Cyanotypes of Romanian communist adverts

These adverts fulfill the consumer landscape and express the Romanian’s desire, to gain experiences that could bring them pleasure, relaxation, and comfort. The advert, which can be seen as the intersection between photography and consumerism, proposes a new human prototype which is suggested by it, which is focused on the body, or senses rather than on reason. It is a man that collects rather than discerns, it is a man of impulse rather than an analytic one as Descartes said “I think, therefore I am”. In contemporary society, the body represents our motto, we are what we show to others, so we must be socially attractive to integrate into this society. The charismatic personality is replaced with the glow given by cosmetic products, which suggests that the human prototype of our days should be fascinating, attractive, magnetic, dominant, and powerful. These values of contemporary society replace the classical values of good and beautiful if we regard these values from an intellectual perspective and related to the soul, which seems now a forgotten and old-fashioned concept. The appropriation of the adverts with cyanotype alternative technique subverts the initial interest of the creators of the image, the glow is eliminated and the visual information is not sufficient to convince the consumer to buy, rather it makes them think about what they consume, which might result into an increased awareness of consumerism effects on their lives and why not it might lead to change of their habits.