After months of busyness, here is a post which plays on a rather old subject. I have decided to publish it after coming across this funny photo earlier today
Magnum in the Philippines
http://www.tumawa.com/funny-images/magnum-ice-cream
Based on the advertisements shown on local television so far, Selecta’s Magnum is a type of ice cream bar which caters to those who are mature, refined, and not to mention those of the most discriminating taste. An interesting point of rumination is considering how these commercials attempt to create desires and habits [Corrigan: 1997] and in a subliminal fashion of persuasion [Packard: 1957].
Notes on the Seductive Properties of Ice Cream
Magnum as an imagery combines the freezing and the hot in a 55 Peso package. Ice Cream, it may be said, has been …commonly marketed in such a way as to (be) link(ed) with established values such as youth, vigour, sexual attractiveness and fun times, rather than with the taste of the food… itself [Lupton 1998(2012): 24]. Similarly, Featherstone [2007(2012): 83] remarked that the …mundane and everyday consumer goods become associated with luxury, erotica, beauty and romance with their original or functional 'use' increasingly difficult to decipher.
Sold under descriptives such as ‘Temptation’ and ‘For Pleasure Seekers’, Magnum is one example which is illustrative of Coward [1984: 118] as well as Lupton’s [1998(2012): 17] discussion of food as pleasure being linked with the erotic, invoking primarily a Freudian vista. The mouth and tongue developed an erotic function in the oral phase which involved the infant’s initial, sensual contact with and pleasure in the breast, and similarly with the incorporation of food. Having first been stimulated by the ingestion of food, the mouth was believed to be a source of erotic pleasure in its own right. In later sexual activity, the mouth is integral to erotic pleasure in the acts of kissing, licking and sucking. The sensation of food in the mouth is thus intimately linked to erotic desire [Lupton 1998(2012): 17].
Though mouth orgasms were not explicit anywhere in the commercials, the advertisements were artistically crafted to convey the message of sublime pleasure through sticking with the formula of a known stereotype: gendered foods [Mintz: 1986; Barthel: 1989; Lupton 1998(2012)]. The gendering of food occurs in contemporary western societies; and the Magnum line is a western creation. Sweet foods are typically linked to women [Mintz: 1986]. Sweet things, both literal and figurative are of the domain of women and not of men. Chocolate and sugar are traditionally coded as feminine foods as in accord to the nursery rhyme which states that little girls are made of ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’… [Lupton 1998(2012): 105]
The Magnum models tend to be captivating females ranging from thin to slim. It breaks the image of the conventional love affair between ‘things creamy and chocolaty’ and the overweight body. It questions the traditional outlook that: …food habits and preferences are central practices of the self, directed at self-care via the continuing nourishment of the body with foods that are culturally deemed appropriate, constituting a source of pleasure and acting symbolically as commodities to present a persona to oneself and others [Lupton 1998(2012): 14]. Since slim sirens made the face of the product, it added to the social acceptability of the product as well as including elements of poise. It was an attempt at putting a pleasant face on what would usually be gluttonous and self-indulging if presented by someone of overweight build. The consequence of the latter would be a sense of anxiety and shame which would be resulting from impressions of hedonism and ill discipline, or what Degher & Hughes [1999] referred to as “spoiled identity” expected also to result from consumption of the product.
The boundaries of food and sex collide yet again with the case of the former. Chocolate originally had denoted meanings of indolence, leisure and erotic languor in 17th century France [Schivelbusch: 1993; Lupton 1998(2012): 17], and contemporary media still utilizes this descriptive scheme which has always been effective if executed by women, as history has always shown how this was consistently applicable to women. Chocolate is seduction, as women are portrayed to give in to the sweetness which symbolized the impending breakdown of sexual resistance [Barthel 1989: 433]. This was most portrayed in the Chocolate Brownie advertisement which featured a thin, long-haired blonde dressed in a lavender, satin, floor-length dress. Her gaze and pupils suggested captivation and taste-related arousal the moment she bit into the bar, with eyes closing, anticipating a mouthful of rich ecstacy. While one interpretation behind her acrobatic feat might have hinted feminism considering the breaking of rules regarding propriety and conduct, also in having left her date alone at the rooftop soiree ---signifying independence ---- it may also mean a sense of animalistic-ness brought about for the need of the temptation to be satisfied.
Ice Cream in the System of Signs
The commercial for Classic on the other hand is a different story entirely. This particular bar is being advertised under the descriptive ‘Get the Royal Treatment’. To ruminate, perhaps this may have to do with a play of equivocation, if not a fallacy. The adjective ‘rich’ can either refer to an ambiguous quantity of wealth, or a quality of a substance. In its Magnum-related usage, it could have also hinted that consumption of the bar could equate to possessing rich wealth --- this explains the special treatment as well as the lavish attention the consumer received in the advertisement.
This advertisement having aired before the Chocolate Brownie version (at least locally) had implications on reception as well as impressions of the ice cream line as a whole. According to De Mooj [1998], there are two approaches towards communicating the product. Advertising styles could either directly inform people about the commodity along with its image or emphasize the role the product plays in personalization and lifestyle. Employing the proper scheme has a sense of trickiness to it, as failure to recognize cultural values will have demonstrable consequences for marketers and advertisers. Above all, communication models built for one context cannot be applied or imposed on another [Downing 2004(2009): 13]. In the local setting, this may have unintentionally led to the development of a sign value attributed to the bar, as the Magnum advertisements utilize the scheme of personalization and lifestyle.
The Magnum line had the potential to become overflowed with signs, beginning with its price which usually ranges from 55-65 Pesos. To the minds of many, it is considerably expensive as it is equivalent to a meal; and by Philippine standard, ice cream will always be a dessert and barely passes as a stomach-satisfying snack. The idea of expense classifies the product as a food which is for special occasions or on some instances as a (personal) reward; in the extreme case, a luxury. Originally, it may be debated that the target market for Magnum were the A & B classes. The bars were sold by box of three, and depending on the store which carries the line*, a box would usually cost 300 Pesos (at 100 per bar). It was also observable that the size of the bars were larger than the Magnum size today. This initial appearance and form of the ice cream bar, and being sold as such for a time, had enabled an elitist flavoring because it was something that was not common and considering price it was very much unlikely to be available in the typical family’s freezer. Its competition is sold at 5-35 Pesos per piece if referring to the ice cream stick, and tubs being available from 125 and able to last for as long as the family would permit. In contrast, the ice cream bar must be consumed the moment it is bitten into and is not designed to be shared.
Aside from issues of price, how was it that Magnum initially did not catch on? There were a few considerations. Not everyone is really particular in expectations of how creamery products should taste. This has implications on ice cream as a dining experience. In the local setting, ice cream is treated as a special occasion treat; to paraphrase Selecta [2013], it is known more as a family affair to make weekends ‘delicious’. As Lupton [1998(2012): 23] would say, there is the symbolic consumption of ice cream, its taste is often of relatively little importance: it is the image around the food product that is the most important. Philippine culture is known for sharing, and there is a sentimental significance shared by families in the activity of digging into a common tub of ice cream together. It is a simulacrum of food in which pleasure is derived from its aesthetic form and consequent evocation of emotional states rather than its taste or texture [Lupton 1998(2012): 24].
In terms of packaging, Magnum stood out. It was an ice cream bar which did not make grown-ups ashamed of purchasing one for themselves. It is unlike the usual ice cream stick which society would typically assume spoke to children through carnivalesque colors and shapes. Magnum is predominantly a monochromatic brown with occasionally a cream and or gold-toned detailing. The flavor combinations were not emulative of existing flavors, and was complemented with presentation --- referring to swirls and double coatings, the latter of which enables thick flavors (such as the caramel version) to strategically hit the tongue in what is literally a rich experience. This proves Lupton’s [1998(2012)] premise that taste is an aesthetic category.
It is highly likely that Selecta implemented the strategy of reducing size for the purpose of affordability. Accessibility on the other hand, had increased as the bars are individually available in almost every convenience and grocery store.
In 2011, Magnum though a food, had underwent the same fate most expensive, commonly uncommon, edibles have ---- metamorphosizing into fashion. Magnum was like the new Starbucks, becoming one new subject of food pornography [Coward 1984: 101] via Instagramification and Facebookification. To assume a Baudrillardan [1981] standpoint, the purpose of photographs permits the sign value of the ice cream to remain with the consumer long after the object has ‘worn out’ [Baudrillard 1981: 49] and enables the consumer to affiliate with the census which identifies themselves as patriots of such staple of refinement. To return to the subject of availability, this played a role in turning the food into fashion as the reduced price permitted access, making classes socially mobile in this instance [Baudrillard 1981: 49]. The uploading of photographs reinforces a state of commodity aesthetics [Haug: 1971/1986] with appearance becoming attached to the product and becoming even just if not more than important than the product itself. It is an alternative form of consumption --- food is consumed symbolically [Featherstone: 1990] through being put on display, spoken about and handled, with its prestige producing the major satisfaction for its owner [Lupton 1998(2012): 23]. Satisfaction depends upon possession or consumption of the socially sanctioned and legitimate (and therefore scarce or restricted) cultural goods [Featherstone 2007(2012): 87]. The immortalization of the ice cream bar through the digital to an extent challenges the subject of Baudrillardan 'ambivalence'.
*I myself couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to before the bar was sold individually. It was a guilty pleasure in that sense, not calorie-wise but budget-wise.
[References will be posted at the third part of this treatise]
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