TASK 02 - OTHERING - MOET & CHANDON

‘Othering’ is a concept where we as individuals, or as subcultures, manifest an identity that others us from the rest of the world. We construct these identities through how we read and acknowledge things, in a way that ‘others’ the rest of the world.

The Moet & Chandon ‘Be Fabulous’ advertisements are aimed at wealthy, attractive women (and men) who like to socialize and party. What we see is a beautiful women in an expensive dress, at a flash party surrounded by Moet & Chandon Champagne. From just the visual image, it instantly ‘others’ anyone who does not fit under the bracket of attractive and rich, separating them from the rest of the world. Berger states that ‘the way we see things is affected by what we know and what we believe’. People who believe themselves to ‘be fabulous’ will read this advert a different way to those who don’t. Those people who believe themselves to ‘be fabulous’ will see this as an advertisement for them where as those who don’t believe they are fabulous will, either think it is out of their league or aspire to ‘be fabulous’.

As Kathryn Woodward highlights in her book Identity and Difference, adverts create ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. This is particularly noticeable it adverts for high-end, elite products such as Moet & Chandon. This highlights another element of ‘othering’ within these adverts – that of class differentiation. This is not an advert aimed at the lower classes such as the working class. This advert is aimed at the middle to upper classes, the people who can afford the product and the people who live a life closer to that shown.

In ‘othering’ or ‘difference’ as Woodward refers to it, on side of the balance is weighted ‘so that one element…is more valued or powerful than the other’. In the example of the Moet & Chandon advetisements the weight is towards the wealthy, affluent, luxury lifestyle that can be provided by this product. The imbalance is also reflected in the class ‘othering’ and the ‘be fabulous’ audience this is aiming for. The ‘othering’ from this ‘be fabulous’ campaign would be completely different had in been an advert for women’s comfort pants or sanitary products.

‘Othering’ is neither good nor bad until applied to and advert or class or audience. The negative connotations of ‘othering’ are the ‘exclusion and marginalization of the ‘other’’, where as the positives are it is a ‘source of diversity, heterogeneity and hybridity, where the recognition of change and difference is seen as enriching’. By showing the dual possibilities, Woodward shows that ‘othering’ can be used as a positive.

This then asks the question as to whether the advert is ‘othering’ to show itself as exclusive or whether it is ‘othering’ itself to show diversity. In the case of the Moet & Chandon advertisement it is a definite exclusive ‘othering’, visibly seen through the audience choice, the adverts style and the product itself.