Tra il visibile e l’invisibile: immaginari della purezza in pubblicità

Abstract

Impalpable substance, at once visible and invisible, dust has, in a sense, a mundane existence. Residue of the residue, and therefore mostly unthought of, it haunts our habits and causes no little irritation, both moral (we have to clean!) and physical (it makes us sneeze!). However, only turning on the television we realise that the matter can be more complicated than that. Advertising for household cleaning objects and products brings out many accessories and interventions that complicate the issue. Vacuum cleaners, for example, suck up everything, and so dust is not just a homogeneous and undifferentiated patina, but takes on different and increasingly specific identities: allergens hissed by the naked eye, human hair and the hair of beloved pets, dust mites, crumbs and food residues on the floor after meals or after some tragicomic accident in the kitchen. Far from being a sign of forgetfulness, dust condenses our entire existence and its consequences into a single substance.