Existential Egoism in Modern Western Culture

Show how the various aspects of ‘egoic’ consciousness

During the course of recent decade, it became a gesture of good taste, on the part of many politicians in Western countries, to praise the collectivist values of “spirituality” and “closeness to earth”, while actively opposing them against the individualist/euro-centric values of intellectual exaltation and freedom of self-expression, which traditionally represented the metaphysical essence of Western civilization, as we know it. Nevertheless, despite these people’s attempts, the values of collectivist living are being rejected by the overwhelming majority of Whites on subconscious level.

Unlike what it is the case with representatives of ethnic minorities in Western countries, White people’s existential modes vary significantly, which explains why Whites are not being endowed with the sense of racial solidarity – they are being just too different to consider the possibility of subjecting their psychological anxieties to serve the needs of a community. In their article “Empathy Versus Pride: The Influence of Emotional Appeals Across Cultures”, Jennifer Aaker and Patti Williams provide us with the insight on what represents the most fundamental difference between Western and non-Western living: “In individualist cultures (e.g., the United States, Australia, and Canada), an independent self-construal, which refers to the self as comprising a unique set of internal attributes including motivations, traits, and values, tends to be fostered. In contrast, in collectivist cultures (e.g., China, Japan, and Taiwan) an interdependent self-construal, which refers to the self as inseparable from others and social context, tends to be fostered” (1998, 242). The validity of this suggestion can be easily proven when we take a closer look at how designers of TV advertisements in Western countries go about increasing these ads’ commercial appeal – they consciously strive to instill their creations with clearly defined egoistic sounding. In our paper, we will aim at exploring this thesis even to a further length, while conducting a semiotic analysis of “Air New Zealand Staff have nothing to hide”, “Saab Change Perspective” and “Bridgestone ‘Scream’ Super Bowl” commercial ads, available on the web site of Youtube.Com.

“Air New Zealand Staff have nothing to hide” ad

The ad “Air New Zealand Staff have nothing to hide” can be referred to as the classical example of Western TV advertisement, which aims at exploiting highly individualist/egoist mental anxieties, on the part of targeted audience’s members. It features the members of this airline’s staff walking around naked, with their corporate attire being simply painted over these people’s unclothed bodies.

In its turn, this causes airline’s passengers to experience a variety of sexual urges – thus, adding to the value of purchased tickets. The song “Got you under my skin”, played in the background, strengthen commercial’s sexual appeal even further, especially given the fact that this tune corresponds rather well to the lustful smiles, on the part of middle-aged White women, who are being exposed to the sight of male semi-nakedness. In a similar manner, men-passengers featured in advertisement, also become sexually excited by finding themselves in proximity to airline’s bare-naked stewardesses. Thus, the fact that “Air New Zealand staff have nothing to hide” is being sexually suggestive leaves no doubt as to advertisement’s overall egoistic sounding, because Western mentality perceives sex as one of the most effective means of personal self-fulfillment and not just an instrument of making babies.

Ad’s sexual suggestiveness imply members of targeted audience sharing the values of Western Liberalism, as this political ideology is based on the assumption that there can be no restrictions about how an individual may proceed with attaining personal happiness. As Amalia Sa’ar had put it in her article: “Postcolonial Feminism, the Politics of Identification, and the Liberal Bargain”: “Liberalism promises ever-expanding opportunities to ever-expanding numbers of individuals. It offers an escape from the grip of primordial ties and the freedom to choose and change affiliations” (2005, 685). This is exactly the reason why even the married couples, featured in the ad, appear to be utterly unaffected by traditional implications of marriage as being just one among many forms of ownership. There is a memorable scene in the commercial, where woman’s husband becomes sexually aroused by observing the rounded shapes of a naked blond stewardess – and yet, it is not only that his wife does not mind her husband’s “insincerity”, but she herself seems to be getting equally excited.

Thus, “Air New Zealand staff have nothing to hide” subtly promotes the idea that there is no oppressive authority out there, which could have influenced the behavior of Air New Zealand’s passengers. It is namely people’s ability to enjoy themselves sexually in rather unrestricted manner, which ad’s designers strived to represent as something worthy of admiration. Therefore, we can say that commercial’s popularity is being objectively predetermined – “Air New Zealand staff have nothing to hide” appeals to the existential mode of mentally liberated people. And, as we are well aware of, it is only in Western countries where individuals are not being subjected to any forms of religious or political oppression. Unlike what it is the case in Third World countries, the majority of Westerners have long ago recognized the counter-productive essence of ideological oppressiveness, which is why they do not think of their natural instincts as being necessarily “evil” – apparently, ad’s designers were well aware of this fact, which in its turn, allowed them to significantly increase the strength of commercial’s appeal by drawing a direct links between people’s ability to indulge in unrestricted sex and their ability to pursue personal happiness.

“Saab Change Perspective” ad

The ad “Saab Change Perspective” can serve as another example of how Western egoistic consciousness manifests itself in within a context of commercial goods and services being advertised on TV. The ad allegorically portrays a man being in the middle of a creative process – as he moves his hands, while sitting at the desk; a variety of seemingly unrelated objects come into being: light bulb, paper plane, moose and a pine tree.

This part of an advertisement is meant to symbolize the very essence of a creative process as being something opposite to the concepts of conventionalism and oppressive rationale, simply because the link between these objects and the advertised Saab 9-3X exists only in viewers’ imagination. The voice behind ad’s scenes states: “When you have a different prospective on things, you don’t end up with just another car – you end up with a Saab”. In order for an individual to have a “different prospective on things”, he/she must be mentally liberated. It is only when a person is being endowed with a strong sense of individualism that he can contemplate on the ways in which this individualism be may be explored.

In its turn, this explains advertisement’s utilization of Northern mountainous landscapes’ imagery – apparently, its designers strived to emphasize ad’s semantic meaning as such that derives out of the innermost depths of Western psyche. The reason why ruggedly mountainous terrains appeal to White people’s sense of aesthetics is because of their ancestral sub-consciousness. It was namely among snowy mountains, where the ancient predecessors of Western civilization’s creators had leant to only rely upon themselves, while facing existential challenges.

Therefore, it is not simply an accident that “Saab Change Perspective” exploits the imagery of Northern nature – the creators of “Saab Change Perspective” wanted to strengthen ad’s individualistic overtones. In her article “De-Homogenizing American Individualism: Socializing Hard and Soft Individualism in Manhattan and Queens”, Adrie Kusserow provides us with the insight onto the essence of Western aesthetics – these aesthetics simply sublimate White people’s individualistic drives: “Western conception of individualism implies self-reliance, a preference for being alone, boasting, self-advertisement, an inner sense of owning opinions and assertiveness as its essential components” (1999, 211). According to “Saab Change Perspective” commercial, an individual is not just being the sole master of its own destiny, but he is also at liberty to explore its existential uniqueness in just about any way he chooses.

“Bridgestone ‘Scream’ Super Bowl” ad

Just as it was the case with earlier analyzed advertisements, “Bridgestone ‘Scream’ Super Bowl” ad also glorifies the egoistic values of Western individualism. In it, a couple of White yuppies almost end up hitting a squirrel, while driving their Saab car (yuppies love Saabs). Just before the car was about to hit a squirrel, the bug-eyed woman, next to her husband/boyfriend, begins to scream hysterically.

After having listened to his wife’s/girlfriend’s screams for a while, the driver simply drives around the squirrel (Bridgestone make good tires!), with the sarcastic smile on his face, as if he wanted to say: “Stop screaming you stupid woman – I’ve got everything under control!”. Thus, “Bridgestone ‘Scream’ Super Bowl” promotes the idea of masculine authority as such that originates from within. In its turn, such ad’s idea corresponds rather well to what we know about the conceptual subtleties of Western individualism, which implies every individual being an existential sovereign of its own life, especially if this individual happened to be a male. By keeping the bug-eyed woman in the state of horror for a while, driver was able to boost up his own ego as someone who never loses a grip on surrounding reality, even though such his behavior did cost his female companion a good deal of nerve-wrecking.

The potential implications for psychotherapy/counselling

The potential implications of analyzed TV advertisements for the psychoanalysis can be summarized as follows:

1. Before applying psychoanalytical techniques to their patients, psychologists must make an inquiry on what represents these patients’ existential mode – that is, they will need to clearly define patients’ age, racial affiliation and the extent of their urbanization. For example, it is highly unlikely that the representatives of ethnic minorities in Western countries, known for their acute sense of racial solidarity, may ever consider a possibility of opening up their intellectual horizons by adopting individualist mentality, due to specifics of their genetic makeup. On the other hand, individualistic self-realization continues to represent the foremost existential goal of Whites, even though that they often do not realize it. Thus, for as long as these people are being concerned, psychologist’s task would be helping them to gain an insight onto New Age ideals of “spirituality”, “closeness to nature” and “communal living” as such that do not quite correspond to their true calling. It is namely Westerners’ ability to adjust surrounding reality to their wishes, which created objective preconditions for the emergence of culture and science, as we know it. Therefore, the process of these people gradually attaining the status of demi-gods (genetic engineering, cloning, rapid progress of IT technologies), while becoming even more alienated from each other, during the course of the process, is being predetermined by historical dialectics. As Irene Thomson had rightly pointed out in her article “Individualism and Conformity in the 1950s vs. the 1980s”: “Society is no longer seen as a constraining power and individualism becomes a matter of self-absorption and the quest for self-development. The self is now seen as a fluid entity that is freed from social determination” (1992, 449). Thus, it is namely psychologists’ ability to recognize how patients’ mental anxieties correspond to particularities of their physiology, which signifies the degree of their professional adequacy.
2. As earlier analyzed advertisements suggest – White urbanites derive emotional satisfaction out of exercising a complete control over their lives, while remaining unaffected by social constraints, associated with rural living. They have grown to realize that there are no good reasons for them to adjust their behavior to what it being expected of them by politicians and religious leaders. Therefore, psychologists need to encourage these people to think that there is nothing wrong with their existential egoism. On the contrary – the more a particular individual is being capable of detaching itself from socially imposed rules of social conduct, the more he or she will be likely to attain happiness. In his article “The Decline of Nationalisms within Western Europe”, Mattei Dogan reveals the objective essence of Western religious, national and ideological disfranchisement: “The dichotomy nationalism-individualism should be interpreted in the framework of a general decline of all ideologies, including religion. In recent decades, nationalism and religion have declined together… Today, individualism challenges these traditional values”. (1994, 298). It is important to understand that, just as it is the case with plants and animals, people are being the subjects of biological evolution. The fact that, as time goes by they realize themselves being affected by collectivist considerations to lesser and lesser extent, simply reflect the process of these people continuing to develop.
3. Unlike what it used to be the case in the past, one’s ability to make a lot of money can no longer be thought of as the synonym to the concept of self-fulfillment. It is namely individual’s freedom to make life-choices, without having to observe socially imposed constraint, and his/her ability remain in full control of its destiny, which all three TV ads imply to be the equivalent of happiness. Therefore, the ultimate message these commercials send to psychologists can be formulated as follows: people who relate their psychological anxieties to the particularities of urban living, can hardly be helped, simply because they do not belong to urbanite civilization, in the first place. Moreover, it is due to the fact that many people in Western countries continue to be endowed with essentially peasant mentality, which contributes more than anything to the rise of social tensions in these countries. This is why politicians often appear being more capable of addressing citizens’ existential inadequacy, as compared to psychologists. Unfortunately, only few of them realize this fact.

Bibliography

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“Air New Zealand Staff have nothing to hide”. 2009.YouTube.Com. Web.

“Bridgestone ‘Scream’ Super Bowl ad”. 2008. YouTube.com. Web.

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“Saab Change Perspective”. 2009. YouTube.Com. Web.

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