In the traditional sense, business and art are often inconsistent, even on the opposite side of each other. As a student studying strategic design management in the art school, studying Strategic Design Management at Parsons, my studies are full of an artistic and rational business atmosphere. Under the influence of interdisciplinary professions, I want to find the connection between art and business and express it in artistic form. I set the theme of my thesis as Strategy differentiation of luxury brands between China and the US. Due to the integration of the global economy, the marketing activities of multinational companies in various countries are increasing. However, when international companies carry out luxury goods marketing activities in China, they must face a cultural background different from the companies’ motherland. I use China and the United States as a comparison object to discuss how luxury brands control consumer psychology between the two countries. The purpose is to analyze the marketing strategies of China and the United States. However, how to present such academic thesis topics with artistic effects has become a challenge for me.
After careful consideration, the video was the best art form to present. Basically, this artwork is two advertisement videos. I apply Collage art into video and use contrasting language and values to create strong irony. I tried to add some black humor to make the audience experience more comfortable. Since then, the concept of this project was also determined. My project is called Tao’s Choice, Ltd. 2021 Global Campaign. This campaign is a fake marketing plan for this phony company this year, and it needs to be adopted in China and the US. I created a product from The Emperor’s New Clothes as a source of inspiration. I named this product Nothing. This product will be sold in a fictitious company (Tao’s Choice, Ltd. )I made up. This product has no entity, nor does it have any meaningful value. I want to use this invisible product to satirize the marketing company’s manipulation of consumer psychology.
For the inspiration part, I carefully thought about my characteristics. I hope to be able to make contact with the views I want to express from my perspective. So I recall my previous works. I like to use posters and newspapers from the last century to express my thoughts through remake and collage. Therefore, I also want to incorporate this style this time. I was watching Marvel’s TV series Wanda Vision that has greatly inspired me recently. Its retro style is what I like and excel at. So I thought about why I cannot remake the video? Furthermore, AI face-changing technology has become increasingly popular. It also reminds me of the Balenciaga 2020 menswear campaign I have seen. The designer simulated a news channel. The creepy thing is that the host only moves his mouth. Therefore，I combine the retro style and the AI technology inspired by Balenciaga. I found some video clips in the video archive of the last century and re-dubbed them with AI face-changing technology. I hired voice actors to imitate the pronunciation of the previous century and imitated the editing techniques of the last century to bring the videos I shot back to that era.
In these two videos, my edit way is to collect old videos in the archive and remake them, connecting with my own filmed video. Both of them are around 1 minute. I analyzed the lines of old advertisement in US and China and applied in my advertisement video. I used different shooting methods, editing methods, and advertising lines to show the marketing differences between China and the United States. So the advertisement video promoted in the US market, my lines will be more biased towards social issues. I made the NOTHING product a magical product that eliminates discrimination, making the world more equal and allowing women to define their own beauty. The video talks about a gorgeous woman are sitting in the studio and bragging about the product NOTHING’s miracle function even the product does not exist. When the woman is express about the product, the footage is actually empty, and this funny scene is the contrast and sarcasm I want to show in the video. In the design of advertisement videos promoted in the Chinese market, consumers will pay more attention to the social functions of products. What they need is a product that can show their social status. Chinese advertising prefers to show successful life elements, such as modern cities, cars, etc. So I found many such videos in the video archive. NOTHING has become a secret weapon to attract men in this video. This video’s plot design is about how this product helps the woman seduce the man successfully. The video talks about getting your man like a piece of cake if you have this product.
Through these two different and ironic advertising videos for non-existent advertising products in the US and China, I try to express the psychology of enterprises to or even control consumers to stimulate purchases. American companies will hold various protest campaigns or promote slogans because the people are concerned about social issues. We do not know whether companies really care about these issues. Whether the dream of success that Chinese companies weave for the people can really bring people that kind of beauty, I think it also requires deep thinking. The coming of the consumerism boom has affected people’s consumption behaviors nowadays. We should think carefully about whether we really need these before the craze trends. I wish the audience who watch these two advertisements for two countries could take self-examination profoundly and ask themselves if they’ve ever been taken in by such tricks.
After careful consideration, the video was the best art form to present. Basically, this artwork is two advertisement videos. I apply Collage art into video and use contrasting language and values to create strong irony. I tried to add some black humor to make the audience experience more comfortable. Since then, the concept of this project was also determined. My project is called Tao’s Choice, Ltd. 2021 Global Campaign. This campaign is a fake marketing plan for this phony company this year, and it needs to be adopted in China and the US. I created a product from The Emperor’s New Clothes as a source of inspiration. I named this product Nothing. This product will be sold in a fictitious company (Tao’s Choice, Ltd. )I made up. This product has no entity, nor does it have any meaningful value. I want to use this invisible product to satirize the marketing company’s manipulation of consumer psychology.
For the inspiration part, I carefully thought about my characteristics. I hope to be able to make contact with the views I want to express from my perspective. So I recall my previous works. I like to use posters and newspapers from the last century to express my thoughts through remake and collage. Therefore, I also want to incorporate this style this time. I was watching Marvel’s TV series Wanda Vision that has greatly inspired me recently. Its retro style is what I like and excel at. So I thought about why I cannot remake the video? Furthermore, AI face-changing technology has become increasingly popular. It also reminds me of the Balenciaga 2020 menswear campaign I have seen. The designer simulated a news channel. The creepy thing is that the host only moves his mouth. Therefore，I combine the retro style and the AI technology inspired by Balenciaga. I found some video clips in the video archive of the last century and re-dubbed them with AI face-changing technology. I hired voice actors to imitate the pronunciation of the previous century and imitated the editing techniques of the last century to bring the videos I shot back to that era.
In these two videos, my edit way is to collect old videos in the archive and remake them, connecting with my own filmed video. Both of them are around 1 minute. I analyzed the lines of old advertisement in US and China and applied in my advertisement video. I used different shooting methods, editing methods, and advertising lines to show the marketing differences between China and the United States. So the advertisement video promoted in the US market, my lines will be more biased towards social issues. I made the NOTHING product a magical product that eliminates discrimination, making the world more equal and allowing women to define their own beauty. The video talks about a gorgeous woman are sitting in the studio and bragging about the product NOTHING’s miracle function even the product does not exist. When the woman is express about the product, the footage is actually empty, and this funny scene is the contrast and sarcasm I want to show in the video. In the design of advertisement videos promoted in the Chinese market, consumers will pay more attention to the social functions of products. What they need is a product that can show their social status. Chinese advertising prefers to show successful life elements, such as modern cities, cars, etc. So I found many such videos in the video archive. NOTHING has become a secret weapon to attract men in this video. This video’s plot design is about how this product helps the woman seduce the man successfully. The video talks about getting your man like a piece of cake if you have this product.
Through these two different and ironic advertising videos for non-existent advertising products in the US and China, I try to express the psychology of enterprises to or even control consumers to stimulate purchases. American companies will hold various protest campaigns or promote slogans because the people are concerned about social issues. We do not know whether companies really care about these issues. Whether the dream of success that Chinese companies weave for the people can really bring people that kind of beauty, I think it also requires deep thinking. The coming of the consumerism boom has affected people’s consumption behaviors nowadays. We should think carefully about whether we really need these before the craze trends. I wish the audience who watch these two advertisements for two countries could take self-examination profoundly and ask themselves if they’ve ever been taken in by such tricks.