Blog #6

The Timeless Personal Possession of a Jaguar

A September issue of Wired features a two-page Jaguar advertisement: “THE NEW XJ; powerful, aluminum, 400-HP V8 engine. Sleeker, lightweight aluminum body. Luxury transformed by design.” A side view and a frontal view of the vehicle are partially shown synecdochially, with a dark, mysterious, backlighted afro-headed woman lurking in the background. By using both conscious logos, such as the technical description of the car, and also unconscious pathos, such as the woman’s appeal, Jaguar successfully gets its point across—the new XJ model is a possession worthy only of those who are willing to pay the price for luxury and fulfillment. Those who cannot afford it can only dream of possessing such a high-social-status securing object. This argument speaks to set apart the Jaguar by maintaining a luxury status, gathering consumer interest in order to eventually sell Jaguar cars to wealthy people, while men drool over the thought of owning one.

Once the general grandeur of the entire aesthetically-pleasing and intriguing advertisement has sunk in, the reader can finally come to their senses and examine the images and text with more thought. The text is placed on the first page, justified on the left center, embellished by no added bells and whistles, yet sophisticated and sleek like the product Jaguar is trying to sell. Obviously, in this advertisement, less is more. Jaguar’s graphic designers clearly employ design principles, including contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, in order to make the visual more appealing and therefore more persuasive to the reader.

The reader can also be persuaded by text. The persuasively appealing argument for Jaguar’s excellence seems to be coming from a luxury car expert (but also a skilled rhetorician), in its technical description of the vehicle. The implication of an expert’s opinion helps Jaguar’s argument establish credibility and ethos.

Simultaneously, logical arguments or logos are used to support Jaguar’s claim. The text demurely argues logically for Jaguar in its implications: perhaps a lightweight aluminum V8 engine is simply better, sleeker. The text does not explicitly say this, but a thoughtful reader might conclude that a lightweight body could improve speed or acceleration, and possibly even save fuel.

Arguments such as these show Jaguar’s motivation to provoke interest, spread acclaim, and appeal to viewers. A claim similar to this advertisement reads on the US website: “Here is a carriage of consequence. Crafted to perform and please. A personal possession, extremely well-finished.” Viewers’ interest is provoked by the intriguing “carriage of consequence,” and also acclaim is spread by the craftsmanship and special design of the Jaguar. Viewers are intrigued by the appeal of a possession that is “personal” to them, designed to fit their needs. While these issues all contribute to Jaguar’s motivations, Jaguar cannot as an end simply seek to sell cars.

Not everyone can afford cars like these. Jaguar vehicles range from $65,750-$116,00 each. If simply selling a lot of cars isn’t Jaguar’s true goal, what could be the real intent of this advertisement?

Jaguar’s true intent lies within societal constraints. People seem to believe that sophisticated, expensive (and therefore rarer), unique objects are more valuable than common ones. This principle helps to set apart the Jaguar and helps to elevate the company to a luxury status. Also, this constraint helps to induce customer longing for Jaguars, by setting the vehicle on such a high standard. Even the symbol of owning a Jaguar implies that one is at a certain point of financial security and well-being. When someone accumulates wealth enough to reach this point, they reach a point of self-actualization, achieving status, power, and financial ambition, as enhanced by the advertisement’s suggestion that owning a luxury Jaguar vehicle would equal achieving this goal.

Throughout many advertisements and not just those of Jaguars, there seems to be a consumer need or exigency for objects to be special, set apart, and dignified, regardless of whether or not the consumer has the money to spend. This issue reoccurs in many advertisements that seek to distinguish or make an impression of a product on the viewer in order to set apart the product from the rest, creating a lasting memory, including slogans such as “a diamond is forever,” or “think different.”

While the rich contemplate the acquisition of a new, well-finished, “personal possession,” other readers gaze longingly back at the contrasting face of a smirking vehicle: its eyes—the headlights, the mouth—the grille. Suddenly, the face of the Jaguar becomes more than just a car, a machine with identity, like Stephen King’s Christine. There seems to be a tendency to see human qualities in objects, as Scott McCloud explains in The Vocabulary of Comics. “We humans are a self-centered race. We see ourselves in everything. We assign identities and emotions where none exist. And we make the world over in our image” (McCloud 203-204). Perhaps seeing the human traits in the Jaguar makes the vehicle personal like the online advertisement describes.

Still, the only human visible in the advertisement remains the shadowy, black afro-headed woman in the background. She appeals even less personal than the car, possibly to distinguish the car’s personality, and only her lips and a hint of a nose can be distinguished from her frontal silhouette. Perhaps, Jaguar decided not to show her eyes in order to keep her from being too personal and too human, while revealing the dewy sensuality of her lips. Also, the text could be describing her also: “powerful…sleeker…lightweight…” This woman is portrayed as an object, like the car, appealing to a male audience (but not limited to), and also to arouse mystery. Her body is not used to sell the car, but rather her mystique. She invites and intrigues the reader to seek after a higher life—a luxury, even into obsession. She inspires emotion—not the typical emotions than scantily—clad women inspire when standing next to a car, but rather a sophisticated sensuality, a kind of pathos argument done sleekly and sublimely that readers don’t consciously notice until they stop to ponder it.

The elements in the advertisement—the shadowy woman, the aesthetic and personal appeal of the vehicle, the persuasive and logical appeals of the text, and the motives behind the sophisticated Jaguar company—all work simultaneously to create a successful argument. If the readers aren’t able to purchase one or two of these luxurious vehicles, they will sigh and place the Jaguar on a high pedestal with all other difficult-to-obtain aspirations—which is exactly what the Jaguar Company wants them to do.

Works Cited

“Jaguar US.” Jaguar US. 2007. 15 Sep 2007 http://www.jaguarusa.com/us/en/home.htm

McCloud, Scott. “Vocabulary of Comics.” Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: A Critical Sourcebook. Carolyn Handa, Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004. 194-208.