to express a happy face person, however they may convey many meanings for different individuals. By studying semiotics we can differentiate its different connotations. For this purpose I’ve conducted a small survey on the social media Facebook.com to see how the online chatters interpret smiley faces. The options were open so anyone could add an answer. (Here is a link to my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/questions/4639004855887/?qa_ref=pp)

We can easily Notice that happiness and sarcasm have almost the same results! (12 votes for happiness and 10 votes for sarcasm) Isn’t it weird? A smiley face conveys sarcasm? Hypocrisy? (5 votes) Sillyniess? (2votes). Well the actual reason for different perceptions of a same visual symbol may be dependent on different personal traits and cultural backgrounds.

However, smiley faces can be ironic and even devilish. In the series “the mentalist” Red John is a nickname for a serial killer who leaves a signature after every murder, a smiley face made out of the blood of the victim,always clockwise. The intention of his signature is obviously shocking and frightening the person related to the victim, because red john makes sure you first see the face on the wall. then you realize something is wrong, you look down and now you see the victim murdered with all the blood around. Here the smile is a fake smile meant to hurt and to be ironic, it can never connote happiness and joy but it holds a very opposite meaning. HYPOCRISY! I AM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS! 🙂 (Here is a ling to an extract

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfxV3f574Zg)

All in all, perception of symbols and signs is dependent on each individual. Even when considering conventional rules in designing these signs, they are interpreted in defined socio-historical contexts so an image defers from a context to another and may have two very opposite meanings. Using the tools of semiotics we can understand a visual consciously or unconsciously and catch the relationship between the signifier and the signified.

Visual Perception, Welcome to my new Blog!

Hello Visual Perception!
I’m Cosette Saliba, a third year graphic design student in LAU-Byblos. This is my new blog where I will post topics about you!
Actually, visual perception is one of my favorite topics in design, I consider it to be the link between forms of everyday’s life and human psychology and experience.
“Perception is strong, sight is weak.”
As Miyamoto Musashi said in “A Book of Five Rings”, perception is stronger than sight, because sight is dependent on our senses, how the retina of the eyes captures the image, but perception comes when the brain interferes to catch the image, process it and analyse it according to the human past experiences and cultural background. This is why visual perception is a very important topic in design, and I’m very excited to research and elaborate on it. Thank you 🙂