Music, amusement park rides, food, and more music, these are some of the things that you might have encountered if you have attended the UP Fair this year (or the ones held every year before). The UP Fair, along with the Lantern Parade, is one of the most anticipated events in each school year. Held every February, the UP Fair is a week-long event organized by the University Student Council and is held at the Sunken Garden usually in the week where February 14 falls. Attended by Iskos and Iskas, the UP Fair has become so popular even students from other universities attend it.

 

       With the said event gaining popularity over the past years, I cannot help but notice how it uses images as a means for publicizing and promoting a capitalist culture. Take for example this “installation” on the bottom left side of your screen taken at the Sunken Garden which publicized the UP Fair.

 

               “Publicity is the culture of the consumer society.”

 

        Berger et. al. (1972) stated that: “Publicity is usually explained and justified as a competitive medium which ultimately benefits the public (the consumer) and the most efficient manufacturers – and thus the (national) economy.” Relating this to the installment, publicizing the UP Fair allows a mutual benefit from the viewers which will buy ticket and those who organized the fair. Berger et. al. (1972) also stated that: “Publicity is the process of manufacturing glamour” and they accounted for publicity being about social relations and not about the items being publicized itself. The use of the public installation on the Sunken Garden, in this case, manufactured glamour because of the future gratification that consumers will get once they attend the fair. This gratification is in terms of the envy of others who was not able to attend the fair hence creating social relations and it distinguishes the difference between classes of those who can afford the tickets and those who don’t.

 

       Publicity images is evident everywhere around us, we may see it while watching the television, while eating at a restaurant, even while in school. It may be in a form of visual art or the performing art. Publicity with all the benefits it produces towards disseminating information produces a culture, a capitalist and consumerist culture where glamour is valued upon by the society.