Ride the Wave

http://www.hcoridethewave.com
The Ride the Wave website is a lifestyle site for and made by Hollister which focuses on the "Epic Store" opening in New York. It features Desktop Wallpapers and ScreenSavers. Videos about the Hollister Lifestyle like the one above show the surf lifestyle which is associated with the brand.

The video above shows topless "dudes" enjoying a "surfer's lifestyle" and going to castings for the new Hollister store. There is the implication that the store's exterior is inspired by a pier with its grid like, column structure. On the website the note below appears over the video.

MY OPINION: Hollister is aimed primarily at young teens (14-18), at this age teens are concerned about their appearance. Hollister brand taps into this, everything is about the appearance. Here people have the chance to submit their photos in a click in the hope of becoming a model. Instead of saying "are you an experienced model" the brand offers the viewer a chance to be 'famous' part of the 'good looking' brand. It creates a lack of constraint for young people, Hollister could fulfil their dreams.

SEXUAL REFERENCES: The closing of the video can be seen in the screenshot below. It pictures a guy and girl getting intimate in front of the waves and Hollister logo. The girl is wearing a bikini in keeping with the surfer image and the guy has his hands pulling her jeans down to reveal her bum. This all comes after the guy has talked about how cool it is working at Hollister. Here we are getting the message "the 'Hollister guy gets the girl." and every girl wants the Hollister guy. There are no faces here and this gives the impression the people or the scenario could apply to anyone - it could apply to that sixteen year old sat at home in Manchester wearing Hollister. SOMETHING ABOUT SEXUAL DESIRE HERE. HETROSEXUALITY.

This is the backdrop for the screen saver available to download and like the video it oozes Nostalgia. The dark edges and sepia, desaturated tones equate to the feeling of an old fashioned video, referring to when technology wasn't as good. This is coherant with Hollister's fictional story where the brand is established in 1922. Note that the brand never actually states it was established then, it just uses signs which connote this.

• Desaturated tones in videos and photos
• Writing the number 1922 under the brand name
• Flashy screen transitions give sense of old fashioned video
• Rustic frame, tranditional wall paper background
• Scratchy, imperfect logo - false authenticity.
• Old furniture in shops.
• Old style sepia photographs
• Handwriting versions of the logo, personal, trustworthy.