A Sign is a Fine Investment - ACE136.2

Woman with child in push-chair passing row of advertising hoardings. Gallery exhibition of images from advertisement. Man talking about advertising being a modern art form, drawing on centuries of European art, and one which, because of its appearance in public places, is accessible to all. Woman in kitchen peeling potatoes. "Television" over, discussing how commercials appeal to their audience. "Women don’t necessarily want to see a mirror image of themselves...." Still from PG Tips advertisement featuring chimpanzee in dressing gown. Television claims that Tesco was the first retail company to recognise "the important financial role women have when shopping". Magazine advertisement for IPC Young Women’s Magazines suggesting that they reach a particular group of women. Interior of large supermarket. The woman putting her purchases onto the checkout conveyor; VO quotes the advertising slogans for each item. Hoardings. Commentary says that "advertising speaks to us always as consumers" as do "the dominant ways of seeing… as art or as marketing". Commentary describes the film as looking at "the connection between images and markets…[in] their relation to work". Chocolate factory. Consumer goods on conveyor. VO quoting advertising slogans and descriptions. Car. Household furniture. Commentary says products are the "reward" for work, a reassurance of personal value. Extract from An Englishman’s Home (1946) advertising film, showing household ornaments "so simple, and yet so important". Shop windows. Commentary says products offer dreams as well as uses. Images from television advertising, "a vision" which "doesn’t include working life". Film vault. Commentary says advertising images have changed over time; work, no longer visible, used to shown. Vinolia Soap (1897) in which factory women are seen packing the product. One of the Close-Ups of the Stars (1947), Lever Bros. advertisements for Lux soap, in which the work is that of a film star (Valerie Hobson) rather than that of "every girl". A 1976 advertisement for soap in which the bar appears totally divorced from work of any kind.