UCO Exhibit Explores the Moral Obligation of Graphic Designers

August 30, 2006

The University of Central Oklahoma’s design gallery will open the exhibit My First Time with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The design gallery is located in the Art & Design building on the UCO campus.

The exhibit explores the concepts of manipulative advertising strategies that focus on female sexuality and self-esteem to sell products, and a graphic designer’s moral and social obligation to consumers.

The exhibit features photos of child beauty pageant contestants in satirical advertising displays and on made-up products. The photos are paired with highly sexualized product descriptions.

UCO adjunct professor Whitney Porch created the exhibit, which was part of her Masters of Fine Art thesis project at the University of Notre Dame.
She says it’s an extreme critique of where advertising agencies, and in particular graphic designers, could be headed in the future.

“I feel like this kind of advertising is not that far off, and if you have a problem with this, then you need to take notice of what’s already out there in the marketplace around you,” Porch said.

At a gallery talk during the opening reception Porch will discuss her research into current advertising trends and why she chose this topic as her thesis.

“I’m going to talk about my approach, my research and the decisions I made on the product labels. There’s a reason for everything I did.”

The My First Time exhibit runs through Oct. 18 and is free and open to the public.

More than 2,000 people saw My first Time at the spring 2006 Oklahoma Visual Art Coalitions Momentum Art show in Oklahoma City.

For more information, call the UCO Department of Design at (405) 974-5200.

Page updated 8/30/06