Recycled Style

When one thinks about originality, many times clothing and a sense of personal style may come to mind. Clothes are, for many people, the way in which they express their personal likes and dislikes. Many times, people use clothing to express their individuality. The advertisement that I chose is called “By the Seashore”. This advertisement showcases the May 2008 clothing line for a company called Free People. The advertisement, which is in the form of a commercial, is made available through YouTube.com, which, in turn makes it accessible and available to be embedded in many popular online outlets such as MySpace or Facebook. This advertisement shows several models by the seashore wearing the clothes made by Free People. The commercial creates the desire to be carefree and also the desire of having liberation in general with the use of visual and aural cues.



The commercial makes this feeling of freedom come across aurally with the use of relaxing background keyboard music. The music gives off a relaxing atmosphere while watching the images on the screen. It is important to note that all of the sound in the commercial is non-diegetic; that is, we do not hear the ocean waves crashing or the sound of wind blowing against the models.

Visually, the commercial shows the models wearing the company’s clothes in relaxed poses along the shoreline. By doing this, it aims to create the desire in consumers of wanting to be just like these models and suggesting that if one wears these clothes, one can also became liberated. It aims to create the feeling that these clothes might be able to make our style even more personal while at the same time, making us more “stylish”.

The clothes that are being sold in this advertisement are created by the Free People company, the same company that also started the Urban Outfitters clothing stores. These stores appeal to young adults wanting to create a fresh, new, unique sense of style. These stores derive their styles from clothing that are typically found in thrift stores and adapt them to be mass-produced and sold at expensive prices. In general, can it be called personal, fresh, fashion sense when it is being fabricated to be mass-produced? Is it new style when it is simply a copy of the past? This particular ad aims to create the desire for the “new”, the undiscovered, the rare. Even the name of the company, Free People, gives the sense that their consumers have the freedom to choose what they want to wear, or that they are free to pick a wardrobe that matches well their own, personal lifestyle. It is also important to note that this clothing company, and thus, this commercial is only aimed at women. The image of woman that is being created in the ad is one that is carefree yet careful in her looks and her fashion sense.

The secondary advertisement, which I found equally as intriguing as the first, I found in a magazine. The magazine industry is aimed at people of all ages with specific magazines aimed for totally different groups of people. While in a bookstore, one can see that there are magazines for all different types of interests. I looked through a magazine called Nylon, that, until recently, I did not know existed. This magazine’s target group is young adults and focuses on pop culture and fashion. The majority of the advertisements placed in the magazine are for clothes and other accessories like shoes, handbags, and make-up. An advertisement that I found particularly interesting was one that showed a young woman in a half-kneeling position with only one side of her face visible. The print advertisement was for a brand name called Alternative which at simple glance, one cannot tell what product it is selling. Doing research I found out that the advertisement was for a t-shirt company. The advertisement has a tagline that goes “Reduce, Reuse, Rebel” which encourages its consumers to dissent against the “normal” or “average” fashion. I find this choice of words very interesting because it is very similar to what Goodwill Industries employee t-shirts say (which is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”). Here, again, the borrowing from thrift stores is apparent in these higher-end clothing lines. It also has a tagline that says “ For Free Thinking People” which makes it clear that the company is aiming for its consumers to want a sense of individuality while wearing their clothing. The name of the company, Alternative, is problematic because if everyone chooses to be “alternative”, doesn’t it just become the new norm?



The primary advertisement, like the secondary advertisement, both appeal to young adults that want to expand their fashion sense into a personal style that matches their individuality. This in a larger sense means that everyone wants to be more of an individual but with the same material things available. Both of these ads give a sense of freedom of choice to consumers to pick whatever they choose to express their so-called individuality.