Critical literacy is seeped in aspects of perspective, positioning and power. In thinking about these three elements Stephanie Jones argues that, “All texts are constructed by people who are informed by particular ideologies…All texts make the experiences of some people seem more valuable than others, enabling some to exercise power more freely than others…All texts grow from language practices; which are embedded in relations of social and political differentials that are distributed across a hierarchy in society.” (Jones, 2006) I have begun to do some of this work with my students in their texts, but have always thought about in the more traditional sense of text. After analyzing a television commercial it is evident that all types of texts have elements of perspective, positioning and power making them all subject to critical literacy.
The commercial that I chose to analyze was one for the prescription medication Nasonex. This commercial played on CBS 2 at around 9:30 during the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The commercial is advertising the prescription nasal spray Nasonex. It is narrated by a CGI animated bumblebee that flies around a calendar, whose boxes show video clips of people suffering from various allergies. The calendar is first meant to show how many days people can suffer without the use of Nasonex. The bee goes on to state how Nasonex is proven to help most seasonal nasal allergy symptoms. He then goes on to spray the calendar, which in turn creates Xs on many of the blank boxes symbolizing the symptom free days. The bee then goes on to state how it doesn’t come in over the counter form, “So ask your doctor about Nasonex.” While some of this action is going on, such as various video clips of people suffering and then coping with their allergies because of Nasonex, an eloquent speaking female narrator does a voice over about the possible side effects.
There is definitely a target audience for this commercial and I believe that is seen in the commercial itself as well as the timeslot. The demographic for this program is the young adult working class. Since it portrays a group of friends who are scientists, a good chunk of the audience will of adequate or high intelligence, there by mostly having good paying jobs. Advertising companies know who their target audience members are with certain shows and in certain timeslots. I believe they are expecting most viewers to be able to afford the medication or have adequate health insurance to provide the medication for them. Since the commercial flashes technical pharmaceutical jargon on the screen, as well as discusses symptoms and side effects with technical jargon, the advertisers expect the audience to be of a certain intelligence and language level in order to make meaning out of the information being presented.
The visuals that were provided in the multimodal commercial make it quite clear as to whom the target audience is. The target audience is middle to upper middle class working people with a moderate to high level of intelligence. The various videos that were positioned inside some of the calendar boxes showed people who were clearly living in upper middle class environments. A white blonde woman dressed in her neatly pressed denim shirt is working and suffering from her allergies in a beautiful garden next to a beautiful and large home. Another woman is shown wrapped comfortable in rich blankets as she sleeps contently. In the top of the calendar we see a beautiful colonial home with a wrap around porch, and in the other corner is an older couple dressed casually but nicely as they ride their bicycles together down a calm residential street. There is one Hispanic woman portrayed in one of the boxes, but she is also in a suburban neighborhood and dressed very nicely. An African American man is shown lounging in a traditional wooden lawn chair while reading a novel. All images and scenarios are ones that you would find in a middle to upper middle class environment. The commercial was void of any city type settings, especially ones that would be considered run down or poor in any way.
Strangely enough the CGI bee speaks with a heavy Hispanic accent and is seen flying around and looking in at all of the people suffering and recovering from their allergies. I can’t help but wonder if this was an intentional decision to show how this particular cultural group is on the outside, or if like McIntosh says, “…much of their oppressiveness was unconscious” (McIntosh, 1988). When thinking about Jones’ idea about positioning, it is fairly evident that this privileged class is much more free to exercise their power of acquiring this medication than people of the lower socio-economic end, who either don’t have the money or benefits to support them. This also follows Jones’ thoughts about power because there is definitely a hierarchy of society being utilized in this commercial.
I also don’t think the creators of this commercial expect people of the lower socio-economic end to be able to read and make meaning out of the commercial. Their use of terminology and multimodal structures might be challenging for the less educated class. They just aren’t taking the lower part of the hierarchy into much consideration at all. It is quite unnerving that things like this actually go on in our society. “…poor as shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy.” (Hooks, 1994) I was especially disturbed by the assumption that poor were without values.”
I am almost ashamed to admit it, but I definitely read this commercial as an ‘insider.’ The class of society that this commercial targets is one that I have been a part of my entire life. It is hard for me to even relate to the outside audience this is being excluded. McIntosh states it perfectly, “Perhaps there will be a shift in relation to perspective, positioning and power in commercial like these once the effects of the nation’s new health care bill goes into effect.
If critical literacy is something that can be done with a thirty second multimodal text, such as a commercial for nasal spray, then the possibilities that lie ahead for its potential with various textual experiences with students is boundless.
Works Cited
http://www.nasonex.com
Hooks, B. (1994). Seeing and making culture. In b. hooks, Outlaw culture: Resisting
Representations (pp. 165-172). New York: Routledge.
Jones, S. (2006). Girls, social class, and literacy: What teachers can do to make a
difference. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace &
Freedom, 49, 10-12.
