Created to lead astray: Baudrillard's seduction in contemporary artefacts

When Jean Baudrillard stated that the desire of the subject could only be matched by an object-seducer he opened a range possibilities for makers, particularly art and design practitioners. Capitalism and modern culture have provided material things with new qualities. Contemporary objects have become a focal point for the seductive experience: ranging from designer shoes and sport-cars to common household objects and the latest technological devices, these enticing ‘must haves’ lead viewers and consumers astray. Emerging disciplines such as captology, the study of how technologies persuade, and consumption studies have concentrated on the analysis of this phenomenon, if only from an experiential perspective rather than focusing on the appearance of the objects and their relational qualities. This paper will examine the characteristics of seduction, as defined by Baudrillard in Fatal Strategies and Seduction, and apply them to artefacts, using Surrealism, Phillippe Starck’s Juicy Salif and Jonathan Ive’s iPod as examples