Ideology, Hegemony and Cheerleading
Steven O'Toole

At first glance this advertisement (December 2003, Seventeen) may seem empowering, reassuring, offensive, misguided or humorous. All these reactions stem from the intelligibility of the ad's message; the missing drug user prevents the completion of a human pyramid. As part of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign (NYADMC) that attempts to, "educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs" (Campaign Publications, see works cited) the ad does have an agenda regarding what sort of choices teenage girls should make. The ad's creators, I argue, expect that a fair portion of readers will readily dismiss or ridicule the ad's message. The success of this statement in shaping behavior relies on an ideological resonance with readers who are unsure about or vehemently against drug use. The ad attempts to shape behavior by connecting abstinence from drug use to an ideological notion of how teenage girls should successfully navigate their high school experience. In this article I first discuss the relationship between ideology, hegemony and advertising and second focus on how the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign taps into and attempts to shape a hegemonic ideology as expressed in Seventeen in their anti-drug message.

I follow Stuart Hall (1981) in defining ideologies as the frames within which one "makes sense" of social interaction. They operate as a sort of social consciousness apparent when one says for instance, "boys will be boys". Instead of recognizing gender as a historically and culturally constructed element of one's identity gender is used in this example to explain behavior as "naturally" gendered. Ideologies then, "construct for their subjects (individual and collective) positions of identification and knowledge which allow them to â?~utter' ideological truths." (Hall 1981: 90) Ideologies provide a context in which common sense notions of social interaction are meaningful. It is important to emphasize here that ideas about social interaction and the ideologies that inform them are not static. Amongst the myriad sub-groups in American society femininity for example, is conceptualized and acted on in different ways. Advertising campaign such as the NYADMC then, only find ideological resonance with those readers who already see a connection between the behaviors the campaign encourages and the ideological beliefs to which they subscribe.

Although ideologies are not static or uniformly adhered to, it is important to recognize that certain ideological beliefs are more dominant than others. James Lull articulates what he calls "mass-mediated ideologies" explaining how they are the basis of cultural hegemony,

Corroborated and strengthened by an interlocking system of efficacious information-distributing agencies and taken-for-granted social practices that permeate every aspect (of) sic social and cultural reality. Messages supportive of the status quo emanating from schools, businesses, political organizations, trade unions, religious groups, the military, and the mass media all dovetail together ideologically. This inter-articulating, mutually reinforcing process of ideological influence is the essence of hegemony. (Lull 1995: 61)

Ideologies have no specific source but rather are created at various levels of social interaction including school, work, friendship groups and family. (Lull, 63) Hegemonic ideologies gain influence because of their omnipresence. The result is that in phrases such as "boys will be boys" the speaker simultaneously refers to a character on a television show, an article in a magazine, statements by their pastor, mother etc. More accurately the speaker references none of these; ideologies are in essence, "self-evident cultural assumptions" or "common-sense" (Lull, 63) maintained in large part by major-media sources. Advertising relies on presenting messages in an ideological language that resonates with the largest audience possible.

Seventeen has become a locus of hegemonic ideology by presenting an adolescent femininity at once informed by celebrities, advertisers and the experiences of readers themselves. Informal photos capturing celebrities in public are praised and berated in blurbs such as, "Shows way too much" or "There's something about daring." (December 2003, 35) What is being emphasized here is that everyone is subject to snap fashion judgment at all times. Sections on how to affordably attain the level of fashion and cosmetic mastery achieved by celebrities are invariably part of Seventeen's content. The result is that readers are encouraged to hold themselves to the same standard of judgment as the featured celebrities. Social settings, especially school, become much like the celebrities' red carpet. In this ideological understanding of adolescent femininity school becomes the place in which proper appropriation of femininity can be confirmed or denied by one's peers. Is she being "daring" enough with her fashion without "showing to much?" Advertisements blend innocuously into the magazines content offering the means of presenting a socially accepted femininity.

The anti-drug cheerleading ad plays on the fear of improperly presenting one's femininity by connecting drug use with exclusion from high school social life. The scoreboard in the background informs us that the home team has just achieved a narrow victory. The bright lights emphasize the visibility of such an event and a large audience is implied. The caption situated where the missing cheerleader should be makes it clear that drug users are not H-E-R-E, parsed in a way that captures the emphasis put on every letter in a cheer. Not only is the drug user failing to occupy her position amongst the cheer squad, she is in some indefinable and dark area outside the reaches of the cheerleaders voices and the lights of the football field. At the very least she is failing to, "live for Friday nights" and occupy a space in which she can, "meet new people all the time," (Seventeen, 70, these quotes appear on the page preceding the advertisement) at most she is risking alienation from both the cheer squad and her school at large. The ads success depends on the reader connecting drug use to an unsocial lifestyle that Seventeen makes clear can only be salvaged by, "joining a club to break out of a social rut." (70)

The ideology subscribed to by Seventeen's readers, advertisers and editors emphasizes the importance of gaining approval from one's peers in social settings. The NYADMC has a vested interest in maintaining this ideology in the same way that any advertiser does. By placing an ad in Seventeen advertisers attempt to portray their product as a necessity for properly displaying femininity. Seventeen readers however, do not embody a uniform ideology. For some the ad will reaffirm or support the belief that drug use cripples one's social life; others will readily dismiss the ad, not because they feel approval from one's peers is unimportant but because their own experiences give them a different ideological understanding of drug use. In essence the ad attempts to solidify readers' pre-existing anti-drug sentiments. The unfortunate result of such a project is that, while battling the dangers of addiction it reinforces the damaging effects this ideological conception of femininity has on the mental and physical health of adolescent girls. A wide range of complications ranging from low self-esteem to eating disorders and even suicide may result from subscription to such and ideology. (Kilbourne 1999: 258)

I hope this article gives readers a sense of how ideologies are understood and utilized by advertisers. The NYADMC "Campaign Publications" readily acknowledge that occasional drug use is prevalent among adolescents and that even among non-users there is a danger that drug-use is perceived as the norm. (See works cited) Instead of funding more informed treatment programs or examining the benefits of drug use the Office of National Drug Control Policy chose to institute the NYADMC. With a list of corporate sponsors a mile long and the aid of many professional advertising firms the Office of National Drug Control Policy entered an ideological battle in the name of protecting the hegemony of anti-drug sentiments. The causalities of this battle are of course the readers of Seventeen Magazine.

Works Cited

Hall, Stuart. "The Whites of Their Eyes." Silver Linings: Some Strategies for the Eighties. G. Bridges and R. Brunt. London: Lawrence and Wishart Ltd. 1981. Rpt. in Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd Ed. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. London: Sage Publications, 2003. 89-93.

Kilbourne, Jean. "The More You Subtract, the More You Add." Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. A Touchstone Book published by Simon and Schuster. 1999. Rpt. in Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd Ed. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. London: Sage Publications, 2003. 258-267.

Lull, James. "Hegemony" Media, Communications, Culture: A Global Approach. New

York and Chichester, UK; Columbia University Press, 1995. Rpt. in Gender, Race, and Class in Media. 2nd Ed. Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez. London: Sage Publications, 2003. 61-66.

NYADMC Campaign Publications. Available at www.mediacampaign.org/