Comments on: Brand World Atheist http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/ A blog from the Poetry Foundation where contemporary poets debate classic and contemporary poetry from America and around the world. Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:38:48 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Terreson http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26262 Terreson Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:37:21 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26262 Edward Torres's immediately preceding post highlights a curious point. Poets and MFA types have been making hay on Madison Ave for years, at least since Hart Crane. And Disneyworld, at least in the nineties, has been a godsend for MFAs, what with its professional class called imaginators. I'll bet a dollar on a donut the creator of the offending advertisement is a poet. Certainly has to be a poetry reader, right?, of at least one poem. Oh hell. We all end up dancing with the devil. No way around it, especially if you are a wage earner. Poets are no different, not even Walt Whitman. Anyway, objectifying Whitman offends me far less than the advertising world's pervasive practice of objectifying women. Terreson Edward Torres’s immediately preceding post highlights a curious point. Poets and MFA types have been making hay on Madison Ave for years, at least since Hart Crane. And Disneyworld, at least in the nineties, has been a godsend for MFAs, what with its professional class called imaginators. I’ll bet a dollar on a donut the creator of the offending advertisement is a poet. Certainly has to be a poetry reader, right?, of at least one poem.

Oh hell. We all end up dancing with the devil. No way around it, especially if you are a wage earner. Poets are no different, not even Walt Whitman. Anyway, objectifying Whitman offends me far less than the advertising world’s pervasive practice of objectifying women.

Terreson

]]> By: Teri G. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26235 Teri G. Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:01:08 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26235 I shop for images all the time. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177128 Consume them right up. I shop for images all the time.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177128

Consume them right up.

]]> By: Matt http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26233 Matt Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:49:24 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26233 you don't consume anything? what, you don't wear clothes? you don't eat? you don't buy books? you don’t consume anything? what, you don’t wear clothes? you don’t eat? you don’t buy books?

]]> By: Michael http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26223 Michael Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:56:18 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26223 Weren't ads run for Leaves of Grass? And didn't Whitman even write up reviews his own reviews for it? Talk about false choice . . . (The ad: http://www.newsbank.com/readex/newsletters/images/NYHerald1856Whitman.gif ) Weren’t ads run for Leaves of Grass? And didn’t Whitman even write up reviews his own reviews for it? Talk about false choice . . .

(The ad:
http://www.newsbank.com/readex/newsletters/images/NYHerald1856Whitman.gif )

]]> By: Teri G. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26216 Teri G. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:26:06 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26216 Why is consuming bad? Why is a Whitman Levi's ad wrong? Because Whitman was about the real freedom of choice and ads are about false choices between nothing and less than nothing. Go forth--but not too far! Whitman went forth. We can't even imagine. Defend the ad and consumer society and this late late capitalist empire all you want but you know this is a raw deal, to be the caretaker of your little life dedicated to nothing beyond empty pleasures and pointless longevity. Go forth, America. All the way to the nursing home! Why is consuming bad? Why is a Whitman Levi’s ad wrong? Because Whitman was about the real freedom of choice and ads are about false choices between nothing and less than nothing. Go forth–but not too far! Whitman went forth. We can’t even imagine. Defend the ad and consumer society and this late late capitalist empire all you want but you know this is a raw deal, to be the caretaker of your little life dedicated to nothing beyond empty pleasures and pointless longevity. Go forth, America. All the way to the nursing home!

]]> By: Edwin Torres http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26206 Edwin Torres Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:30:13 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26206 I didn't mention this, but I work in advertising as an art director, been doing that for many years. Which fuels my views against appropriating art for consumerism...especially poetry. (It also fuels a lot of pseudo-political-identity stances, but that's another post). So my ambivalence about Whitman as a pitch-man is tempered by the fact that yes, someone may actually discover his work. The other side of this is to claim something as edgy and life-changing for a mainstream audience when that mainstream is looking for direction (or just to buy some pants)...hence my anti-religion jump. Consuming itself isn't bad, it's just a drag when it's cloaked in a psuedo-belief system. Making rebellion slick by using a cool ad geared for a video generation glosses over true creativity. Here's a link to Ben Friedlander's blog: http://ampoarchive.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/go-forth/ ...he went on a great tangent which gets deeper than my stone skip here. But I wonder if Vallejo wore Levis? I didn’t mention this, but I work in advertising as an art director, been doing that for many years. Which fuels my views against appropriating art for consumerism…especially poetry. (It also fuels a lot of pseudo-political-identity stances, but that’s another post). So my ambivalence about Whitman as a pitch-man is tempered by the fact that yes, someone may actually discover his work.

The other side of this is to claim something as edgy and life-changing for a mainstream audience when that mainstream is looking for direction (or just to buy some pants)…hence my anti-religion jump. Consuming itself isn’t bad, it’s just a drag when it’s cloaked in a psuedo-belief system. Making rebellion slick by using a cool ad geared for a video generation glosses over true creativity.

Here’s a link to Ben Friedlander’s blog: http://ampoarchive.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/go-forth/ …he went on a great tangent which gets deeper than my stone skip here.

But I wonder if Vallejo wore Levis?

]]> By: Don Share http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26203 Don Share Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:26:16 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26203 Consumption killed Keats! (Sorry, couldn't help it.) Consumption killed Keats! (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

]]> By: Matt http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26202 Matt Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:39:02 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26202 why is consuming bad why is consuming bad

]]> By: Don Share http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26199 Don Share Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:07:19 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26199 It seems quite plausible that Whitman may have worn Levis, as they were around in his time; anybody know for sure? Sometimes I picture him in denim, sometimes in broadcloth. It seems quite plausible that Whitman may have worn Levis, as they were around in his time; anybody know for sure? Sometimes I picture him in denim, sometimes in broadcloth.

]]> By: Erin Vaughan http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/11/brand-world-atheist/#comment-26196 Erin Vaughan Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:46:13 +0000 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/?p=6131#comment-26196 I have to disagree with what was said above. Of course the music and Walt Whitman's recitation were great. But the imagery? Meh. It looked like a model's interpretation of what Walt Whitman's poetry is. I get that its a jeans ad and they had to show beautiful people wearing the jeans to create the illusion that you, too, could live in this world. And, being young, and knowing the challenges the world is about to face, it does resonate with me in that way. But it's still the old dope: making the audience feel as though they are being edgy by consuming and that there is something significant about brand identification. That's not pioneering, it's tired. I have to disagree with what was said above. Of course the music and Walt Whitman’s recitation were great. But the imagery? Meh. It looked like a model’s interpretation of what Walt Whitman’s poetry is. I get that its a jeans ad and they had to show beautiful people wearing the jeans to create the illusion that you, too, could live in this world. And, being young, and knowing the challenges the world is about to face, it does resonate with me in that way. But it’s still the old dope: making the audience feel as though they are being edgy by consuming and that there is something significant about brand identification. That’s not pioneering, it’s tired.

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