Goffman( 1979) shares this view of advertising as an expression of a collective dream of a better reality. He maintains that advertisers try to display a “real” situation to bolster their claims about the quality and necessity of a product. they generally choose realistic scenes and transform them into imaginary ones by adding a dramatic background. Goffman points out that through private and public pictures, people immortalize the golden moments in their lives such as weddings and birthdays. Afterward, the pictures serve as proof a momentous event that an individual years for and identifies with. This leads advertisers to present people in such a way that their dreams are not subverted. Goffman, therefore describes advertising as a world of ” commercial realism”. In his view, this differs in two ways from people’s everyday behavior. first, in ” real life,” human behavior has a pronounced ritualistic streak. People live according to social ideals and present a stereotypical picture of themselves to the outside world. this is all the more so in advertising, which hyperritualizes. Second, advertising can be edited. Both in ” real life’ and in advertising, people present social ideals, but in ” real life,” people cannot edit their behavior sufficiently to supply a purified ritual of the social ideal. Thus Goffman asserts that advertising tries to depic social ideals as fully as possible and thereby project and idealized slice of life. (pg. 15)
Israel can boast many achievements,compared to other countries, in a variety of fields such as high-tech,medicine,academic research,arms development and agriculture. And yet, although the economy is flourishing, at least at the time of this writing( summer of 2007), and although Israel seems to have reached economic independence, the self confidence of Israelis is still problematic. Public discoursrse in Israel implies the feeling that without the support of the United States, this economic independence would vanish. Uncle Sam is perceived to be the principal barrier between Israel and sanctions or boycotts that could be imposed by the United Nations, its institutions and other countries and as the protector of Israel against the enforcement of an arrangement with the Palestinians that would harm Israel’s security ( Haaretz,4.5.07) This idea of United States, both in the past and at present, held by many Israelis, may explain the American myth structured in Israeli advertising.
In the winter of 2007, the value of the American dollar began to decline I the world and in Israel, resulting in a stronger Israeli shekel. Naturally, this had an effect on advertising in Israel and all of a sudden there were ads in praise of the shekel. This is an interesting development as in the past it was the American currency that dominated Israeli ads, even when the transaction was in shekels. For example, and advertisement for the Yashir Investment House showed a photograph of a one shekel coin, which had on it : “ I strong shekel.” On the left side of the ad was the text, “ Enjoying Israeli power.” Such texts resemble the use made by advertisements in the past of American currency and American power( “America is power”). In fact, one sees that when the local currency is stronger vis a vis the American currency, it becomes a source of pride and stars in advertising. A similar advertisement, which shares this trend , appeared for a financial company called EASYFOREX, encouraging investment in various transactions and enjoying the increased value of the shekel under the slogan, “ The dollar is down, hit it hard.” The ad shows a photograph of a plastic hammer hitting the dollar symbol, with the text, “ Independence 2007- the party goes on.” (pg. 125-126)
Reference:
First, A & Avraham E (2009) America In Jerusalem : Globalization, National Identity and Israeli Advertising Maryland: Lexingtoon Books