Advertisement Essay Advertising can come in many mediums, television being the most popular. Advertising is a great way for companies to sell their product, since advertisement can apply to a large target audience. Advertisement is universal and happens throughout the world, meaning that products can gain a larger interest, due to the large world population. Without the help of advertisement then many products would be unknown to the world, resulting in the failure of selling the product. Advertisement can also be used to get a message across, which is seen in many informative videos, such as road safety videos. In the THINK! Child road safety advert, they use fear to try and get their point across to the public. The advert shoes a ‘worst case scenario’ situation which will hopefully scare people, mostly children, into following road safety. This advert is obviously aimed at children due to the use of animation, something that we know children are interested in. One of the adverts, called ‘The boy who didn’t stop, look and listen’, shows how because a boy didn’t choose a safe place to cross, he can no longer join in with ball games. What they have done is picked up on what children enjoy doing, then showing them how not listening can stop them from being able to do this for a long time or even forever. This strikes fear into children’s heads, making them remember that if they don’t cross the road safely then they might be like the little boy in the advert who can’t play like all the other children. This advert uses a non-linear structure, since we see the outcome of the situation first, then watch the story behind it unravel. The impact of this technique is that it grabs the children’s attention at first, since it starts off with a bruised little cartoon boy. Once they have seen the bruised cartoon child they want to know why he is like that, which they then see afterwards. This also keeps the image of the child in their heads since it is the first thing they see. That also means that it will help them remember the consequences of what will happen if they don’t follow road safety rules. This technique is also mixed with animation, since that style of advertisement is appealing to the younger viewers since it is aimed at children, who just so happen to watch animation. This means that there is a higher chance of it sticking in their heads longer, meaning that the advert has done its job of informing children. Another reason they’ve decided to use a cartoon advert is because there are some situations that can either be too extreme or mature to show as a live action type of advert, so by using the technique of animation they’re able to lessen the blow of the harsh topic which they are trying to get across. Adverts about medical conditions and travel safety usually use this technique because it gets the message across with a more comfortable approach, since when we watch ads with real actors we associate it with real life and sometimes associating with serious topic, such as car crashes, can make people feel uncomfortable; leading to the advert to be banned of television by censors. Other adverts, such as a Morrison’s advert that unintentionally condoned unhealthy eating, have been banned for controversial reasons. An advert can be banned for many reasons, such as public complains, not following the guidelines to appropriate adverts, or even false advertisement. One example of an advert that has been banned is a reebok advert that suggested its EasyTone shoes could make the users buttocks firm and legs, despite there being no physical evidence behind this claim. This was banned because it gave false advertisement, which meant people were buying a product that was not actually advertised. Another advert that was banned was wodka vodka because of the fact that it portrays a woman as a dominatrix. Their use of sex in an advert wasn’t subtle enough to get away with on television, since it shows a darker side of sex which would not be appropriate if a young child was to see this. It also shows
old, middle aged men are ones who would enjoy this kind of activity, which caused a huge complaint for the company, causing the advert to be taken off air. Sexualisation is a big theme for these kinds of adverts because it’s something that sells, since it’s aimed at men most of the time. They usually show women in a sexual way because they like to suggest that their product can get them these women. This is a common theme throughout adverts. In the old spice adverts they use a combination of celebrity endorsement and sexualisation to sell their product. In the advert we’re met with man with huge muscles and chiseled features. This advert creates the ‘perfect man’ that woman wish they could have. This advert promises riches and dreams that women are believed to have, so by suggesting this body product they could achieve this. By doing this, it pushes women to buy the product for their husband or boyfriend so they can have the ‘perfect man’. This advert also questions men’s masculinity, saying that more feminine like smells strip them of masculinity, so unless they use this product then they’re not a man. It also puts men down, when they say ‘sadly your man can’t be me’, suggesting there’ something wrong with men, also knocking their confidence and encouraging them to buy the product to regain their confidence. Also, by using terry crews as one of their spokes model they have a bigger chance of not only selling their product, but also helps emphasize on their ‘perfect man’ image due to his muscly build. It’s almost as if they’re doing this so you can’t get away from the product, since they’ve used so many different techniques to draw you in. Old spice also uses series to help promote its product, since their adverts are popular with the public. By creating liked adverts, its giving the public what they want, like supply and demand. This also helps get their product across the world, since it’s a global sensation. This means that more people will likely buy it, especially since the series ads are popular on the internet, meaning there’s an even bigger target audience and also more people buying the products. People tend to refer to the old spice adverts when thinking of body sprays because they’re comedic and surreal, something that is seen in each advert and pulls people in, since we’re curios to see how they’ve managed to make it different to the other adverts but with the same surreal spin to it as the other ones. Their music is also memorable; since it’s a simple whistle that helps you associate the song with their product. Adverts do this because it makes people associate products with music, which is something we listen to everyday. By manipulating an everyday thing such as music to remind people of the advert. The skittles adverts are memorable due to their surreal aspects. Each one is different in the way of their story line, but each has a surreal vibe to them. One example of this is when a man is shown to have skittle powers, that turns everything he touches into skittles. The reason surrealism is used in this case it to portray a better lifestyle, which we get from the way his workers react to the discovery of this new power he has; like their jobs are so boring this is possibly the most exciting thing to have happen to them in a long while. It’s a simple idea, that has managed to be simple enough to remember, but also surreal enough to have been a conversation starter; which is good for the product because word of mouth is good product placement for them. Their surreal approach is also child-like, which appeals more to the adolescent target audience, since their product is more associated with the younger generation. However, they also appeal to their older target audience by including mature situations, where the man with skittles powers is seen working at a desk. This aspect almost suggests an ideal life, since the idea of having that excitement in their lives seems more appealing than a boring desk job.
They use bright, eye catching colors in their adverts to make them more appealing to look at, since bright colors usually suggests happiness; something they want people to associate their product with. By having such bright colors, it also suggests that the product will taste good, since we tend to judge things on their appearance, especially when it comes to food. The bright colors of the skittles contrast the dark and dingy colors of the office which their situated in. It suggests that their product will bring light and color into their life, since life in the advert is suggested to be boring and dull. This is also another way they try to appeal to children, since children usually like brightly colored things since they associate those kinds of colors with being playful and happiness. This will draw them towards the product, which will possibly persuade parents to purchase them for their children, since it parents have the need to make their children happy. Just eat are also an example of series adverts, since each one connects to another with the use of food replacing lyrics in songs. These adverts use well known songs to catch people’s attention and to link their company with that song, making people think of them every time they hear that song. One example of this is their ‘madras, baby!’ advert, which uses the song ‘I see you baby’ by groove armada. They replaced the main lyric ‘I see you baby, shaking that ass’ with their version ‘I see you baby, chicken madras’, since it is one of the options on their website. They use this technique to show their many different types of cuisine that they offer on their website. Although they are considered as aggravating, it’s a smart way of advertising their company since people still talk about it. It means that by having people talk about their company, they’ll get more business since people will want to try it if people keep taking about it. Just like the go compare adverts, they’ve managed to profit from something even though people consider it annoying. Advertisement is such an easy and effective way of selling products and getting messages across, since we’re in a world where technology plays a big part in our lives and allows this kind of advertisement to become regular in our everyday lives. We can see how companies tailor adverts to appeal to their target audience, and even manage to manipulate us so that we’re able to remember their adverts and the message of their adverts. Without the use of advertisement, companies wouldn’t be able to get their product across globally, which means their profit wouldn’t be as high as it would be if they’d managed to advertise globally. Adverts are fed to us each day, even without us knowing, which makes it one of the most effective ways that someone could get a message across; making adverts a huge impact in both society and our own lives.