Art can be a manipulative tool, but what constitutes something as art? In Victor Burgin's essay Art, common sense and photography, he investigates the meanings people construe to art. He gives an example of people questioning cultures different from their own. Why is it that in America, we don't question things like a "no shirt, no shoes, no service" policy. In other cultures, it may be completely acceptable to walk into a store wearing nothing but pants and buy whatever you like. It is just the way things are, so we don't question it. This can be a problem when thinking in the arena of art. "Art with an ideological slant can be manipulative," Burgin says. If someone does not take a critical stance when viewing a work of art or a photograph with an intended message of ideology, then they themselves can adopt the philosophy as their own. In terms of photography, it seems that it would be difficult for someone to construe meanings out of something that is simply a reproduction of what the eye can see. However, a photo is a complex of signs used to communicate a message. "While the picture before us may have depended on luck for its existence, it does not depend upon luck, or talent, for its meaning." An image can carry a large number of meanings, especially when it is parodied with linguistics. This is especially apparent in advertising. Most advertisements contain some sort of visual basis, be it a photograph or a work of art, along with words for anchorage. A cigarette ad depicting a lovely mountain scene with a river running through the valley suggests much more than what is actually behind the product they are selling. A cigarette may be described as "cool as a mountain stream," but this statement is deceptive. Nowhere on the advertisement would the company like to put a slogan such as "deadlier than car accidents" even though that is another aspect of the product. The ad can "suggest pleasure while rejecting that of unwholesomeness," as Burgin says. Photographs and other forms of art, to put it plainly, need to be taken with a grain of salt. Burgin sums up his essay with the words "We need to treat the photographic image as an occasion for skepticism and questioning, not as a source of hypnosis." It is easy to be captivated by the beauty of an image, but beauty alone is not justice for unwilling persuasion.