Public Image Ltd.

Image and marketing seem to go hand in hand, and I chose this picture of illustrator Clement Hurd and his vanished cigarette because I think it's subtle enough to be overlooked among the other glaringly obvious examples floating around.  This photo comes from a newer edition of Goodnight Moon, the kids classic, where the cigarette has been removed most likely due to the modern (I think justifiable) angst over smoking, plus the children's book context.  I think this is harmful in one specific way: if a kid notices that the illustrator of a book they love smoked, this could open up a dialogue about the issue of smoking.  It could be an opportunity for a good segue into a discussion about it, why it's bad, how it used to be perceived and now isn't, etc.  This reminds me of the recent issue of replacing one very prominent and offensive racial slur in Huckleberry Finn with "Slave."  Reading it from our modern context, with this bigotry still in it it can open up a useful dialogue about race.  I think the same goes with smoking here.  It seems like we're sacrificing these dialogues for being untroubled as consumers, as being untroubled makes things easier when casting your monetary vote.  That's obviously what the people in the boardrooms, at least in these two cases, counted on.  Anyway, would you really believe some eighteen year old who's about to light up tell you their doing it because of Clement Hurd?

Related to consumerism and image manipulation: the video.  I felt this one was a good example of image manipulation via make-up and photoshop of a middle-aged woman, which was something I was searching for.  I think there is a big problem in this country of how to deal image-wise with aging, especially with women.  Think of all the consumption this drives: botox, plastic surgery, wrinkle reducers, etc, which are all signs of how pervasive this anxiety is.  I know part of it is biology and being hardwired to like youth, but can't we accept intellectually the fact of growing old and not cover it up like this?: