Hey! That muddy, greasy burger on my plate isn't the firm, fresh, delicious one I picked out from the advertisements above the counter, is it?
I vividly remember my first visit to McDonald's as a child. Of course, I already knew all the products from the commercials, and when the burger came to the table, I remember thinking, "Ok, this is it then..." Although the burger tasted great, my awareness that I was actually eating an image gave it a weird flavor. I later learned that this is how things are in our time: the image no longer represents the product. Rather, the product represents the image.
From our Fake for Real series.
Shalom Craimer
I guess this is sort of the ultimate version of "purple is a fruit" - in my mind, the purple food coloring has been strongly attached to the "grape" flavor. So much so, that drinking a transparent juice with the same flavor made me imagine it being slightly purple! I guess we project ourselves onto everything!
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Sean
A twist on your Golden Arches story, with Taco Bell entering the Mexican market: "Taco Bell, a unit of Louisville, Ky.,-based Yum Brands Inc., made its name promoting its menu to Americans as something straight out of Mexico. In Mexico, the company is projecting a more "American" fast-food image by adding french fries to the menu at its first store, which opened in late September in Monterrey." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071010.RTICKERTACO10/TPStory/TPBusiness/America/
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Koert.com
Well Max, I felt the example was quite self explanatory. The point I am trying to make is that, while we usually believe real objects and products can be represented by images, we seem to have arrived at a situation where the image becomes the primary thing and the object or product becomes an illustration of the image..
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max houston
can you elaborate? this doesn't really mean anything to me. just sounds like some pretentious empty rhetoric: >I later learned that this is how things are in our time: the image no longer represents the product. Rather, the product represents the image.
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julie R
actually, i don't remember being disappointed by the way my big mac looked as a child, but rather, one day after i'd become an adult, i was surprised by how small the big mac seemed compared to my memory of it as a big sandwich.
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dudeofchina
dude............that is so true ya know what i mean
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Pablo
Well, this one is up for debate. There have been plenty of times where I was disappointed at the nasty pile of grease presented to me as the beef patties of my dreams, but a few recent visits to my local NY Burger King resulted in a burger that matched the burger in the advertisement. What now man? Sure my childhood was tainted by empty promises from the fast food industry, but this generation's arteries aren't too young to be clogged by joy.
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Zoltan
It's funny, but I had the exact same experience as a kid. I guess it must be a common experience for the modern child. I remember looking at my Quarter Pounder and thinking "But-but-but...this isnt what a Quarter Pounderâ„¢ looks like!!"
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