BLOG PROMPT FOUR: Subverting Commercial Design
Havidol (2007) by Justine Cooper and WiFi-SM: Feel the Spectacle of Pain (2003) by Christophe Bruno
PLEASE ANSWER BY POSTING COMMENTS.
What are these artist's critiquing, and why do you think they attempt to make their products appear real?
Havidol by Justine Cooper: http://havidol.com
WiFi-SM: Feel the Spectacle of Pain by Christophe Bruno: http://www.unbehagen.com/wifism
Australian artist Justine Cooper investigates "the intersections between culture, science and medicine."
French net artist Christophe Bruno examines "network phenomena and globalization." Wifi-SM was created in 2003, so the design may feel dated. As explained by the artist, "You have the impression that the disasters of the world do not touch you anymore? You feel vaguely sorry for other people’s misfortunes but you don’t feel the inner urge which used to make you help your neighbor? WiFi-SM is the solution!"
Both artists are critiquing aspects of the modern world. Havidol criticizes hedonism, excessive consumerism, and reliance on pharmaceutical drugs for happiness by combining them into a single pill. The website goes to great lengths to make it appear legitimate as both a pastiche and further criticism of drug advertising, including heavy use of meaningless buzzwords and vague uplifting phrases. WiFi-SM comments on the saturation of tragedy through mass media like the Internet, as well as the subsequent desensitization it induces in people. In Bruno's case, his adherence to contemporary advertising web design is more openly sardonic, with the Amazon-like reviews openly criticizing large companies coming to dominate the dissemination of all information.
ReplyDeleteCooper is critiquing the mass amounts of medications created and presented on tv/the internet daily and how, sometimes, the possible side effects are worse than what the medication is being used to treat. Bruno is critiquing how much negative news is surrounding internet users daily (now more so than when he created this website). If we get on Facebook or turn on the news there is always a new awful story to be told. Bruno decided to promote this fake device to help rid the guilt of us being knowledgable of these awful things but not having them happening to us-creating a vicious cycle of sadness and relief. They attempted to make their fake products look real because the issues are so relatable that maybe one day they could be real in order to meet customers needs.
ReplyDeleteHavidol, just like many very specific use drugs is aimed to help with a specific problem but contenting an incredible amount of side-effects. Even more interesting is the twenty-three pages of side-effects which will be waiting for you once you are on Havidol. It is clear that the website is a work that not only makes fun of prescription drugs which should've ever even been clinically trialed. Wifi-SM is another great product that definitely gets you connected with the real world told by the news outlets every day! My favorite selling point is "Lower your quilt complex, or get your money back today!". I think in all of the reality, as unfortunate as it may be, we have to take much of all news with a grain of salt. Because this work exposes exactly what the majority of the news feeds on.
ReplyDeleteHavidol is a parody on prescription drug ads. By trying to solve a general problem, it comes with a major list of side-effects that get crazier as one goes down the list. The drug itself becomes more dangerous than the initial problem which is the point of the irony since many drug commercials are doing the same today.
ReplyDeleteWifi-SM is similar but instead of drugs, it is a parody of all the tragic news in media and how humans have become more numb to it. Thus, the "product" is trying to allow humans to feel each others' pain based on what happens in the news so that world pain is better felt. It's relatable in a sense as I can't feel the pain of war that is happening outside of America but I just see it as another written article. The reviews on the site are also a parody of fake high ratings on products that aren't actually good. John's review was the most memorable with his specific keywords that are close with death such as "lethal injection" and "electric chair". Overall, it made me a bit more aware of what I'm reading in the news and remind myself to have empathy, even when I personally can't feel it.
Havidol is a satire on prescription drug that claims to solve a general problem but brought a train of crazy side affects that makes you wonder if the drug is more dangerous than the illness itself. In addition, the made up illness DSACDAD reflects how many people today felt its harder and harder to feel happiness, this resonates with people who quickly believes that this sense of dissatisfaction was caused by this illness and believes that the said drug that will "immediately show effect" is the solution. This is the type of promotional tactics that were used by many drug companies, the irony is that despite the drug and the illness both being fake, some people still believe in it.
ReplyDeleteWifi-SM criticized the concentration of tragic news in the media caused people to grow numb towards the tragedy that happens around the world, no longer feeling the sympathy and extreme urge to do something to help those people in need. The made-up product claim to allow users to feel some of the pain felt by the people suffering to relieve the guilt of not being the one who suffer and their lack of sympathy. In reality they're just believing in their own lies that they are suffering with the victims, this did not help the people whose suffering, this just relieves their guilt. In the end, nothing changed.
Havidol, as others have mentioned, appears to be a satirical portrayal of the pharmaceutical marketplace and all of the accompanying paperwork. I believe Cooper's motives behind constructing the Havidol site were to recreate a certain sense of being overwhelmed and frustration that the common person might have when researching drugs. The extensive 23-page document under the "Prescribing" section exceeded my level of understanding.
ReplyDeleteAs for WiFi-SM, the main drive behind its creation appears to be a slightly self-gratifying angle, where the user arrives at a false notion of actually helping the world through feeling some pain from bad news without being able to do anything about it. News consistently bombarding our minds is bound to make us desensitized, yes, but people also naturally might feel an inclination to help or guilt resulting from knowledge that one can do nothing for the situation being reported on. WiFi-SM, therefore, seeks to connect people on another level (a painful one at that).
The first site is critiquing the commercialism of medicine in TV and the internet. HAVIDOL tries to advertise itself as a cure all to all the problems you have, when in reality it will only cause more. What this reflects is the modern idea of pushing for commercial gain rather than actually fixing problems, and the strive to have temporary relief even at the cost of worse problems. The second site is meant to critique the disconnect the internet has caused over the years from global tragedies. The news is bombarded with bad news nowadays, and we can feel powerless as we watch it, but because of it's frequency and the speed we receive it, we become numb to it. It's critiquing people's guilt complex to problems and how instead of wanting to fix the actual problem, they just want to feel better about themselves and forget about what's really happening.
ReplyDeleteHavidol is a satirical critique of prescription drugs and all the side effects they can have. There are pages of warnings and side effects that show how it is more dangerous than it is helpful similar to how prescription drug ads have lists of serious side effects that often include death. The website is made to appear real to mimic how ads are in real life so it is a very direct critique. It points out how absurd the prescription drugs ads and the prescriptions themselves try to hide all this negative effects to try and sell you this thing that will only temporarily help with problems you are having only to create even more problems.
ReplyDeleteWifi-SM is a satirical critique of how we have become desensitized to all the tragedies we see on the news. The news mostly consists of all these traumatic events and there is always reports of death. This website critiques how people may feel guilty but don't want actually help but rather just have the feeling that they are without doing any work. If people feel a little bit of others pain it makes the situation okay without actually solving any problems.
The more real the product seems, the easier it will be to understand the message behind it. By making the products just real enough that you could mistake them for actually being real, when you finally see that its a commentary the message becomes more effective. Justine Cooper is bringing attention to how the advertising for medications works and can be harmful by burying important information in blocks to text. Wifi-SM is focused on how desensitized people have become to tragedy. Even though it was made in 2003, this topic is extremely relevant as people are become desensitized to the effect COVID is having and how many people are dying because of it.
ReplyDeleteI think both artists are critiquing the modern world. By making the product more real to us makes it more believable. Justine Cooper shows us how advertising in the medical world can be deceiving by hiding important information. Wifi-SM is from 2003 but is still very relevant today with how desensitized our world has become. There are so mnay big things going on in our world and people aren't really taking them serious.
ReplyDeleteHavidol is a critque by Cooper over how medication is advertised. The information is overwelming and confusing, although it does at the same time try to make every legal protection possible. Although I'm not sure it does a good job in making the critique in that it seems to not be organized well and it only has the type of information that is purposefully meant to keep readers from actually looking. Typically when a company makes such long and practically unreadable statements, it's meant to cover their tracks legally while not turning away the customer from the product, just the legal jargin. But I still don't really know what the product is at all, so it's more like the advertisement is only the fine print, rather than the product which I think hampers the message. If anything, I would say it's unrealistic. Bruno I think does a better job, even though his product is nonsensical. But Justine puts in the effort to show the ludicrousness of his product while showcasing aspects of advertisement. He also seems to be making a message about people's detachment from events around the world but that's beyond the scope of this post. But I think the reason people sometimes try to make their fake products as real as possible is quite simple in that it helps to hammer in how there does exist similar advertisements used unironically.
ReplyDeleteHavidol
ReplyDeleteCooper is criticizing how drug companies create fake problems to sell more medications. Havidol is shown as a medicine for a made-up condition, and the website and ads make it look real. By doing this, Cooper shows how easily people believe they need these fake treatments. It's a comment on how the medical industry pushes unnecessary products on us through clever marketing.
WiFi-SM
Bruno is pointing out how people have become numb to the suffering of others and how we just watch bad news without really feeling it. WiFi-SM is presented as a fake device that lets people feel pain through WiFi, which makes it seem like we need technology to care about others’ pain. By making the product look real, Bruno is mocking how disconnected we are from the real world and how we rely on technology instead of empathy.