vienna

certain length of time. A hidden myth beyond the individual myth created by the
brands exists. Marketing literature has often pointed out that in order to satisfy
contemporary consumer needs, brands have to create their own brand worlds.
One aspect of these worlds is the old cultural technique of story telling. Since
brands tell stories because they want to sell their goods, the text is only a carrier
of the message that goods must be bought. It turns out that it is good to hide the
concept lines so that the consumer is more involved in the process of meaning
making. There are several scripts in our mind, which are used according to the
respective purpose of marketing:
“Mythical scripts are always deployed where basic needs – victory and defeat,
lofty feelings and eternal questions – are concerned. However, for coffee or
dish liquid advertisements, marketing draws on a different pool of experience:
slice-of-life scripts. These sols contain the knowledge about how to conduct
ourselves in certain everyday situations. […] Sols are mechanisms for dealing
with life; they help us adjust to the situation. Usually one is unaware of these
processes.” 321
Marketing uses old myths as well as scripts of everyday behaviour in order
to sell goods. When marketing employs a mythological script for seasonal sales,
then consumer society can be sure that a fundamental issue is at hand. We
will now look into the next show window and find this out:
A horizontal red poster attached at eye level to the show window, and covering its
entire length, says: “LETZTE REDUZIERUNGEN”. 322 Behind it is a rack with black
and white shirts on hangers. There are several pieces of each design on the
rack as well as in the stockroom. A few shoes and a handbag are placed on the
floor. Each piece has a large price tag. In the background is a white wall with red
and orange striped posters announcing: “–70%”.
All fashion retailers today stage the seasonal sale in a surprisingly similar
manner; they are simply throwing away the reservoir of knowledge about good
merchandising techniques.
This trendy fashion boutique has two show windows: a smaller one to the right
of the entrance and a larger one to its left. The freshly arrived spring collection is
presented in the larger one of the two. One of the two headless mannequins is
dressed in formal clothes and the other in a more casual style. The smaller window
also shows two mannequins in winter clothes. The word “sale” is written on
the window in bold, pink typeface at the height of the pelvis of the mannequins,
321 Mikunda (2002:22)*.
322 “Final reductions”.
The
Death
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Fashion 135