This Michelob advertisment speaks to the alienation of modern life. The first image says, "ESCAPE: The South Pacific," thereby locating the Other in a space. There is a arrogance to this ad that points to neo-colonialism. A group of white men, Michelob in hand, jet off (literally) to the South Pacific where they happen upon a pristine, uninhabited island. While on the surface this ad appears to be a move against mainstream capitalist commodity culture, it is, in actuality, reinforcing it. This ad suggests that "authenticity" and "Otherness" can only be found on remote islands; it then encourages us all to buy the beer and be adventurers.

Capitalism, in Marxian terms, is a system by which workers are alienated not only from their labor, but also the product of their labor. This alienation we can see all around us in American society. Beginning with the Ford assembly line, American industry began to take a turn towards mass production and, consequently, generated a surplus of commodities on the market. Before mass production, goods were directed mainly towards an elite group of consumers; however, the 'massification' of production also called for a mass market of consumers. Whereas the emphasis had previously been placed on the worker/producer, capitalism called for a revamping of consumption ehtics. The worker neded to be transformed into a consumer. That is to say, the consumer market had to be expanded and readdressed. The work ethic had to be re-evaluated -- a new consumer ethic needed to take its place.

Alienated in and from their labor, the American people turned to consumption as a source of fulfillment and gratification. Whereas the Protestant work ethic had once been at the forefront of the American psyche, the new consumption ethic began to take hold with the increase in production. The Protestant ethic had stressed "salvation through self-denial" (Lears: 4), and this simply did not coincide with the consumption mandated by the capitalist structure. The focus shifted away from the producer to the consumer. Yet this was a difficult transition -- whereas religion had once provided a framework of meaning and action, the new consumption-oriented ideology left people in a state of anomie. The ideology promoted by capitalist consumption allowed for, and created, an environment in which consumption was not only acceptable and necessary, but also good. In the new consumer culture, an illusion of freedom of choice was sketched out, disguising the hegemonic nature of capitalism. The rhetoric of freedom was touted, even though advertising was, in reality, coercive and manipulative. Consumption was soon linked to notions of patriotism, democracy and civilization.

As mass consumerism took hold in American culture, there emerged an ethos of commodity relations. That is to say, it was and is believed that commodities can give you, the buyer, access to certain social relations and positions. Modern life, fragmented and alienating, led to a reification of social relations in terms of buying power and ability. As workers no longer received much (if any) satisfaction from their labor, they turned to consumption as a means of fulfillment. The advertising industry quickly caught on to this anomic state of American society. Preying on the fears and desires of people, advertising pushes the concept of commodity self; that is, the self is created and maintained through commodity relations. The notion of the 'commodity self' means that we are actually signified through the products we display. But since advertising requires active participation (as opposed to passive) to create meaning and value, this signification works in more than one way: the product signifies a certain attitude, lifestyle, personality and the consumer likewise comes to mean through the commodity itself.

However, it was not long before consumers began to feel and take note of the continuous positioning of themselves by advertisements. The advertisements appeared over-coded, formulaic and coercive. People well trained in the consumption ethic began to resent this type of advertising. For this reason, they began to tune out. Advertisers had to come up with a way to stand out in the culture of signs and images; they had to find a way to catch the viewer's attention. In a world "satiated by icons" (Olalquiaga 1992: 35), it comes as no surprise that the Other appears in advertisements. The Other represents a move away from the "normal"; that is, the Other is always posed against Self which is taken to be "normal." Suggesting that the Other goes against the grain of consumerist, capitalist ideology, advertisements that made sue of this new signifier benefit by appealing to savvy consumers. The Other seems to sit just outside of the realm of commodity relations, even while it is made to work for commodity consumption.

Although the commodity form seemed, at first, to represent a new ethos of unity, it soon became apparent that it, like labor, was also alienating. The commodity self no longer formed a coherent identity, and relationships predicated on commodities were not enough. This recognition of alienated consumption led to a reconceptualization of labor, consumption and Self. The Other, standing in relation to Self, seemed to embody a unified identity. Thus it was that the Other, that had for so long been marginalized and denied a place within dominant society, became an object used to prop up the subject Self. In a "society of the spectacle," the Other became the object and the site of the gaze. The detached Self looked to representations of the Other as unified and stable. Yet the irony of this lies in the fact that once appropriated to represented the opposite of the alienated and alienating commodity form, the Other became in itself a commodity to be freely exchanged in the market.

However, it must be understood that the Other is not merely a marker of unalienated experience. The Other is represented in many more ways than this: it becomes, simulataneously, a signifier of time, space, place, meaning and action. Exoticized, or conversely "whitewashed," the Other is consistently reduced to its most simplistic signifiers of difference. In a world of signs, difference is crucial. By those who acknowledge alienated consumption, the Other represents authenticity. To those competing in sign wars, the Other becomes merely different and novel; it simultaneously becomes stereotypical and shallow. To those stressing, or seeking, a unified world, the Other is normalized, united with Self, through shared commodities. Images of globalization create a narrative in which the Other is uplifted by modern technologies, but, strangely and ficititiously, never lose their "traditions." The use of the Other is deeply narcissistic; the Other become fashioned in such a way to uphold, even while it sometimes appears to deny, capitalist consumer ideology.

The use of the Other in advertising present mixed meanings: on the one hand, the Other belongs to another time and space, and lends a sense of authenticity and 'realness' to the commodity. On the other hand, the Other is oftentimes 'whitewashed' and made into a universal marker of the commodity world. A postmodern aesthetic in which the Other is made into a free floating signifier that promotes commodity relations is becoming more and more common. The Other becomes a signifier of difference, and adds to the value of certain commodities. What happens, however, when we consistently reduce the Other to a signified? What happens when equivalence values are drawn between Other as animal and as culture? as place? as race? The danger lies in the fact that our sense of the Other is too clearly mediated and, thus, distorted. Culture becomes even more fragmented and the commodity form remains intact. Alternating between the homogenization and differentiation of the Other, advertisements present not only a warped view of the Other, but also a hegemonic view of the world around us.

Here, an exotic, primitive, native Other is used in a Chevrolet ad. He becomes an "object Other" in the sense that he is reduced to the most simplistic of signifiers of difference. This ad creates a world in which the Other is a mere bystander; he crouches in the jungle watching the pristine white car drive through, but he remains "intact." That is to say, his traditional appearance is not altered in the least bit; in fact, it is his appearance, his image, as exotic that lends appeal and value to the car. Even further, it is his difference that is being commodified and appropriated in order to increase commodity consumption.