There is an object that is so banal most would not recognize its underlying significance. Its nature seems insignificant until the moment its potential function is revealed; that is, the moment it becomes a symbol of identity allowing access into the secret community of ana.¹

Under Jean Baudrillard's system of objects we will see how, “despite its lack of significance,” this specific object “has mobilized a complete imaginary collectivity; it has become characteristic of the (w)hole of society.”² Bearing in mind the reasoning of American advertisers' philosophy—whose first issue is that of self-fulfillment,³ I will focus on the ana-bracelet as a symbolic object that attempts to establish its own language of communication in order to articulate the needs of anas—ultimately establishing ana as a target market for advertising.

At first glance, this object appears to be nothing more than a red, beaded bracelet—a fashion accessory for teens. And it is, only not for just any, but for a targeted subculture of females who congregate in underground communities online, and happen to be anorexic. However, it does not read: a-n-o-r-e-x-i-c on the ana-bracelet; it is not a medical bracelet worn to alert others that they are asthmatic or diabetic. The red, beaded bracelet exists solely as a symbol of the wearer's lifestyle choice to be anorexic. Wearing this bracelet functions to identify those with similar aspirations, and to provide a community for them to belong to. People who identify themselves as ana have an inherent lack. What is interesting is that this lack creates an unmet need. Why would they believe it can be filled with an illusion of community support?

Blue Dragonfly⁴ is one of numerous web sites that act as online, underground communities providing a secret place for anas to congregate. The owner of this site, Catrina Antrim, is pro-anorexia herself. This fact gives her the authenticity to set up forums where the anas can post anything they want, because after all, it is anonymous. Blue Dragonfly conveniently sells the ana-bracelet as well; the red, beaded bracelets cost $20 each.⁵

Antrim claims that the bracelets are handmade by her and sold to anas at cost. Apparently, she makes no profit; she even pays the shipping and postage herself. On the FAQ page, Antrim invokes an image of the bracelets as “a way for [anas] to wear something and feel connected to the ‘ED’ community.”⁶ According to the advertising system, Baudrillard notes that “‘any buying process is an interaction between the personality of the individual and the so-called ‘personality’ of the product itself.”⁷ Antrim's sales pitch goes like this:

[the ana-bracelets] are an idea that's running thru the ana community right now—a kind of ‘solidarity’ thing—So you can go out into the world and not have to wonder “is she or isn't she???” You see the red bracelet, and you know! My thinking is that we should have bracelets that are the same, and unique to us so that we don't go off giving “secret handshakes” so to speak to any thin girl who happens to like red bracelets!⁸

She further justifies purchasing the ana-bracelet by highlighting the secrecy of its symbol:

One of the great things about the bracelet is that every so often, you see someone else with one, and you have a moment of connection with them [whether or not you can stop and talk, you know each other is there…] *The only ones who know what it means are the ones who have one themselves… It's our own private thing that only it's wearers know the depth of the meaning of.⁹

Since anorexics tend to be secretive about their lifestyle, the unique code provided by the inconspicuous bracelet is key in coaxing them to come together in these virtual communities. Interestingly, Baudrillard says that one way advertising attempts to sell objects is on the basis of their uniqueness. However, he reveals that advertising also says: “‘Buy this because everyone else is using it!’”¹⁰ This is due to the fact that “all we need is a schema of collective and mythological projection—a model,”¹¹ which the ana bracelet stands to codify.

In a sense, Blue Dragonfly is attempting to sell an ideal by giving an object the syntax it needs to communicate a way of life to others. >Once established as being pro-anorexia within the online community, the girls internalize the ana identity; they actually become ana, which is “a state of mind—part addiction, part obsession and part seesawing sense of self-worth, not necessarily correlating to what you actually weigh.”¹² According to Baudrillard, “the system of consumption constitutes an authentic language…when pure and simple consumption is transformed into a means of individual and collective expression.”¹³ The ana-bracelet comes to signify an ideology shared by all anas; it is an ideology and a way of life. Being ana means participating in a ritualistic set of ideals and rules. For example, their Thin Commandments include:

Being thin is more important than being healthy; You must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner; You can never be too thin…Being thin and not eating are true signs of will power and success.¹⁴

Therefore, ana is the perfect tailored identity for these females: “the consumer is simultaneously reconciled with himself and with the group; [s]he becomes the perfect social being.”¹⁵ Elsewhere, an anonymous ana also suggests a red, beaded bracelet to symbolize their unification:

Let us all unite! To do that we need to recognize each other and how would we do that? With a braclette. Yep! Simple and fashionable. If you have ever wondered if someone was anorexic, now all you have to look for is a red, beaded braclette. This will help us tell the world and each other that we are proud of who we are. We are proud to be striving for perfection. Now, I am asking you to do the same. You can either make, or buy a simple red, beaded braclette and make one very bold statement.¹⁶

In this call for unity, the “neuroses, which made the individual a deviant and an outlaw, are lifted at the cost of a regression in the security of objects,”¹⁷ and this is precisely how the ana community comes to define themselves in relation to that red, beaded bracelet. If we can “think that the ultimate goal of consumer society…is the functionalization of the consumer and the psychological monopolization of all needs,”¹⁸ then we can see how well the anas, as consumers, fit into this model.

In order to determine if the object system forms a language, Baudrillard asks: “Do objects instruct needs and structure them in a new way?” as well as, “do needs instruct new social structures through the mediation of objects and their production?”¹⁹ When asked where the idea for the bracelet came from, Antrim blatantly reveals that it had been talked about for a long time in the online forums, yet “no one ever stepped up and did it.”²⁰ Realizing the opportunity, she continues, “I figured that since everyone always asked if there was a way to become a member, BDF was enough of a community that we should have a symbol,” and originally, “the red bracelet was suggested as a symbol of anorexia.”²¹ However, in his system of objects, Baudrillard calls this “a system of classification, and not a language.”²² He further explains that “objects are categories of objects which quite tyrannically induce categories of persons,” which is achieved through a special kind of language, that of the “psychological label.”²³ Therefore, we cannot view the red, beaded bracelet as a language, per say, but as a system of signification instead. Through this label, “the psychological restructuration of the consumer is performed through a single word:”²⁴ ana.

Judy Skatsoon, who writes for The Age, refers to pro-ana sites as “the phenomenon of weborexics,” pointing out that there are “several sites cashing in by selling pro-an[a] merchandise, including… ‘ana’ bracelets.”²⁵ According to The Age, a lot of the sites were shut down, but new ones always pop up, making it possible to “go online and for between $US3 ($4.30) and $US25 buy a red-beaded ‘ana’ bracelet—a symbol of solidarity that identifies them to the rest of the community.”²⁶ Even today, sites such as Blue Dragonfly continue to capitalize on the ana mentality, because it is a unique group identity to target. Anas have a void, an unfulfilled need, that only exists because they were being sold the image of ana from the start. In her New York Times article. Mim Udovich reported that “the pro-ana community is largely made up of girls or young women, most of whom are between the ages of 13 and 25.”²⁷ Supposedly, after creating online relationships, these members started sending bracelets to other members “as symbols of solidarity and support.”²⁸ Udovich also points out that the complex ring of affiliated ana sites “has its roots in various newsgroups and lists deep inside various Internet service providers,” explaining that even if sites are getting shut down here and there, “the pro-ana community probably numbers in the thousands.”²⁹ How long can virtual relationships sustain themselves before some element of it must be incorporated into the physical world?

Because the ana bracelet is not a language, but merely a code, it “does not structure the personality; it designates and classifies it.”³⁰ Instead, the ana-bracelet—being the material symbol of a virtual group entity—serves to sustain this classification of identity within its specific subculture. The hidden need of the group, revealed by their collective outpourings online, informs the potential significance that will surround the object. This exchange is described by Baudrillard as “a preconditioned activity where two irreducible systems confront each other,”³¹ creating an endless back and forth feeding, fulfilling the needs of the group as well as the advertising system.

Fictitious, virtual, or real, some of the players are certainly living it, namely, the anas paying membership fees and purchasing bracelets for an illusion of group identity to fill the need within themselves. Does it really matter anymore, whether or not what provided a sense of community to a subculture in need of just that, was real? Regardless, the anas gave shape to some internal pulse deep in the workings. They revealed the key to their needs that could only be represented in symbolic form, and an image of themselves was sold right back to them. The anas do not seem to realize how they are helping to produce the very things and ideas that they will be consuming tomorrow. Emotional gratification can be commodified too.