How is consumerism misdirected creativity? In the new Rolex cinema ad, Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron and Alejandro González Iñárritu tell us what drives their creativity. It’s inspiring. To push yourself to achieve originality, to pull away from the herd, to be a risk-taker. Want the feeling? Buy the watch. After all, “No one was ever remembered for playing it safe.”
Yonks ago, Judith Williamson in Decoding Advertisements explained these kind of ads using Lacan’s Mirror-Phase. Once we were whole then we found ourselves in front of a mirror and saw our reflection and discovered there was a difference between how we feel and how we look. This separation is at the root of all our anxiety and we now spend our lives trying to achieve wholeness again. Williamson argued that advertising, particularly advertising for aspirational brands, holds up a magic mirror that shows a perfect you. The Rolex ad says “here is you, whole, a creative genius.” The brand is a shortcut to being at one with yourself.
Do these ads even work any more? Are we not too sussed? Too ironic? Wouldn’t we rather do things than buy things? Are luxury goods still recession-proof? Something more profound has happened.
Our focus is shifting from brands to founders. We no longer want the image, the magic spell of the product, we want to be the unicorn maker, the next Musk. Tesla and Space X are boys own adventures for new wholeness seekers. This is an exiting deviation. We want to live exciting, bold and creative lives. A universal basic income gives everyone the opportunity to live more creatively. That is why Rutger Bregman calls it venture-capital for the people. Your life is the start-up and creativity is no longer misdirected.
Rolex itself is experiencing some anxiety of its own, as betrayed by the dialogue which talks of a desire to connect across generations, to cross boundaries and cultures. The brand value of Rolex has slumped in recent years, as swiss watch sales have slumped globally, and especially in Asia. Luxury brands in general have been pushed out of the Top 100 brands in the world over the last decade. They have pushed out by Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and a generation of start-up founders experiencing phenomenal success. Rolex is looking for a new audience but the audience are pursuing new dreams.
