Glamour
I really liked the definition of glamour that was used by John Berger in the book. He said that glamour is, “the state of being envied.” Glamour is the perfect look or the perfect life (or both) that people want to have. The idea in advertising, is to show this glamour to consumers and then sell them a product that they believe will help them to achieve this glamorous state. However, it seems that many people admit that this glamorous state is not really even attainable, but rather just an abstract world in which people will keep trying to reach.
In the movie, “How to Get Ahead in Advertising,” the main character basically admits that advertisements use this false sense of attainable glamour when they sell ads. He can’t think of anything for this boil campaign, and his wife suggests that if he knew it worked it would be easier to sell. But he says that that’s not what they do - almost like it doesn’t matter how well it works. All that he needs to do is make people believe that there is a chance that something could work, because people need to believe in a glamorous life without pimples and boils. Then they will have the hope that it is attainable through this product, and therefore buy the product.
So basically, advertising cultivates this idea of glamour that consumers envy and want to attain.
