Many times the person in an ad seems totally unaware that you are looking at them. That's one kind of relationship you can have with people in ads.

The fact that they don't notice that you are looking at them helps make you stay unconscious of the fact that you are taking part in an unnatural act. It is that ad have you look at something that you normally wouldn't be looking at. It's not the product. It's the environment that the product is in that you normally would have no view of.

We said that many times a person in an ad 'seems' unaware. Of course the people in ads are models, posing, following instructions. They are very aware they are being looked at, being 'pictured.'

But usually they are pretending--pretending they don't notice they're being looked at. They keep pretending that we are looking in on their real life--often a very personal moment--and doing it without their knowledge--or permission.

At the moment of looking at almost any ad, there's a knowledge of reality just below our level of conscious awareness. That reality is: I am looking at professionals who are being paid to pose, to act out situations for me. And they are also usually paid to pretend that they don't know that I'm looking at them, so as not to trigger my self-consciousness.

Yet, unless we are inexperienced children, deep down inside somewhere we always know the truth. When looking at ads, we also pretend--not to know it.

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Voyeurism.

Consciously looking to get sexual pleasure from seeing what you shouldn't see. There's voyeurism where the other person doesn't know you are watching. And that's where the 'kick' comes from. Such as with 'peeping Toms.'

And there's the voyeurism where the person knows you are watching--and you know they know. And they know you know they know. That's where everybody's 'kick' comes from. Such as with strippers and pornographic videos.

Normally ads have a voyeuristic aspect when the people in them don't seem to know that you are watching them.

 

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