For those out there who might have come across this blog, namely friends whose own blogspot endeavors I've commented on-- comments which link to this site--I should mentioned that this strange compilation of posts was for a class I took this fall. I'm thinking about keeping it open, as an outlet for various academic mini-essays I write, usually in response to readings and lectures. Which is why I've left it open and public. This could potentially be incredibly boring to some, super lame to others, but perhaps a good exercise in perfecting my own very flawed ability at concise, articulate representations of my thoughts.
But for now, just letting passers by know why I have ten or so odd posts about advertising and no explanation as to why.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Taking a Closer Look at Visa: The Subvertising Project
The Project: Take an ad or series of ads and remix or subvert it.
Ethical and Rhetorical Goals:
In receiving this project, defining my approach came naturally. Part of the process of starting the subvertising/remix assignment required going in a specific direction with the original material; I choose Visa almost right away, so choosing to subvert the message rather than remix the ad to improve it seemed the most appropriate way to go. Choosing to subvert the message "Life Takes Visa" was important for two reasons: the first is that I found the ad campaign to be compelling advertising. The second reason is because of our present financial meltdown, especially with the housing market in the States and society's compulsion to exceed their income (more often than not). Specifically, I wanted to go in the direction that Naomi Klein describes in "Culture Jamming: Ads Under Attack", which describes the particulars of culture jamming and how it is successful:
"The most sophisticated culture jams are not stand-alone ad parodies but interceptions -- counter messages that hack into a corporation's own method of communication to send a message starkly at odds with the one that was intended. The process forces the company to foot the bill for its own subversion, either literally, because the company is the one that paid for the billboard, or figuratively, because anytime people mess with a logo, they are tapping into the vast resources spent to make that logo meaningful" (281).
This quotation governed and shaped the methods and tools I used to subvert my own project, as well as aided in overcoming several of the creative obstacles I faced in designing and subvertising each ad's message. In explaining my process step-by-step I will reference this quote among other of Klein's thoughts.
Before diving into the technical and creative developments of the process, it is important to take a moment to examine the pre-design goals, specifically in terms of ethics and rhetoric surrounding Visa as a company and the services they provide. Stripping the company down to the basics are along the lines of the following: the company lends money to their cardholders via a bank, under certain terms of agreement that involve grace periods for money-repayment, a specific interest rate subject to increases (or on occasion decreases) and penalty fees, annual fees, etc. that are subjected upon late payment, under-payment or the amount of debt in general. While these variables are different for each person, the tendencies for detriment to the card holder are often imminent and inevitable.
A credit card can be a positive force in a disciplined user. If the card-holder uses the card limitedly and within their income, the card introduces good credit and freedom to purchase larger expenses in smaller increments: purchasing a fridge, for instance, will benefit from credit by paying it in instalments that are within the consumer’s monthly means. A person who is unable to afford a meal at a restaurant, however, will be at the mercy of high interest rates and late fees upon purchasing something they cannot afford.
The result is a company that caters to the consumer-driven society of North America (and beyond). Visa, as a prominent credit company, represents the very act of living beyond one’s means, in exceeding one’s grasps, in getting over your head. While it often gives its customer’s the freedom to make purchases, it also can place the same person in the bonds of debt and bankruptcy. A credit card for many is a ticket into the competition: immersing oneself in brand names and products in ways that they become a part of their identity and value. In subverting the messages that Visa advertises to its card-holders and potential customers, I wanted to address consumerism as a whole but also credit cards in particular. The first message I found important in Visa’s series of “Life Takes Visa” ads is their false sense of freedom. The second message I found important was Visa’s alluring power to satisfy immediate gratification. The third and final message I choose to subvert is Visa’s ability to avoid the technical and problematic features of their credit plans, and in subverting it, making the viewer aware of their need for carefulness and awareness about interest rates and personal budget plans. Rhetorically, I wanted to be as Klein suggests: starkly at odds with their message. The idea at large seemed simple; the execution of each ad was difficult. With respect to the wide range of culture jammers out there; I wanted to fall somewhere in the middle. Obviously in posting my project on a media influenced website is testament to this (unlike some radicals who even refuse interviews with “the corporate press”, for instance). But I can appreciate a jammer purist, who believes that “like punk itself, [subvertising] must remain something of a porcupine; that to defy its own inevitable commodification, it must keep its protective quills sharp” (296). This quote reiterating my choice of Visa (the face and means of consumerism), as it explains the delicate nature of subvertising as well as the power consumerism has; the power to transform even the forces that seek to challenge it.
The Process:
Initial Plans and Group Work
My initial reactions to the ads were that they inspired. I felt a genuine attraction to the messages Visa were sending: Life Takes Mystery, Expression, Inspiration, Individuality, etc. Furthermore, the images invoke natural, organic processes of life: schools, children, snow, gardening and art. The second reaction was to Visa’s ability to assume involvement in these processes. By stating “Life Takes Visa”, the company becomes the source of everyday living. You cannot live with it.
Here are the original ads:
In looking to subverting their message, my immediate reaction was to flip the phrase to “Visa Takes Life”; insinuating that Visa drains you of resources rather than frees you to engage in activity. Although I liked the phrase, I felt it was too drastic. To claim that Visa takes life almost sounded murderous to me. This changed when engaging in group discussion in class and presenting my vague and inarticulate thought process to my group. When mentioning the obvious shift in words, the group found it very effective and great starting point in mounting a subvertising series. The group work also helped by suggesting using other photos rather than the ones used in the Visa ads themselves, and also to use a few of the photos to highlight their detriments rather than their positive aspects (for instance, we discussed the photo of the boy’s tongue on the pole, and how this image in its literal form is quite disadvantageous to the boy despite Visa’s message to go for it). We discussed our general issues as well; the importance of maintaining a sense of the original design (as important to the definition of “culture jamming”) and the means of conveying information without disrupting that integrity. The three other companies I remember as being Bounty paper towels, TELUS, and Windows 7. At the time, I felt my project was much weaker in terms of furthering it in a given direction, but their images, approaches and ideas for their own projects helped direct my creativity. This was especially helpful for picking which images to subvert, since Visa has launched more than one campaign using “Life Takes Visa”.
The First Stab at It
I used Gimp to subvert each advertisement, although sometimes I would use Photoshop Elements 9 to make small adjustments where Gimp could not. I chose Gimp because it was free, simple to use, and had most of the features I needed. Right at the beginning, I chose one of the ads (the one with the clearest pixels that I could find online) and made a “Visa Takes Life” template: an image with the slogan that I could insert onto any of the advertisements I was working on. This made it simple to begin each project. I would start by erasing the original slogan, often with the clone tool on either Gimp or Photoshop. This tool is simple but painstaking: you select a section of the image to transfer to another place. This was handy in every image, but it required careful drawing on each image. This was usually the longest process. The other obstacle was brainstorming additional taglines for each advertisement. This is where most of the message is conveyed, or at least connects the original image to the new slogan. I found it extremely difficult to find something short to say that conveyed the fullest meaning. I also didn’t resort to a tagline initially. I really wanted to find a way to convey the subverted message visually, but this turned out to be difficult. Here is my first attempt at the project, which took much longer than expected (on account of teaching myself Gimp):
This first attempt had several problematic features. The message and context of the subversion was only understandable in juxtaposition with the original ad. The bill attempts to show the other side of story: the snowboarder has to pay for the trip, the ski lift pass, the snowboard, theoretically paid for by a credit card. Pulling at straws, perhaps, but the top photo conveyed two things in my eyes: the angle of the camera drew on the idea of “perspective” and the bill also connects bills to snowboarding.
The Second Attempt
After this first try, I decided (also at the suggestion of peers and Professor Jay) that a series of ads might be more effective than one or two. This made more sense afterwards, as it would make the work load slightly easier in terms of technical work (the same “Visa Takes Life” is placed on each ad) as well as a more powerful overarching message the five ads send combined. Each tag line served a couple purposes too, one that it ties the message together, but also combine the visual image to the message. After all, many of the images relate to the 2007 winter Olympics, and that context is irrelevant today.
Final Thoughts
In a lot of ways I feel this project doesn’t project a lot of the thought and work that I put into it, but I wonder if that is part of the art of advertising in general. A lot of the ideas behind my critique of Visa are limited by the nature of the image, the slogan and need for simplicity. From a technical perspective, my one issue I wasn't able to overcome is the low quality some of the images were originally. In subverting them, the rearranging often left the image a little pixalated or unclear, especially with the longer words like "individuality" and "perspective". But I think that my understanding of Visa’s unscrupulous system and the issues with their advertising correlates well with the readings thus far in this class about advertising. I don’t know that I have been always effective in translating that understanding to the subvertisements. Is adding tag-lines that didn’t exist before unnecessary? Is there a more appropriate means of achieving the message visually as opposed to textually? These are the kinds of questions I asked myself upon “completing” the project, although I am aware I can revise at a later date. Overall I think that I am generally successful in turning the message around. Studying the way credit card debt works has also been educational in terms of my own financial well-being, and learning about the system at large. My ideas about Visa haven’t changed much either in researching credit cards. If anything, the subvertising project has re-emphasized how dependant we are on consumerism to survive. Whether this is good or bad, the problematic elements of Visa seem inevitable.
Finally, here is the signed contract concerning honesty in design work for this project:
Ethical and Rhetorical Goals:
In receiving this project, defining my approach came naturally. Part of the process of starting the subvertising/remix assignment required going in a specific direction with the original material; I choose Visa almost right away, so choosing to subvert the message rather than remix the ad to improve it seemed the most appropriate way to go. Choosing to subvert the message "Life Takes Visa" was important for two reasons: the first is that I found the ad campaign to be compelling advertising. The second reason is because of our present financial meltdown, especially with the housing market in the States and society's compulsion to exceed their income (more often than not). Specifically, I wanted to go in the direction that Naomi Klein describes in "Culture Jamming: Ads Under Attack", which describes the particulars of culture jamming and how it is successful:
"The most sophisticated culture jams are not stand-alone ad parodies but interceptions -- counter messages that hack into a corporation's own method of communication to send a message starkly at odds with the one that was intended. The process forces the company to foot the bill for its own subversion, either literally, because the company is the one that paid for the billboard, or figuratively, because anytime people mess with a logo, they are tapping into the vast resources spent to make that logo meaningful" (281).
This quotation governed and shaped the methods and tools I used to subvert my own project, as well as aided in overcoming several of the creative obstacles I faced in designing and subvertising each ad's message. In explaining my process step-by-step I will reference this quote among other of Klein's thoughts.
Before diving into the technical and creative developments of the process, it is important to take a moment to examine the pre-design goals, specifically in terms of ethics and rhetoric surrounding Visa as a company and the services they provide. Stripping the company down to the basics are along the lines of the following: the company lends money to their cardholders via a bank, under certain terms of agreement that involve grace periods for money-repayment, a specific interest rate subject to increases (or on occasion decreases) and penalty fees, annual fees, etc. that are subjected upon late payment, under-payment or the amount of debt in general. While these variables are different for each person, the tendencies for detriment to the card holder are often imminent and inevitable.
A credit card can be a positive force in a disciplined user. If the card-holder uses the card limitedly and within their income, the card introduces good credit and freedom to purchase larger expenses in smaller increments: purchasing a fridge, for instance, will benefit from credit by paying it in instalments that are within the consumer’s monthly means. A person who is unable to afford a meal at a restaurant, however, will be at the mercy of high interest rates and late fees upon purchasing something they cannot afford.
The result is a company that caters to the consumer-driven society of North America (and beyond). Visa, as a prominent credit company, represents the very act of living beyond one’s means, in exceeding one’s grasps, in getting over your head. While it often gives its customer’s the freedom to make purchases, it also can place the same person in the bonds of debt and bankruptcy. A credit card for many is a ticket into the competition: immersing oneself in brand names and products in ways that they become a part of their identity and value. In subverting the messages that Visa advertises to its card-holders and potential customers, I wanted to address consumerism as a whole but also credit cards in particular. The first message I found important in Visa’s series of “Life Takes Visa” ads is their false sense of freedom. The second message I found important was Visa’s alluring power to satisfy immediate gratification. The third and final message I choose to subvert is Visa’s ability to avoid the technical and problematic features of their credit plans, and in subverting it, making the viewer aware of their need for carefulness and awareness about interest rates and personal budget plans. Rhetorically, I wanted to be as Klein suggests: starkly at odds with their message. The idea at large seemed simple; the execution of each ad was difficult. With respect to the wide range of culture jammers out there; I wanted to fall somewhere in the middle. Obviously in posting my project on a media influenced website is testament to this (unlike some radicals who even refuse interviews with “the corporate press”, for instance). But I can appreciate a jammer purist, who believes that “like punk itself, [subvertising] must remain something of a porcupine; that to defy its own inevitable commodification, it must keep its protective quills sharp” (296). This quote reiterating my choice of Visa (the face and means of consumerism), as it explains the delicate nature of subvertising as well as the power consumerism has; the power to transform even the forces that seek to challenge it.
The Process:
Initial Plans and Group Work
My initial reactions to the ads were that they inspired. I felt a genuine attraction to the messages Visa were sending: Life Takes Mystery, Expression, Inspiration, Individuality, etc. Furthermore, the images invoke natural, organic processes of life: schools, children, snow, gardening and art. The second reaction was to Visa’s ability to assume involvement in these processes. By stating “Life Takes Visa”, the company becomes the source of everyday living. You cannot live with it.
Here are the original ads:
In looking to subverting their message, my immediate reaction was to flip the phrase to “Visa Takes Life”; insinuating that Visa drains you of resources rather than frees you to engage in activity. Although I liked the phrase, I felt it was too drastic. To claim that Visa takes life almost sounded murderous to me. This changed when engaging in group discussion in class and presenting my vague and inarticulate thought process to my group. When mentioning the obvious shift in words, the group found it very effective and great starting point in mounting a subvertising series. The group work also helped by suggesting using other photos rather than the ones used in the Visa ads themselves, and also to use a few of the photos to highlight their detriments rather than their positive aspects (for instance, we discussed the photo of the boy’s tongue on the pole, and how this image in its literal form is quite disadvantageous to the boy despite Visa’s message to go for it). We discussed our general issues as well; the importance of maintaining a sense of the original design (as important to the definition of “culture jamming”) and the means of conveying information without disrupting that integrity. The three other companies I remember as being Bounty paper towels, TELUS, and Windows 7. At the time, I felt my project was much weaker in terms of furthering it in a given direction, but their images, approaches and ideas for their own projects helped direct my creativity. This was especially helpful for picking which images to subvert, since Visa has launched more than one campaign using “Life Takes Visa”.
The First Stab at It
I used Gimp to subvert each advertisement, although sometimes I would use Photoshop Elements 9 to make small adjustments where Gimp could not. I chose Gimp because it was free, simple to use, and had most of the features I needed. Right at the beginning, I chose one of the ads (the one with the clearest pixels that I could find online) and made a “Visa Takes Life” template: an image with the slogan that I could insert onto any of the advertisements I was working on. This made it simple to begin each project. I would start by erasing the original slogan, often with the clone tool on either Gimp or Photoshop. This tool is simple but painstaking: you select a section of the image to transfer to another place. This was handy in every image, but it required careful drawing on each image. This was usually the longest process. The other obstacle was brainstorming additional taglines for each advertisement. This is where most of the message is conveyed, or at least connects the original image to the new slogan. I found it extremely difficult to find something short to say that conveyed the fullest meaning. I also didn’t resort to a tagline initially. I really wanted to find a way to convey the subverted message visually, but this turned out to be difficult. Here is my first attempt at the project, which took much longer than expected (on account of teaching myself Gimp):
This first attempt had several problematic features. The message and context of the subversion was only understandable in juxtaposition with the original ad. The bill attempts to show the other side of story: the snowboarder has to pay for the trip, the ski lift pass, the snowboard, theoretically paid for by a credit card. Pulling at straws, perhaps, but the top photo conveyed two things in my eyes: the angle of the camera drew on the idea of “perspective” and the bill also connects bills to snowboarding.
The Second Attempt
After this first try, I decided (also at the suggestion of peers and Professor Jay) that a series of ads might be more effective than one or two. This made more sense afterwards, as it would make the work load slightly easier in terms of technical work (the same “Visa Takes Life” is placed on each ad) as well as a more powerful overarching message the five ads send combined. Each tag line served a couple purposes too, one that it ties the message together, but also combine the visual image to the message. After all, many of the images relate to the 2007 winter Olympics, and that context is irrelevant today.
Final Thoughts
In a lot of ways I feel this project doesn’t project a lot of the thought and work that I put into it, but I wonder if that is part of the art of advertising in general. A lot of the ideas behind my critique of Visa are limited by the nature of the image, the slogan and need for simplicity. From a technical perspective, my one issue I wasn't able to overcome is the low quality some of the images were originally. In subverting them, the rearranging often left the image a little pixalated or unclear, especially with the longer words like "individuality" and "perspective". But I think that my understanding of Visa’s unscrupulous system and the issues with their advertising correlates well with the readings thus far in this class about advertising. I don’t know that I have been always effective in translating that understanding to the subvertisements. Is adding tag-lines that didn’t exist before unnecessary? Is there a more appropriate means of achieving the message visually as opposed to textually? These are the kinds of questions I asked myself upon “completing” the project, although I am aware I can revise at a later date. Overall I think that I am generally successful in turning the message around. Studying the way credit card debt works has also been educational in terms of my own financial well-being, and learning about the system at large. My ideas about Visa haven’t changed much either in researching credit cards. If anything, the subvertising project has re-emphasized how dependant we are on consumerism to survive. Whether this is good or bad, the problematic elements of Visa seem inevitable.
Finally, here is the signed contract concerning honesty in design work for this project:
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Advertising Ethics
After all of the readings I've read through for this course on advertising, what code, what rules, and what moral compass do I think advertisers should steer by?
I think advertisers need to be intensely aware of the vulnerabilities of their audience. In a perfect world, advertisers would only promote products and services that truly benefit the consumer in a positive, life-enhancing way. Is this possible? No, because even the most well-intended advertiser will sell a product into the wrong hands. Another impossibility that factors into perfecting advertising is the inability to discover all the nuances of humanity coupled with mass marketing. It can’t be done: marketing relies on stereotypes to sell products on a wide-spread scale. Like Twitchell mentions in his article “What We Are to Advertisers” he writes: “Mass production means mass marketing, and mass marketing means the creation of mass stereotypes” (192). Perhaps to perfect advertising is to remove it from its own definition; to advertise is to brand the consumer, to manipulate our capacity to create meaningful connections between our endless systems of symbolic action. It is also difficult to define a moral compass because I recognize my own intricate involvement in the system of consumerism. It feels very inescapable. I felt this acutely when reading Twitchell’s breakdown of the types of consumers: actualizers, experiencers, achievers, etc. This paradigm breaks down so called individualism to mere patterns of behaviour controlled by our need for meaning and establishes a place more prestigious or unique than our neighbours (coworkers, friends, family, etc.).
The more I think about what moral compass or rules advertisers should live by, the more complicated I find the network of participants in the advertising world. From a semiotic or rhetorical standpoint, especially a postmodern one, the process of persuading and selling is a basic way to analyze how we create meaning. The corruption, perhaps then, isn’t in the advertisement of any given product, but the choices the individuals who read the messages make. I don’t mean to say this as a cop out for really creating a system of rules for advertisers, rather, I believe the power that advertising has is completely fuelled by its consumers. No matter how persuasive Coca Cola is, it is our own individual decision to prefer it over Pepsi, as the study showed in Sandra Blakeslee’s article: “...when the same people were told what they were drinking [who had originally chosen by taste when the brand was unknown], activity in a different set of brain regions linked to brand loyalty overrode their original preference” (198). I think the word loyalty is an interesting word to associate with brands, because it is more often associated with relationships. But the bonds that we create (bonds signifying meaning) with products give us value. If this is innately true of our nature, that we need the value that comes from the bonds we create, then maybe this isn’t always a bad thing. Therefore, advertisers should be primarily seeking to create product-consumer bonds that create higher levels of positive value in their purchaser. If a company is honest and serving a product that is to the utmost benefit to its demographic, then let them use the most rhetorically apt means possible to them. The rhetoric is not the problem by itself. Everything in moderation, right?
I think advertisers need to be intensely aware of the vulnerabilities of their audience. In a perfect world, advertisers would only promote products and services that truly benefit the consumer in a positive, life-enhancing way. Is this possible? No, because even the most well-intended advertiser will sell a product into the wrong hands. Another impossibility that factors into perfecting advertising is the inability to discover all the nuances of humanity coupled with mass marketing. It can’t be done: marketing relies on stereotypes to sell products on a wide-spread scale. Like Twitchell mentions in his article “What We Are to Advertisers” he writes: “Mass production means mass marketing, and mass marketing means the creation of mass stereotypes” (192). Perhaps to perfect advertising is to remove it from its own definition; to advertise is to brand the consumer, to manipulate our capacity to create meaningful connections between our endless systems of symbolic action. It is also difficult to define a moral compass because I recognize my own intricate involvement in the system of consumerism. It feels very inescapable. I felt this acutely when reading Twitchell’s breakdown of the types of consumers: actualizers, experiencers, achievers, etc. This paradigm breaks down so called individualism to mere patterns of behaviour controlled by our need for meaning and establishes a place more prestigious or unique than our neighbours (coworkers, friends, family, etc.).
The more I think about what moral compass or rules advertisers should live by, the more complicated I find the network of participants in the advertising world. From a semiotic or rhetorical standpoint, especially a postmodern one, the process of persuading and selling is a basic way to analyze how we create meaning. The corruption, perhaps then, isn’t in the advertisement of any given product, but the choices the individuals who read the messages make. I don’t mean to say this as a cop out for really creating a system of rules for advertisers, rather, I believe the power that advertising has is completely fuelled by its consumers. No matter how persuasive Coca Cola is, it is our own individual decision to prefer it over Pepsi, as the study showed in Sandra Blakeslee’s article: “...when the same people were told what they were drinking [who had originally chosen by taste when the brand was unknown], activity in a different set of brain regions linked to brand loyalty overrode their original preference” (198). I think the word loyalty is an interesting word to associate with brands, because it is more often associated with relationships. But the bonds that we create (bonds signifying meaning) with products give us value. If this is innately true of our nature, that we need the value that comes from the bonds we create, then maybe this isn’t always a bad thing. Therefore, advertisers should be primarily seeking to create product-consumer bonds that create higher levels of positive value in their purchaser. If a company is honest and serving a product that is to the utmost benefit to its demographic, then let them use the most rhetorically apt means possible to them. The rhetoric is not the problem by itself. Everything in moderation, right?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My Worth to Facebook
The viral loop application on Facebook is an interesting one: it calculates your worth to the social networking website Facebook and your influence over your friends on it, as well as how valuable your social network is. I predicted before calculating my worth to Facebook that it would be fairly low: although an avid Facebook user, I am more of a browser than a contributor to its world. So when I discovered my loop value was $120, I wasn't too surprised. Most of my friends on Facebook are of the same general age and influence as myself: mostly students, young and just starting out. It was interesting to note that the viral loop application doesn't just take into account how influential you are as a person; it's also about who you know. Of the odd 400 people on my Facebook, I'm only generating 120 dollars. There are a few aspects of my social network that could account for this. One is that most of my acquaintances (because lets be serious, I hardly know everyone on Facebook intimately) are from Southern Ontario. In terms of Facebook's overreaching numbers, it is a small demographic. It makes you wonder what kinds of elements a Facebook user needs to increase its value; a variety of friends or perhaps a larger quantity of friends. Another element to this algorithm they mention on the app is your activity levels. Without looking at any type of banner advertisements on Facebook, one can just look at their news feed. I have a friend on Facebook who consistently posts website links, youtube videos, comic strips to their wall, and almost always takes over my news feed. I wonder how much he is worth to Facebook compared to myself. Looking at my activity, I often will go days without making any sort of comments or postings or status updates even though I go on the website daily. But all this aside, Facebook can be seen as the ultimate in mouth to mouth advertisement, it’s constantly updating you on what everyone you know is doing, thinking, liking, not liking, and therefore buying. It’s the subtlest of sellers, and it does so through your friends instead of through a commercial.
Internet Advetising: Multiplayer Online Games
When discussing advertisements and their effectiveness in class, there has been an agreement on the causation of successful ad campaigns and strategies: the more interactive and sophisticated the ad, the more likely it is to persuade its audience. When thinking about the kinds of interactive ads I have come across in my own experience, online gaming definitely came to mind. Between the ages of 10 and 15 loved playing Neopets, a gaming website geared towards kids with the objective to take care of one or several neopets, increasing your neopoints to further its needs and your prosperity in the neopets world. It’s interesting because these kinds of games, especially simulating or mimicking rpg games, these web games train their users to accumulate and expand, find ways to increase their value through buying and selling to upgrade their pets abilities and health. Neopets was able to make money also by allowing companies to create fake neoproducts that you can buy and sell on the website. And so Neopet users simulate marketing behaviour. I went on the website again today to see if it has changed much and logged into my old account. Now under my pet’s information page (which indicated all my pets were starving and dying from neglect!) there are advertisements for WSPA stating: “if you love animals, please help free them from cruelty”. Advertisements of this kind didn’t exist when I used the game website frequently about 9 or 10 years ago. Not only does the website train kids for consumerism, but it gears its ads in specific and calculating ways to incorporate messages while interacting with its various components.
Another website that uses simulation to sell in a kid’s online game is Toontown. I also was addicted to Toontown back in the day, a couple years after my year or two playing Neopets, probably around the age of 13 or 14. The best thing about Toontown is your toon’s adversaries are these robotic creatures called Cogs that have names that pun consumerism terms (for instance, the Cashbots have names like “Bean Counter”, “Loan Shark” and “Robber Baron”). The toons have to fight these greedy robots who love money and paperwork (as described by the website’s Player’s Guide which I looked up). This is all very ironic because as you defeat these cogs, you increase your value as a player, which can be traded for beans and you can upgrade your wardrobe, your home (by calling the Cattle Log...awesome). While intending to teach children about the problems with greed, it rewards its players by making them constantly consume and increase their wealth. This is all increased by the fact that the game is online and you interact with other plays not unlike World of Warcraft, which has similar goals for its players. These kinds of websites are based on the idea that we are innately built for consumption; its what makes the players keep playing the game. This game’s entire focus is to promote the Disney universe, while its players interact with such characters as Mickey Mouse, Minney, Donald, Goofey, etc. An entire interactive universe that can be played for free to promote a company. And it works.
Another website that uses simulation to sell in a kid’s online game is Toontown. I also was addicted to Toontown back in the day, a couple years after my year or two playing Neopets, probably around the age of 13 or 14. The best thing about Toontown is your toon’s adversaries are these robotic creatures called Cogs that have names that pun consumerism terms (for instance, the Cashbots have names like “Bean Counter”, “Loan Shark” and “Robber Baron”). The toons have to fight these greedy robots who love money and paperwork (as described by the website’s Player’s Guide which I looked up). This is all very ironic because as you defeat these cogs, you increase your value as a player, which can be traded for beans and you can upgrade your wardrobe, your home (by calling the Cattle Log...awesome). While intending to teach children about the problems with greed, it rewards its players by making them constantly consume and increase their wealth. This is all increased by the fact that the game is online and you interact with other plays not unlike World of Warcraft, which has similar goals for its players. These kinds of websites are based on the idea that we are innately built for consumption; its what makes the players keep playing the game. This game’s entire focus is to promote the Disney universe, while its players interact with such characters as Mickey Mouse, Minney, Donald, Goofey, etc. An entire interactive universe that can be played for free to promote a company. And it works.
Banksy makes us think ; Ads make us act.
The philosophy and morality behind infamous street artist Banksy is compelling; he points out the flaws of society in poignant and graphic ways. The popularity of his kind of work has increased over the years as well. Personally I've known of Banksy for years, often by word of mouth discussion in high school about his "cool" work. It's interesting to see these as subvertising expressions; granted they make you think, but do they make you act like advertising does. Before exploring this idea more-so, I can say that Bansky and other subvertisers and culture jammers do play an invaluable role in battling the advertising bombardment; as Klein describes: "the belief among jammers that concentration of media ownership has successfully devalued the right to free speech by severing it from the right to be heard". Within the very act of manipulating an ad creates awareness that advertising's rights have become culturally accepted and inevitable. But it is a step. The problem then is that advertising is infinitely more subtle, especially in the last ten or twenty years with the development of postmodern thinking and culture.
Although subvertising like Banksy's graffiti-like artwork about environmental issues, consumerism and education is powerful, it proposes to its viewers that there are problems with North American (and European) society that need drastic solutions. The molehill becomes a mountain when the message is heard: to boycott a product or buy organic food; or to invest time and energy into a local project for better education opportunities can inspire a person to think but not necessarily to act. I suppose this thesis comes from an idea that human nature tends to be inherently selfish. While someone might see Banksy's BP oil statue another person sees a commercial on TV for the new BMW 7 Series Sedan. We thrive on climbing social ladders to convince ourselves we matter. It's difficult to see beyond that so much of time. Awareness of this human phenomenon doesn’t make it go away; I still buy the brands I like to wear even though I am intensely aware of the branding conspiracy. A culture jammer like Banksy therefore comes up against not only against the faceless Madison Avenue conglomerate but against a larger force at work: human tendency. I like what Kalle Lasn (of Adbusters) has to say in the Klein article about culture jamming, society and human nature: “we are culture “addicted to toxins” that are poisoning our bodies, our “mental environment” and our planet.” Perhaps as he suggests, we need constant bombardment of the kind of work Banksy and others produce in order to see a paradigm shift in our public consciousness. I’d like to say we might see this within the next generation as we educate ourselves about the kinds of discourse advertisers use, but I think it’s safe to say adbusters have one big enemy that’s not going to make it easy: us.
Although subvertising like Banksy's graffiti-like artwork about environmental issues, consumerism and education is powerful, it proposes to its viewers that there are problems with North American (and European) society that need drastic solutions. The molehill becomes a mountain when the message is heard: to boycott a product or buy organic food; or to invest time and energy into a local project for better education opportunities can inspire a person to think but not necessarily to act. I suppose this thesis comes from an idea that human nature tends to be inherently selfish. While someone might see Banksy's BP oil statue another person sees a commercial on TV for the new BMW 7 Series Sedan. We thrive on climbing social ladders to convince ourselves we matter. It's difficult to see beyond that so much of time. Awareness of this human phenomenon doesn’t make it go away; I still buy the brands I like to wear even though I am intensely aware of the branding conspiracy. A culture jammer like Banksy therefore comes up against not only against the faceless Madison Avenue conglomerate but against a larger force at work: human tendency. I like what Kalle Lasn (of Adbusters) has to say in the Klein article about culture jamming, society and human nature: “we are culture “addicted to toxins” that are poisoning our bodies, our “mental environment” and our planet.” Perhaps as he suggests, we need constant bombardment of the kind of work Banksy and others produce in order to see a paradigm shift in our public consciousness. I’d like to say we might see this within the next generation as we educate ourselves about the kinds of discourse advertisers use, but I think it’s safe to say adbusters have one big enemy that’s not going to make it easy: us.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Advertising: Culture and Identity
There are particular moments that I can look back upon and think to myself "yes, that advertisement directly affected my thinking"; something basic like going and buying an ice cap from Tim Horton’s after seeing one on TV. However, I think it's safer to assume that advertising that has influenced our culture as a whole has had a deeper and more subtle effect on my personality and identity more-so than any individual ad I have seen, read, or watched.
This idea was reinforced by reading the article by Kilbourne and her examination of the cultural norms reiterated by perceptions portrayed in ads everywhere. By explaining the “more you subtract, the more you add” strategy behind advertising, to see its affect in your own life can be staggering. I can now look back and see decisions I have made based on the idea that my identity or personality is lacking in a way based on a culturally perceived norm; such as being quieter (such as on page 138 of the article, which talks about a perfume ad using the copy “Make a statement without saying a word”). It’s subtle, but it’s a worthwhile observation: based on cultural ideas about girls, I’ve even found myself more apt to find a girl obnoxious and a guy funny even though both might be acting in the exact same manner. Can anyone else say they have felt the same way about this kind of behaviour?
In the same way, I expect certain behaviours from guys based on the norms reinforced in advertisement. Whether these norms are right or wrong are not the point of this observation, but nonetheless they exist, such as expecting a broader knowledge on cars, brands and their parts, or brands of beer. I like beer, but I still innately find it to be more of a male drink even when drinking it. Is this a result of advertising solely? Or has advertising taking an existing cultural idea and made it stronger.
Reiteration of cultural norms in advertising can be applied beyond gender stereotypes. One that comes to mind is environmentalism. (Disclaimer: I do not think environmentalism is a bad thing!) But I do see the effects advertising has on the Western cultural ideas about pro-Earth agendas. Something like the following global warning advertisement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_LBXWMCAM ) reinforces ideas about the Earth and humanity. By associating the little girl with future generations, there is a sense that by protecting the planet, we can protect the innocence of generations to come. Whether true or not, replacing a whole generation of people with the image of a little girl influences our thinking. From a semiotic point of view, we begin to replace ideas with associated images, arbitrary or not (indexical or symbolic) to form ideas and truths. Good, bad, right or wrong, it stands to say that I have been personally affected by advertising on a level that I can’t even fully deconstruct.
This idea was reinforced by reading the article by Kilbourne and her examination of the cultural norms reiterated by perceptions portrayed in ads everywhere. By explaining the “more you subtract, the more you add” strategy behind advertising, to see its affect in your own life can be staggering. I can now look back and see decisions I have made based on the idea that my identity or personality is lacking in a way based on a culturally perceived norm; such as being quieter (such as on page 138 of the article, which talks about a perfume ad using the copy “Make a statement without saying a word”). It’s subtle, but it’s a worthwhile observation: based on cultural ideas about girls, I’ve even found myself more apt to find a girl obnoxious and a guy funny even though both might be acting in the exact same manner. Can anyone else say they have felt the same way about this kind of behaviour?
In the same way, I expect certain behaviours from guys based on the norms reinforced in advertisement. Whether these norms are right or wrong are not the point of this observation, but nonetheless they exist, such as expecting a broader knowledge on cars, brands and their parts, or brands of beer. I like beer, but I still innately find it to be more of a male drink even when drinking it. Is this a result of advertising solely? Or has advertising taking an existing cultural idea and made it stronger.
Reiteration of cultural norms in advertising can be applied beyond gender stereotypes. One that comes to mind is environmentalism. (Disclaimer: I do not think environmentalism is a bad thing!) But I do see the effects advertising has on the Western cultural ideas about pro-Earth agendas. Something like the following global warning advertisement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-_LBXWMCAM ) reinforces ideas about the Earth and humanity. By associating the little girl with future generations, there is a sense that by protecting the planet, we can protect the innocence of generations to come. Whether true or not, replacing a whole generation of people with the image of a little girl influences our thinking. From a semiotic point of view, we begin to replace ideas with associated images, arbitrary or not (indexical or symbolic) to form ideas and truths. Good, bad, right or wrong, it stands to say that I have been personally affected by advertising on a level that I can’t even fully deconstruct.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Two of My Favourite Things: Semiotics and Gender Issues
First of all, let me say that Shield and Heinecken's article "Signs of the Times: A Semiotics of Gender Ads" was of particular interest to me, besides reading Roland Barthes' "Rhetoric of the Image". Semiotics is a fascinating study in terms of rhetoric and English because it combines them in a sense to understand the basics of meaning. This is so important to the human condition, because it drives our actions, interactions and motives. What we value influences us most profoundly. To look at a series of semiotic codes, that is, "A system of associations governed by rules agreed upon...between members of a culture. The code unifies the different elements of the process of meaning construction" (67), is to look at the overall picture of how we derive meaning in life, which is so important to understanding why we do what we do.
With that said, it's interesting to see semiotic code in play in advertising because not only are we examining how an ad influences us, there is a code in play that tells us what kind of meaning and value we place on any given product, company, message or cause. The intersection between ideology and semiotic code is also important in looking at the dominant messages and ideologies communicated in ads concerning gender, particularly the female.
And so it is important to decode an advertisement based on the structural elements of semiotic theory such as the principles of Saussure to analyze it beyond its connotations and for its basic insight into the value systems placed and replaced when watching, reading or experiencing an advertisement. In light of the following analysis, I kept in mind this basic principle Shield and Heinecken articulate: "In order for this system of currency to have meaning for the viewer, he or she must be able to associate the image of the product with a value which is in turn based on his or her own cultural codes" (70)
Okay, here is the ad I chose to analyze in the light of gender and semiotic theory:
Cosmopolitan is easily the epitome of sexualisation of women in the form of a magazine. It’s messages are so blatant that it’s almost comical, and seeing them in line at the grocery store is always a joke because their covers are almost always the same: how to please your man, 6,000 new ways to have sex, how to get skinnier or how to have more beautiful [insert here hair, skin, body, you name it]. But upon closer inspection, analyzing this cover, essentially eight advertisements to buy the magazine on one page, the semiotic codes and years of historic and cultural values in place here are endless and complication. To decode this kind of series of messages, however deliberate, are none the less difficult to unpack entirely in one analysis. So I’ll try my best to cover a few of the basic semiotic implications of this kind of magazine cover as seen above.
The first thing I noticed in viewing the cover as an advertisement is the language comes across as an advice column. Here are the steps, tricks, counsel, secrets I can give you if you buy me. It’s interesting because it aims very specifically at a female audience; the women in the picture Whitney Port is surrounding by a few large print taglines: “Sex He Craves” and “Get Butt Naked”, both assumedly directed to a female heterosexual audience. Without analyzing the whole cover, I will look at these two messages in particular, as well as “Lose 5 lbs. In Just 7 Days” and how these three taglines interconnect to form an overarching semiotic code to project values onto the reader alongside the photograph. The visual image, a very photo shopped reality star from The Hills brings into play intertextality by alluding to the set of values that show exemplifies. Immediately we also have an image that exemplifies the kind of messages the taglines suggest: compare yourself to this women, if you find yourself inferior or wanting to become this image, look to these articles concerning your body image as a female to better yourself towards the semiotic code of the “ideal woman figure”. On a simple denotative basis, you have a female figure looking straight at the viewer, almost as if she is saying “Get Butt Naked”. It’s ironic because there is a definite false sense of self-esteem that comes with the vulnerability of being naked while simultaneously suggesting to their reader to lose five pounds in seven days. On the surface the magazine promotes individuality and self-confidence while suggesting a hundred different ways to change yourself...change yourself into what? There is that connotation that you need to become a better you, a more attractive you, a sexier you (sexier being their word choice, not mine.) In the end, the entire message of the magazine is in defining the semiotic code for what the article calls “ideal femininity”...and depicting the enduring definitions of this kind of ideal: thinness, flawlessness and youthfulness. The final thing I wanted to note was the use of the tagline “Sex He Craves” as an example of the female as a commodity to the male figure. It’s so interesting because it’s an obvious word-choice for this kind of perfection of oneself for the sake of the other, as the article defines it: “In this split-consciousness women are aware that they are seeing male-defined images of themselves, and yet still find themselves influenced by these images” (77) The female as a commodity directly plays into the idea that advertising can project a social code concerning the value systems we allow, create or believe in and then in turn communicate on that plain or within that semiotic code. Long story short, Cosmopolitan covers may seem ridiculous, but in many ways they epitomize the kind of values society uphold for the female body and role, but under a banner of sexuality as power rather than as a new way to communicate the objectification of the female form.
With that said, it's interesting to see semiotic code in play in advertising because not only are we examining how an ad influences us, there is a code in play that tells us what kind of meaning and value we place on any given product, company, message or cause. The intersection between ideology and semiotic code is also important in looking at the dominant messages and ideologies communicated in ads concerning gender, particularly the female.
And so it is important to decode an advertisement based on the structural elements of semiotic theory such as the principles of Saussure to analyze it beyond its connotations and for its basic insight into the value systems placed and replaced when watching, reading or experiencing an advertisement. In light of the following analysis, I kept in mind this basic principle Shield and Heinecken articulate: "In order for this system of currency to have meaning for the viewer, he or she must be able to associate the image of the product with a value which is in turn based on his or her own cultural codes" (70)
Okay, here is the ad I chose to analyze in the light of gender and semiotic theory:
Cosmopolitan is easily the epitome of sexualisation of women in the form of a magazine. It’s messages are so blatant that it’s almost comical, and seeing them in line at the grocery store is always a joke because their covers are almost always the same: how to please your man, 6,000 new ways to have sex, how to get skinnier or how to have more beautiful [insert here hair, skin, body, you name it]. But upon closer inspection, analyzing this cover, essentially eight advertisements to buy the magazine on one page, the semiotic codes and years of historic and cultural values in place here are endless and complication. To decode this kind of series of messages, however deliberate, are none the less difficult to unpack entirely in one analysis. So I’ll try my best to cover a few of the basic semiotic implications of this kind of magazine cover as seen above.
The first thing I noticed in viewing the cover as an advertisement is the language comes across as an advice column. Here are the steps, tricks, counsel, secrets I can give you if you buy me. It’s interesting because it aims very specifically at a female audience; the women in the picture Whitney Port is surrounding by a few large print taglines: “Sex He Craves” and “Get Butt Naked”, both assumedly directed to a female heterosexual audience. Without analyzing the whole cover, I will look at these two messages in particular, as well as “Lose 5 lbs. In Just 7 Days” and how these three taglines interconnect to form an overarching semiotic code to project values onto the reader alongside the photograph. The visual image, a very photo shopped reality star from The Hills brings into play intertextality by alluding to the set of values that show exemplifies. Immediately we also have an image that exemplifies the kind of messages the taglines suggest: compare yourself to this women, if you find yourself inferior or wanting to become this image, look to these articles concerning your body image as a female to better yourself towards the semiotic code of the “ideal woman figure”. On a simple denotative basis, you have a female figure looking straight at the viewer, almost as if she is saying “Get Butt Naked”. It’s ironic because there is a definite false sense of self-esteem that comes with the vulnerability of being naked while simultaneously suggesting to their reader to lose five pounds in seven days. On the surface the magazine promotes individuality and self-confidence while suggesting a hundred different ways to change yourself...change yourself into what? There is that connotation that you need to become a better you, a more attractive you, a sexier you (sexier being their word choice, not mine.) In the end, the entire message of the magazine is in defining the semiotic code for what the article calls “ideal femininity”...and depicting the enduring definitions of this kind of ideal: thinness, flawlessness and youthfulness. The final thing I wanted to note was the use of the tagline “Sex He Craves” as an example of the female as a commodity to the male figure. It’s so interesting because it’s an obvious word-choice for this kind of perfection of oneself for the sake of the other, as the article defines it: “In this split-consciousness women are aware that they are seeing male-defined images of themselves, and yet still find themselves influenced by these images” (77) The female as a commodity directly plays into the idea that advertising can project a social code concerning the value systems we allow, create or believe in and then in turn communicate on that plain or within that semiotic code. Long story short, Cosmopolitan covers may seem ridiculous, but in many ways they epitomize the kind of values society uphold for the female body and role, but under a banner of sexuality as power rather than as a new way to communicate the objectification of the female form.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Intertextuality in Advertising/Viral Campaigns
When trying to think of advertisements that don't seem like ads, it was difficult at first to think of any (for obvious reasons). But as advertising has evolved, especially with the explosion of the internet even in the last ten years, it has changed the way our generation interacts with products, companies, movies, television, etc. This can be seen in the study done by Phillips and McQuarrie, where advertisements over time lost their verbal anchorage and layered more and more rhetorical figures into ads, relying on the viewer to participate more in forming ideas about the company or product. The complication of advertisements' rhetorical ploys has increased with new campaign avenues. An interesting one is viral marketing, which uses previously existing social networks to promote a brand or company. This is the kind of marketing campaign that relies on word of mouth to promote its popularity. YouTube is a huge facilitator in this kind of marketing. Viral marketing takes viewer participation to the extreme, functioning as part of the marketing team and taking sole responsibility in promotion.
Before looking a specific viral marketing campaign, it’s interesting to look at YouTube as a kind of advertiser that uses its viewership to promote it, in essence a massive-scale viral campaign. Here is a huge company that defies the boundaries of the kind of genre distinctions we can give it; in reading some of the kind of genre descriptions Cook gives as examples can be applied to YouTube: games, jokes, films, lessons, news, stories, web pages, soap operas. Describing it’s genre as a definition is almost impossible because of its communication context changes with every video. Promotion of individual videos lies entirely on its viewership to cultivate it as an industry. And it works.
Here is the Blendtec viral campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/user/blendtec?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/u/1/_S8sxpK4_iA
Blendtec is a strange kind of YouTube phenomenon. As a participant in the online video world, Blendtec is first most popular as entertainment. But in terms of genre definition, they are a series of infomercials to promote the power of Blendtec blenders. In turn, the videos have become so popular that other companies, specifically Apple, have been promoted through the Blendtec campaign because Tom Dickson blended the iPhone 4 and other apple products. Not only has the Blendtec brand of blenders increased in sales, but Tom Dickson has become an internet sensation on sites such as Digg, and the phrase “Will It Blend?” has garnered huge popularity. As a YouTube video, the Blendtec videos are actually paid by YouTube because of how many hits the videos have had during its duration. The iPhone blending episode has had over 100 million hits. Revver also host’s the Blendtec videos, which have given Blendtec a heavy payout due to its popularity on video-hosting website.
Intertexuality in these kinds of viral campaigns comes from the collective understanding of the products involved in the videos. Blendtec is looking to promote their blenders, but the popularity of the iPhone is what aids in their popularity as a product. Mimicking comedy videos and making fun of Bill Gates relies on the audience’s understanding of the Windows/Mac advertising war. It’s interesting because on the surface, these kind of advertising campaigns are just another YouTube video.
Before looking a specific viral marketing campaign, it’s interesting to look at YouTube as a kind of advertiser that uses its viewership to promote it, in essence a massive-scale viral campaign. Here is a huge company that defies the boundaries of the kind of genre distinctions we can give it; in reading some of the kind of genre descriptions Cook gives as examples can be applied to YouTube: games, jokes, films, lessons, news, stories, web pages, soap operas. Describing it’s genre as a definition is almost impossible because of its communication context changes with every video. Promotion of individual videos lies entirely on its viewership to cultivate it as an industry. And it works.
Here is the Blendtec viral campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/user/blendtec?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/u/1/_S8sxpK4_iA
Blendtec is a strange kind of YouTube phenomenon. As a participant in the online video world, Blendtec is first most popular as entertainment. But in terms of genre definition, they are a series of infomercials to promote the power of Blendtec blenders. In turn, the videos have become so popular that other companies, specifically Apple, have been promoted through the Blendtec campaign because Tom Dickson blended the iPhone 4 and other apple products. Not only has the Blendtec brand of blenders increased in sales, but Tom Dickson has become an internet sensation on sites such as Digg, and the phrase “Will It Blend?” has garnered huge popularity. As a YouTube video, the Blendtec videos are actually paid by YouTube because of how many hits the videos have had during its duration. The iPhone blending episode has had over 100 million hits. Revver also host’s the Blendtec videos, which have given Blendtec a heavy payout due to its popularity on video-hosting website.
Intertexuality in these kinds of viral campaigns comes from the collective understanding of the products involved in the videos. Blendtec is looking to promote their blenders, but the popularity of the iPhone is what aids in their popularity as a product. Mimicking comedy videos and making fun of Bill Gates relies on the audience’s understanding of the Windows/Mac advertising war. It’s interesting because on the surface, these kind of advertising campaigns are just another YouTube video.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
"The Science Behind Beauty"
When reading Cook’s analysis of advertising in terms of discourse in general, the concept of various “participants” in the advertisement focused my analysis(considering basic linguistic terms Cook mentions such as the role of the sender and receiver). When thinking of a powerful message that dominates in the advertising world, anti-aging messages are very prevalent. So in choosing two products or advertisements to analyze, I choose two anti-aging formulas, one by L’Oreal Paris and one by Estee Lauder.Both companies have various commercials, posters, etc. but I am looking at the product themselves as found on their websites.
The two ads can be seen here:
http://www.esteelauder.com/products/mpp/regimen.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT1042
http://www.lorealparis.ca/_en/_ca/brands/index.aspx?code=Collagen_Remodeler&cm_sp=Homepage_Billboard-_-Collagen-_-EN
The first thing to note is that the advertisements have clearly defined intentions concerning audience. Both ads are hard sells, since the product websites are text heavy and lack overall visual appeal. This can probably be explained because these are technically not "advertisements"...they function as extra information for the customer who is already interested in the product. The company is now tasked with convincing the audience with further evidence for its effectiveness as a product.
Estee Lauder’s age-defying serum is called the Perfectionist, the name itself functioning as a rhetorical device, drawing on a human personality trait and immediately creating a statement about the product's abilities. On a contextual level that Cook seeks to engage in, a print advertisement does little to use paralanguage. This fact alone suggests the naming and branding of the product is more important since the advertisement lacks the interest of say a television commercial. In defining the product as a “serum” verses a “cream” even engages the addressees on a language level, drawing on the ethos of the product’s material, since many creams are considered useless by cosmetic users. The words “powerful” and “dramatic” drive the point home to their audience, suggesting that the product user will see exceptional results.
L’Oreal Paris uses language as well to enthuse their audience with confidence for their products. Many anti-aging products today understand the need for scientific proof (an ethos-driven advertising campaign). The title of their one product “Micro-Pulse” engages in a textual ploy by intentional use of scientific terminology to describe their product. The addressee then unconsciously engages in the language from a scientific perspective by receiving the anti-aging message from the linguistic approach of the specific sphere of knowledge. “Science Behind the Beauty” blatantly suggests that the advertising campaign here is fully engaging in a linguistic based approach to persuasion.
While colour, imagery and visual display of the text plays into the advertising campaign, on a deeper level the language of both ads engages the audience in a way that depends on the audience’s understanding of scientific terminology.
Both of these ads challenge the audience, through language, to think of the products in terms of a genre outside of cosmetics and into the world of scientific research. For very little discourse on the effects of the product, the specific word choices make a subtle but powerful kind of influence on a basic level of understanding and categorizing discourse and information.
It's interesting to revisit this post after reading Kilbourne's "The More You Subtract, the More You Add". Beauty products almost squarely rely on this principle to sell their products. Aging is an interesting anxiety, because it ties into the fear of death and the fear of being unattractive. I think it's safe to assume that older women purchasing age-defying serums or creams is an example of the kind of fear instilled in young girls about their identity. In the same way, they are belittled in their wrinkles and grey hair to believe that aging is inappropriate, unattractive, and most of all unnecessary, thanks to such and such a product.
The parallels between adolescents and pre-menopausal women today are uncanny, the quote from Kilbourne’s article reminds me of the kind of experiences a middle aged woman might feel (often called “mid-life crisis”): “As most of us know so well by now, when a girl [woman] enters adolescences [menopause], she faces a series of losses – loss of self-confidence, loss of a sense of efficacy and ambition [perhaps this could be replaced with loss of child-rearing responsibilities or retirement...] and the loss of her ‘voice’” (129). To relook at the effects of bombardment of anti-aging solutions suggests to its audience that there is something inherently unpleasant and perhaps wrong in aging naturally...to resist nature is to resist death. In the same way that a young woman can struggle with eating disorders and body-image anxiety so to can an older woman struggle with the aging process, coming to terms with a new body all over again. The media cannot help but aid in these kinds of messages and with the hormonal changes during this time; it’s possible to be very effective on a woman in a vulnerable state. Estee Lauder’s Perfectionist serum suggests that it repairs as a step in the anti-aging regiment. Repair is an interesting and powerfully intended word choice; it explicitly suggests to its customer that there is something needing to be fixed. The more you subtracted, the more you add.
The two ads can be seen here:
http://www.esteelauder.com/products/mpp/regimen.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CAT1042
http://www.lorealparis.ca/_en/_ca/brands/index.aspx?code=Collagen_Remodeler&cm_sp=Homepage_Billboard-_-Collagen-_-EN
The first thing to note is that the advertisements have clearly defined intentions concerning audience. Both ads are hard sells, since the product websites are text heavy and lack overall visual appeal. This can probably be explained because these are technically not "advertisements"...they function as extra information for the customer who is already interested in the product. The company is now tasked with convincing the audience with further evidence for its effectiveness as a product.
Estee Lauder’s age-defying serum is called the Perfectionist, the name itself functioning as a rhetorical device, drawing on a human personality trait and immediately creating a statement about the product's abilities. On a contextual level that Cook seeks to engage in, a print advertisement does little to use paralanguage. This fact alone suggests the naming and branding of the product is more important since the advertisement lacks the interest of say a television commercial. In defining the product as a “serum” verses a “cream” even engages the addressees on a language level, drawing on the ethos of the product’s material, since many creams are considered useless by cosmetic users. The words “powerful” and “dramatic” drive the point home to their audience, suggesting that the product user will see exceptional results.
L’Oreal Paris uses language as well to enthuse their audience with confidence for their products. Many anti-aging products today understand the need for scientific proof (an ethos-driven advertising campaign). The title of their one product “Micro-Pulse” engages in a textual ploy by intentional use of scientific terminology to describe their product. The addressee then unconsciously engages in the language from a scientific perspective by receiving the anti-aging message from the linguistic approach of the specific sphere of knowledge. “Science Behind the Beauty” blatantly suggests that the advertising campaign here is fully engaging in a linguistic based approach to persuasion.
While colour, imagery and visual display of the text plays into the advertising campaign, on a deeper level the language of both ads engages the audience in a way that depends on the audience’s understanding of scientific terminology.
Both of these ads challenge the audience, through language, to think of the products in terms of a genre outside of cosmetics and into the world of scientific research. For very little discourse on the effects of the product, the specific word choices make a subtle but powerful kind of influence on a basic level of understanding and categorizing discourse and information.
It's interesting to revisit this post after reading Kilbourne's "The More You Subtract, the More You Add". Beauty products almost squarely rely on this principle to sell their products. Aging is an interesting anxiety, because it ties into the fear of death and the fear of being unattractive. I think it's safe to assume that older women purchasing age-defying serums or creams is an example of the kind of fear instilled in young girls about their identity. In the same way, they are belittled in their wrinkles and grey hair to believe that aging is inappropriate, unattractive, and most of all unnecessary, thanks to such and such a product.
The parallels between adolescents and pre-menopausal women today are uncanny, the quote from Kilbourne’s article reminds me of the kind of experiences a middle aged woman might feel (often called “mid-life crisis”): “As most of us know so well by now, when a girl [woman] enters adolescences [menopause], she faces a series of losses – loss of self-confidence, loss of a sense of efficacy and ambition [perhaps this could be replaced with loss of child-rearing responsibilities or retirement...] and the loss of her ‘voice’” (129). To relook at the effects of bombardment of anti-aging solutions suggests to its audience that there is something inherently unpleasant and perhaps wrong in aging naturally...to resist nature is to resist death. In the same way that a young woman can struggle with eating disorders and body-image anxiety so to can an older woman struggle with the aging process, coming to terms with a new body all over again. The media cannot help but aid in these kinds of messages and with the hormonal changes during this time; it’s possible to be very effective on a woman in a vulnerable state. Estee Lauder’s Perfectionist serum suggests that it repairs as a step in the anti-aging regiment. Repair is an interesting and powerfully intended word choice; it explicitly suggests to its customer that there is something needing to be fixed. The more you subtracted, the more you add.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Smarties and Skittles get quirky.
The two commercials can be seen here:
Smarties:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUriNVnKBg
Skittles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nDyeV0i6w
When picking out two commercials to compare and contrast, a simple selection strategy was to choose two advertisements that sell a similar product. In this case, Smarties and Skittles advertising approach or "style", as McQuarrie and Phillips describe it, is also similar. This is where my comparison of the two commercials will focus, since "Advertising Rhetoric¸ Introduction" states “It is important to recognize that although style can be distinguished from content, style also communicates. The separation of style from content, together with the valorization of style, are defining characteristics of the rhetorical perspective” (4).
It’s interesting to note that Skittles launched their “quirky” campaign about four years ago in early 2006. Skittles has several (albeit subjectively) hilarious commercial segments under their belt: the "untamed" beard interview, the Skittles midas touch, the sheep boys commercial, and the one I chose, the opera rabbit commercial (chosen due to its similarity to the Smarties commercial, both using small strange animals, to be explored in more detail further down). Skittles was wildly successful, especially with my generation, by producing offbeat humorous commercials that seek to amuse rather than to promote their product. The commercials work because they create a word-of-mouth appeal through their bizarre approach. The strategy here is to be memorable rather than use a sensory level appeal on their audience. Skittles, as a successful candy company, does not need to sell their taste. Skittles are Skittles, and their target audience appreciates or doesn’t appreciate their product due to personal taste preference. The next step in their advertising campaign was to create an alternative means of impressing their already abundant consumer base.
Smarties released their blue cat commercial in early 2010. Producing a small, colourful candy not unlike Skittles, the Smarties commercial uses a small blue (weird?!) cat that talks in a funny accent to create their own quirky message. In the same manner as Skittles, Smarties does not appeal to taste as a food commercial might, but highlights the weird blue cat in relation to their product. To return to an earlier concept, the style here is to create a niche audience through humour rather than an through the taste of their candy. The humour lies in the lack of explanation in both commercials: why is there a blue cat and where did the singing rabbit come from? By making the bizarre element seem normal, the commercial appeals to an audience who appreciates quirky humour... and it works.
Smarties:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUriNVnKBg
Skittles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nDyeV0i6w
When picking out two commercials to compare and contrast, a simple selection strategy was to choose two advertisements that sell a similar product. In this case, Smarties and Skittles advertising approach or "style", as McQuarrie and Phillips describe it, is also similar. This is where my comparison of the two commercials will focus, since "Advertising Rhetoric¸ Introduction" states “It is important to recognize that although style can be distinguished from content, style also communicates. The separation of style from content, together with the valorization of style, are defining characteristics of the rhetorical perspective” (4).
It’s interesting to note that Skittles launched their “quirky” campaign about four years ago in early 2006. Skittles has several (albeit subjectively) hilarious commercial segments under their belt: the "untamed" beard interview, the Skittles midas touch, the sheep boys commercial, and the one I chose, the opera rabbit commercial (chosen due to its similarity to the Smarties commercial, both using small strange animals, to be explored in more detail further down). Skittles was wildly successful, especially with my generation, by producing offbeat humorous commercials that seek to amuse rather than to promote their product. The commercials work because they create a word-of-mouth appeal through their bizarre approach. The strategy here is to be memorable rather than use a sensory level appeal on their audience. Skittles, as a successful candy company, does not need to sell their taste. Skittles are Skittles, and their target audience appreciates or doesn’t appreciate their product due to personal taste preference. The next step in their advertising campaign was to create an alternative means of impressing their already abundant consumer base.
Smarties released their blue cat commercial in early 2010. Producing a small, colourful candy not unlike Skittles, the Smarties commercial uses a small blue (weird?!) cat that talks in a funny accent to create their own quirky message. In the same manner as Skittles, Smarties does not appeal to taste as a food commercial might, but highlights the weird blue cat in relation to their product. To return to an earlier concept, the style here is to create a niche audience through humour rather than an through the taste of their candy. The humour lies in the lack of explanation in both commercials: why is there a blue cat and where did the singing rabbit come from? By making the bizarre element seem normal, the commercial appeals to an audience who appreciates quirky humour... and it works.
I Spy an Advertisement
Here is a sample list of the advertisements, subtle or not, that I consciously encountered within roughly a day.
Facebook:
- Get Your uWaterloo gear here!
- Purchase your own Don Draper t-shirt
Campus:
- "There's no place like Homecoming" - Advertisement for Waterloo homecoming, large poster on the front of South Campus Hall featuring a pair of sparkling red shoes, an allusion to the Wizard of Oz.
- Tim Hortons posters
Television program:
- Snapple: self-aware product placement joke in a re-run episode of 30 Rock
Commericals :
- Pantene Pro-V
- "What awesome tastes like" Commercial for Orville Redenbacher popcorn
- Beneful Incredibites
- Expedica.ca
- Fashion by George, commercial for Walmart clothing brand
- Centrum, daily vitamin
-Sensodyne medicinal toothpaste
- Tim Hortons (“Every cup tells a story”)
- Vileda spunges (“Scrunge spunge”)
- Windows 7 Commercial (to combat the Mac/PC dispute)
- Yellow Pages.ca commcercial
- Morgan Freeman talking about Visa
- Lexus
Internet ads:
- Nissan Maxima
- Chrome by Google
- Nutrisystem Canada
- Honda Years End Event
- Ultimate HD Event at Best Buy
Facebook:
- Get Your uWaterloo gear here!
- Purchase your own Don Draper t-shirt
Campus:
- "There's no place like Homecoming" - Advertisement for Waterloo homecoming, large poster on the front of South Campus Hall featuring a pair of sparkling red shoes, an allusion to the Wizard of Oz.
- Tim Hortons posters
Television program:
- Snapple: self-aware product placement joke in a re-run episode of 30 Rock
Commericals :
- Pantene Pro-V
- "What awesome tastes like" Commercial for Orville Redenbacher popcorn
- Beneful Incredibites
- Expedica.ca
- Fashion by George, commercial for Walmart clothing brand
- Centrum, daily vitamin
-Sensodyne medicinal toothpaste
- Tim Hortons (“Every cup tells a story”)
- Vileda spunges (“Scrunge spunge”)
- Windows 7 Commercial (to combat the Mac/PC dispute)
- Yellow Pages.ca commcercial
- Morgan Freeman talking about Visa
- Lexus
Internet ads:
- Nissan Maxima
- Chrome by Google
- Nutrisystem Canada
- Honda Years End Event
- Ultimate HD Event at Best Buy
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)