Introduction

In contemporary society, advertising serves purposes far beyond selling products. It plays a formative role in shaping how people imagine the so-called “good life.” From minimalist futures promoted by luxury tech brands to self-actualisation narratives embedded in sports campaigns, advertisements engage with shared ideas of happiness, status, and belonging through visual, verbal, and emotional cues. These messages do more than describe what a product does—they propose ideal lifestyles. In this way, advertising has moved beyond its commercial function and now operates as one of the most active narrative forces shaping everyday utopian imaginaries.

Yet, the futures constructed in these campaigns often exclude more than they include. The ideal world they suggest tends to appeal to a specific consumer: one that fits a certain class position, cultural background, or body type. While the imagery may appear forward-looking or even progressive, these visions can obscure systemic inequalities and disconnect from the lived realities of marginalised groups. For example, a brand may centre sustainability in its messaging while remaining silent about the labour conditions, resource extraction, or environmental harm behind its supply chain. These partial, selectively inclusive futures call for close examination—and that is precisely where utopian thinking becomes a useful critical tool.

As Ruth Levitas (2013) argues, utopia is not merely a dream of perfection. Instead, “utopia as method” offers a structured way to reflect critically on the present and imagine other possibilities. Her framework outlines three modes of analysis: archaeology, which uncovers the assumptions and visions behind social practices; ontology, which explores how subjects are constructed or excluded; and architecture, which speculates on alternative futures. When applied to advertising, these categories help illuminate the kinds of futures being imagined, the types of consumers being addressed, and the potential for this medium to serve more socially responsible or emotionally grounded roles.

This paper will analyse several advertising campaigns through Levitas’s framework to better understand how advertising participates in constructing cultural futures. First, the archaeological phase will examine the social ideals and silences embedded in the campaigns. The ontological phase will investigate how these campaigns represent the idealised consumer subject. Finally, the architectural phase will offer a speculative reading of how advertising might engage more fully with inclusion, ecological awareness, and emotional nuance. This approach is not just about reimagining advertising, but about responding to the present with imagination and care.

A Utopian Method Analysis of Advertising

1.Fragments of the Good Life in Advertising

As a form of visual storytelling, advertising often serves as a carrier of hope in the context of contemporary capitalism. It sells not only products, but also visions of how life could or should be. In campaigns by brands like Nike, Apple, and Dove, we see deeply embedded ideas of an ideal society—one that celebrates freedom, self-realisation, diversity, and technological progress. These campaigns suggest that by buying into a brand or its values, one might access a fuller, happier life. However, a closer reading reveals that these utopian visions are often partial and commercially curated, offering selective ideals shaped by market logic.

Take Nike’s “Dream Crazier” campaign, which encourages women to defy stereotypes and pursue equality in sports. While empowering in tone, the ad individualises the responsibility for change and positions the brand as the agent of liberation—while largely ignoring the structural inequities female athletes continue to face, such as unequal sponsorship or gender-based violence. Similarly, Apple’s pandemic-era campaign, “The Whole Working-from-Home Thing,” offers a warm and humorous portrayal of a balanced future between work and home life. Yet, the ad bypasses the realities of working-class struggle, caregiving burdens, and invisible digital labour, positioning technology as a utopian solution that glosses over deeper systemic issues.

Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign appears to challenge dominant beauty standards by promoting body diversity. However, the representation remains confined to conventionally attractive or moderately “different” bodies—those still within the bounds of visual acceptability. Disabled bodies, older women, or trans individuals are rarely featured. What emerges is a vision of “limited inclusion”—a utopia that feels welcoming, but subtly defines who belongs within it.

2.Who Gets to Be the Ideal Subject?

When advertising paints a picture of an ideal life, it also quietly defines what kind of person belongs in that life. In Nike’s campaign, it’s the determined woman who breaks the rules. In Apple’s ad, it’s the capable remote worker who stays composed under pressure. In Dove’s visuals, it’s the confident, unfiltered woman who embraces her body. These figures share similar traits: independence, self-possession, a strong voice—and most importantly, they are the kinds of people deemed worthy of being seen and celebrated. The message is subtle but clear: if you fit these qualities, you belong in the utopia the ad envisions.

But not everyone can show up in this way. The utopian subject in advertising is limited and carefully selected. Diversity is present, but it has boundaries: your skin tone can vary, your body can be a little outside the mainstream—but only as long as you still look “comfortable,” ideally inspiring. Those who are harder to package into a brand narrative—older people, disabled bodies, trans identities, or simply the uncertain, tired, or unremarkable—are rarely seen. Their ways of being are not affirmed; they are quietly left out.

Levitas reminds us that utopia is not about perfection, but about making room for blocked ways of being. In much of current advertising, the space for happiness, strength, or beauty is narrow and exclusive. If utopia can look different, maybe it’s not about becoming better—but about being allowed to just be. That, too, is a kind of freedom.

3.If Advertising Wasn’t Just About Selling

If advertising truly has the power to shape how we imagine society, then it’s worth asking: could it support a different kind of future? One that doesn’t centre around persuading people to buy, or define value in terms of efficiency and aspirational aesthetics—but instead leaves space for varied ways of living, feeling, and being.

In this imagined alternative, advertising might shift from selling to resonating—from promoting products to sharing real, complex human experiences. Imagine an ad that doesn’t focus on a product, but tells the honest story of a full-time caregiver—expressing exhaustion, frustration, and hope. Rather than offering a neatly packaged dose of inspiration, it invites the viewer into something messier but more emotionally real.

In terms of form, advertising doesn’t have to stay confined to short, polished clips. It could become an open project, where audiences co-create the message. It could take the shape of immersive installations in public space, collaborative visual projects with communities, or even deliberately slow media—designed to be encountered with patience rather than immediacy. It could even refuse to appear—choosing not to fight for attention, but to leave space for understanding.

Utopia doesn’t always require a total revolution—it can begin with small shifts in direction. If advertising, as a cultural machine, can turn slightly away from dictating what is desirable and begin asking what has been left out of our collective desires, then it becomes more than persuasion. It becomes a quiet but meaningful part of the conversation about the kind of world we want to live in.

Through the analysis of three representative advertising campaigns, it becomes clear that while contemporary advertising often gestures toward a vision of a “better life,” it does so within strict boundaries. These branded utopias are conditional—they promote certain desires while quietly suppressing others. From Levitas’s perspective, advertising carries fragments of utopian thinking, but these fragments are shaped and limited by market logic.

If utopia is not just about dreaming a perfect world but about nudging the present toward other possibilities, then advertising doesn’t have to be only a commercial tool. It can also serve as a cultural platform—one that gives space to more complex, less polished forms of human experience. This doesn’t require a complete reinvention of the system, but it does require a willingness to shift the lens, even slightly.

Advertising may never fully realise a utopia—but if it can become a little less curated, a little more open, it might begin to participate in building something genuinely different.

Manufacturing Desire: Utopian Narratives and Silences in Contemporary Advertising / JUDY's BLOG💗 by is licensed under a