marketing: consumer fetishism.

Multimedia, 2021.

In this project, I examine the intersection of marketing and sexuality.

I made a series of ten tanktops with a screen-printed image of my faceless breasts for $30 each. The collection of tops sold out by word of mouth; without conventional advertisements or social media. I overpriced the product to observe whether a limited quantity would enhance buyer interest.

Through my creative process, the screen utilized on every shirt I produced became more clogged or worn down, thus distorting the clarity of the image—or its projected "value." However, per my sales, this imperfection did not discourage consumers from seeing value in their purchase.

My drawings on this experiment reflect a tangible manifestation of the Capitalistic concerns that uphold product quantity versus quality.

By mimicking the same formula of the Perfect Aesthetic that is enforced on Women made to manufacture a sense of lack, I was able to recreate the desire in my target audience to consume impulsively.

Women are taught that their value is determined by their public desirability. This superficial concern is an untrue equation that produces dehumanization.

At the foundation of my sales success was not my marketing skills, nor my Identity-- the success of sales was inherited from the objectification of my female form that in turn, assigned even more value to the object, as the target audiences project hype to compensate for lack... on to this, technically, $6 no-name tanktop.

I decided to follow a similar formula when creating documentation of my shirt series: low production quality where value can be assigned by following the current trends equation for the Perfect Aesthetic to enhance world-building, thus creating curiosity and desire-- based on fantasy. Hence the brand name: Phantasy.Play

Stickers were placed at random locations throughout public spaces that my target audiences passed through such as university stairwells and restrooms, local coffee shops, outside sex stores, etc. generating QR clicks and marketing to a broader network.

Each purchase of a screen-printed tank top included 5 random stickers.