A case study of Irish Spring print advertisement
The way we imagine and reprensent the nature to ourselves may vary according to several factors. We may think of nature as wild, dangerous, full of resources, pristine, romantic, etc. But all these visions have a common attribute in the way we project nature as separated from the human world with its constructions and intelligence. It is called the dualistic notion of culture/nature in which culture is superior to nature (Plumwood, 1993). An alternative to it is the idea that human and nature are interconnected. The culture/nature duality is a human concept which has its origin in Antiquity, such as in Ancient Greece and the Old testament, and became widespread during the time of colonization (Plumwood, 1993). The notion suggests that nature exists to be mastered and transformed by the human mind to serve civilizations. It was used by power holders to justify the emergence of capitalism, growing needs of natural resources, dispossession of ‘uncivilized’ people and slavery. Today popular culture keeps the dualistic culture/nature idea very alive with cinema, television, advertizing and more (Christophers, 2006).
For example, this essay observes how a men soap paper advertisement illustrates nature as a fresh land to be explored while perpetuating the supremacy of a white culture above a separate nature. The brand Irish Spring also uses symbols of Irish nature and culture to better appeal a sexually potent male stereotype therefore shaping consumers identities into the duality (Schroeder & Zwick, 2004). Important racial and gender struggles are forgotten by such constructions of nature, starting with historical anti-colonization struggles in Ireland itself and all over the world. Other consequences include the present overexploitation of natural resources for the production of commodities such as men body wash. It is argued here that the study of the visions of nature in an apparently harmless Irish Spring marketing helps to understand how power holders keep naturalizing a non sustainable capitalism and contribute to the social acceptance of the Anglo-Saxon men as a dominant male stereotype. More specifically, the advertisement reframes the Irish identity denying its history of social struggles.
