“Positive State of Mind” From Clothing Brand H&M
I want everyone to take a moment and look down at what you are wearing today. Now look around. What do you notice? What impressions do you form of other people simply by their outfits?
Whether we realize it or not, fashion is a form of rhetoric, and what all of you are wearing today is a form of rhetoric too. It’s a form of rhetoric in which you are promoting yourself; your ideals, beliefs, opinions, and what you stand for. Maybe you planned your outfit days in advance or maybe you threw on the first thing you saw in the morning. Either way, your outfit says something about you and plays a significant role in the impressions you leave on other people.
Companies have been capitalizing upon this idea for years, marketing their brand, messages, or ideals on apparel. Civil rights movements have also used fashion as a way to gain attention, support, and enact change both in the past and in the modern day.
The artifact I will be focusing on is this vibrant pink sweatshirt with a large smiley face and quote, “Positive State of Mind.” This sweatshirt is part of popular clothing brand, H&M’s SMILEY collaboration, a clothing line focused on “good vibes” and mental health awareness. Mental health symbols and awareness have been increasingly popular over the past several decades with quotes and logos on apparel, backpacks, stickers, phone cases, posters, and other personal devices and objects.
This sweatshirt showcases two forms of rhetoric that I will be focusing on: commonplaces and the rhetorical situation.
The commonplace “Stay positive” or “Be positive” are slogans I am sure you have all heard before. I’m sure many of you can think of a time when you struggled in a class, sport, social situation, or club and someone told you to “Stay positive.” Messages like these are prevalent in the media, classroom posters, and common advice. H&M’s sweatshirt showcases a variation of the commonplace, reading “Positive State of Mind,” which has a connotation of happiness, peace, and contentment. The vibrant pink colors and large smiley face only further emphasize a strong sense of joy and fulfillment.
But what does this commonplace of positivity even mean? While “Positive state of mind” is a seemingly simple message, people often overlook the complexity of this statement. In the simplest of terms, the phrase indicates a person is happy or content with their life. The word “state” implies that there are different states of emotion and feelings people can be in, and this person is currently in a “positive” one.
However, there are many ways to interpret this statement, and different people will interpret meaning differently. For instance, the phrase “state” can be implied differently. Some people may view this “state” as voluntary; the person is choosing to be in this state. Other people may see “state” and think of it as something people are automatically in. People, events, and experiences outside of that individual’s control may dictate which “state” that person is in. Additionally, people may infer the ability to change states differently. While one person may see a mental state as something that can be changed very easily and instantaneously, other people may see these mental states as something more concrete and challenging to change. One person may see a mental state as something short and momentary, while others can see this state as something more permanent and long-lasting.
So, a “positive state of mind” can mean very different things to different people. To some, the quote may seem light-hearted, helpful, and encouraging. To others, the quote may seem rather meaningless and fake. It is unrealistic for any person to be positive and happy at all points during their life, so while some may see this quote as a reminder to appreciate the good in all moments of life, others may see it as ignorant and even harmful in some ways.
Although it is impossible to know exactly what this designer’s intentions were in designing the sweatshirt, the rhetorical situation of the graphics offers more insight into the rhetorical devices within it.
The exigence of the sweatshirt relates to mental health awareness and improving the quality of life. Mental health is a topic that applies to everyone across the world between different social classes, countries, ages, genders, races, and cultures. Mental health can mean something different to everyone, but many mental health campaigns generally aim to de-stigmatize mental health and encourage people to open up and reach out for help when they are struggling. These campaigns also aim to normalize the practice of taking care of one’s mental health, just as they are already encouraged to do so with their physical health.
Since mental health needs vary drastically between individuals, the exigence of this problem varies too. Some people may truly need a reminder to just be positive and appreciate the good in their lives. On the other hand, other people may need the exact opposite reminder that their struggles are valid and need real help that “staying positive” cannot fix. This makes the exigence of mental health issues complicated and complex, with some perspectives viewing the sweatshirt as helpful and encouraging, while others would see it as a detrimental and harmful message.
To examine this further, we must look at the second part of the rhetorical situation, the audience. Since it is a sweatshirt, the audience applies to two different types of audiences. First, H&M’s audience is the consumer, the person strolling through an H&M store in-person or online. H&M’s primary goal is to sell as many sweatshirts as possible, slightly shifting the exigence. Since H&M is most popular in the United States and Germany, the primary audience would be women from these two countries who feel they are positive or uplifting people.
The second audience would be the people who see others wearing this sweatshirt out in public. While H&M may be trying to promote its own brand by showing its support for mental health campaigns, that person may want their audience to see them as a welcoming, positive person. In this way, the sweatshirt has several different audiences, each of which may be applied to slightly different exigencies.
Finally, the constraints of the sweatshirt include that it is an article of clothing. As people walk by in public, their audience may only have a few seconds to take in and interpret the sweatshirt. For this reason, the simple message may be most effective at conveying positivity and mental health awareness. On the other hand, the simplicity of the message may seem like a form of misunderstanding and even mockery of mental health illnesses, as they are not simple. This makes it difficult to promote mental health awareness on sweatshirts and shows how this specific sweatshirt could be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
While it is unclear exactly what the designers wanted others to see in this sweatshirt, it is apparent they wanted to promote mental health by spreading positivity. However, the simple message could be interpreted in many different ways from being seen as an encouraging and positive message to something controversial and damaging. The sweatshirt highlights how even the simplest of messages can be misinterpreted and controversial, showing the significance of commonplaces and the rhetorical situation in everyday life.
Revised Draft:
I want everyone to take a moment and look down at what you are wearing today. Now look around. What do you notice? What impressions do you form of other people simply by their outfits?
Whether we realize it or not, fashion is a form of rhetoric, and what all of you are wearing today is a form of rhetoric too. It’s a form of rhetoric in which you are promoting yourself; your ideals, beliefs, opinions, and what you stand for. Maybe you planned your outfit days in advance or maybe you threw on the first thing you saw in the morning. Either way, your outfit says something about you and plays a significant role in the impressions you leave on other people.
Companies have been capitalizing upon this idea for years, marketing their own brand, messages, or ideals on apparel. Additionally, civil rights movements often incorporate fashion to gain attention, support, and enact change
The artifact I will be examining is this vibrant pink sweatshirt with a large smiley face and quote, “Positive State of Mind.” This sweatshirt is part of popular clothing brand, H&M’s SMILEY collaboration, a clothing line focused on “good vibes” and mental health awareness. Over the past several decades, the presence of mental health symbols and awareness has grown exponentially on apparel, backpacks, stickers, phone cases, posters, and other common objects.
This sweatshirt showcases two forms of rhetoric that I will be focusing on: commonplaces and the rhetorical situation.
The commonplace of “Stay positive” or “Be positive” presents itself in daily life. Think back to a time when you struggled in a class, sport, social situation, or club and someone suggested you “stay positive.” Similar messages appear constantly in the media, and H&M’s sweatshirt showcases a variation of the commonplace. “Positive State of Mind” connotes happiness, peace, and contentment, and the vibrant pink colors only further emphasize a strong sense of joy and fulfillment.
But what does this positivity commonplace even mean? While “Positive state of mind” is a seemingly simple message, people often overlook the complexity of the statement. In the simplest of terms, the phrase indicates a person’s happiness or contentment with life. The word “state” implies people can occupy a variety of different emotions.
However, there are many ways to view this statement, and individuals interpret meaning differently. For instance, the phrase “state” implies various ideas. Some people may view this “state” as voluntary — the person actively choosing that state. Other people may see “state” and think of it as something people are automatically in. People, events, and experiences outside of that individual’s control may dictate which “state” that person finds themself in. Additionally, people may infer the ability to change states differently. While one person may see a mental state as something that can be changed very easily and instantaneously, other people may see these mental states as something more concrete and challenging to change. One person may see a mental state as something short and momentary, while others can see this state as something more permanent and long-lasting.
So, a “positive state of mind” can mean very different things to different people. To some, the quote may seem light-hearted, helpful, and encouraging. To others, the quote may seem rather meaningless and fake. It is unrealistic for any person to be positive and happy at all points during their life, so while some may see this quote as a reminder to appreciate the good in all moments of life, others may see it as ignorant and even harmful in some ways.
Although it is impossible to know exactly what this designer’s intentions were in designing the sweatshirt, the rhetorical situation of the graphics offers more insight into the rhetorical devices within it.
The sweatshirt’s exigence relates to mental health awareness and improving the quality of life. Mental health applies across all social classes, countries, ages, genders, races, and cultures. While mental health presents itself in many forms, most campaigns aim to de-stigmatize the language and attitudes towards mental health in general. They encourage people to open up and reach out for help through their struggles. These campaigns also aim to normalize the practice of taking care of one’s mental health just like their physical health.
Since mental health needs vary drastically between individuals, the exigence of this problem varies too. Some people may truly need a reminder to just be positive and appreciate the good in their lives. On the other hand, other people may need the exact opposite reminder that their struggles are valid and need real help that “staying positive” cannot fix. This makes the exigence of mental health issues complicated and complex, with some perspectives viewing the sweatshirt as helpful and encouraging, while others would see it as a detrimental and harmful message.
To examine this further, we must look at the second part of the rhetorical situation, the audience. Since it is a sweatshirt, the audience applies to two different types of audiences. First, H&M’s audience is the consumer, the person strolling through an H&M store in-person or online. H&M’s primary goal is to sell as many sweatshirts as possible, slightly shifting the exigence. Since H&M is most popular in the United States and Germany, the primary audience would be women from these two countries who feel they are positive or uplifting people.
The second audience would be the people who see others actually wearing this sweatshirt out in public. While H&M may be trying to promote its own brand by showing its support for mental health campaigns, that individual person may want their audience to see them as a welcoming, positive person. In this way, the sweatshirt has several different audiences, each of which may be applied to slightly different exigencies.
Finally, the constraints of the sweatshirt include that it is an article of clothing. As people walk by in public, their audience may only have a few seconds to take in and interpret the sweatshirt. For this reason, the simple message may actually be most effective at conveying positivity and mental health awareness. On the other hand, the simplicity of the message may seem like a form of misunderstanding and even mockery of mental health illnesses, as they are not simple. This makes it difficult to promote mental health awareness on sweatshirts and shows how this specific sweatshirt could be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
While it is unclear exactly what the designers wanted others to see in this sweatshirt, it is apparent they wanted to promote mental health by spreading positivity. However, the simple message could be interpreted in many different ways from being seen as an encouraging and positive message to something controversial and damaging. The sweatshirt highlights how even the simplest of messages can be misinterpreted and controversial, showing the significance of commonplaces and the rhetorical situation in everyday life.