Advertising - Lines of Appeal

1. Use of Humour as a Persuasive Device – A series of adverts that was aired in 2010 in Egypt for the dairy food company ‘Panda Cheese’ and became known worldwide for the humour that the advertisers used. The context of the series is that someone is offered some of the ‘Panda Cheese’ and refuses it. In doing so, the company mascot (a large panda) will appear and act as though it is sad with the refusal of the cheese. The song ‘True Long Ways’ by Buddy Holly playing in the background as the panda stares at the person and subsequently proceeds to throw things around and throw a tantrum. Many people have found this advert to be humorous because it is not what you would expect from an animal. The song that they have chosen to use for all of the adverts is the same because the audience members can then associate the song with that advert. They have also used a slightly infamous song for that country purely so the audience will remember that song with the actions of the panda. The encoded message of the company is that you should ‘never say no to panda’ and a lot of people do buy this product to see if the company mascot would actually show up; despite the fact that they knew that was never going to actually happen.

 

 

2. Use of Slogans – An advert that was first aired in 2015 for the company ‘Travelodge’ caught the attention of many viewers due to the catchy song that is included in the advert. There are puppets that are designed to look like the customers of the company in the advert that sing about the upgrades rooms that they now have to offer. This song includes the slogan ‘that’s travelogical’, which is a made-up word. The way in which the puppets sing this song will make people remember the advert and give them the encouragement to sing along themselves. This advert is memorable because the words in the song rhyme which make them easier to understand and the whole advert is short and gets the message across. I believe this way of advertising has worked for the company because the song sticks in the head of the audience member and will therefore encourage them to use the product more. They have the encoded message that they are adverting which is that they have improved rooms in their Travelodge’s and the decoded message that this is a song that will annoying but also stick in the mind of the audience.




3. Use of Shock Tactics as a Persuasive Device – The audio visual advert that aired in 2013 known as ‘Life Story’ by the charitable organisation ‘Barnandos’ uses shock tactics. The advert shows the journey that a man has been on through his life with the Barnandos people as we see him transition from a man to a young boy. He is happy at the start of the advert when he is an adult and his life is looking up, however we see that he has had a tough time in the past as he grows up in a poor and desperate situation around drugs and abuse. The implication of the advert is that with the help of the charity, all children in this situation will be able to grow up and become happy and successful people. The shock tactics of this advert include the way in which we see the ‘before and after’, therefore proving that these things can be turned around. This advert appeals to the ‘need to nurture’ part of the basic appeals because we will see that the happiness that the man has at the start of the advert was not always there and that it took the help of the charity and the people donating to the charity to get him there. An audience’s maternal or paternal instincts will be targeted as there will feel the need to help more people like him. This also appeals to the ‘need to achieve’ basic appeal as many people will see the man’s achievement in how he has turned his life around so well and will be eager to get involved and create more successful lives for people like him.



4. Stereotyping in Advertising – The advert that the brand of beer ‘Heineken’ released uses gender stereotyping. On the left of the advert, there is a women facing the opposite direction to the camera wear a bikini bottom that matches the brand logo. On the right, there is a man facing the camera and clinging on to the women’s leg. This is stereotypical of men being predominately ‘better’ than woman because the man in this advert has an identity. However, the women does not have any identity and is only used in the advert as a ‘thing’ for the audience to look at. This shows that men are seen as higher than women and that women are nothing more than ‘things’ to sell to people in the media. Also, the man is represented as good looking and perfect as he is supposed attract people and grab their attention and the women is represented as having a nice body shape because this is seen as an ideology for women and this is what men would see as being attractive. However, the implication of this advert is that only men will buy this beer and this makes the advert sexist to that extent. This is because of the way that an attractive woman is used to grab the attention of men and therefore encourage men to buy this product. A contradicting argument would be that woman will be attracted to the good looking man in this advert and will also buy the product. This is the preferred reading of the advert, whereas the oppositional reading would be that the advert is sexist and that men are seen as higher than women in this advert.

5. Intertextuality in Advertising – The advert for ‘Marc Jacobs Daisy’ includes a simple but effective image of a woman holding a large bottle of the perfume that the brand is selling. The bottle itself has an attractive and unique design that will draw the audience in, and the use of the daisy flower has many connotations. One of those connotations is the symbol of innocence and delicacy with the soft and gentle contrasting colours and the matching background setting. The advert is set in a field full of daisies that are a similar colour to the flowers on the bottle; adding to the peacefulness of the way this advert is represented. Also the woman holding the bottle is wearing a white dress along with the lighting in the image making her skin look paler. This is a representation of the purity of the perfume and how women are to be respected as they have the ideology of being gentle, pure and innocent; like the way in which the perfume and the bottle are represented here. The image has been pictured in the ‘long shot’ position so it is easier to see everything in the image. Also the photography technique known as ‘rule of thirds’ has been used as the bottle is clearly placed in the centre of the image as it is the main point of focus. The background is also in focus because it is important to the image as a whole with the representation of the daisies in the field. It is also likely that this image has been cropped to make the bottle be in the centre of the image to be focused on mainly.

 

6. Elite Persons in Advertising – The advert for the sportswear company ‘Skechers’ used Kim Kardashian in one of their adverts. She is now seen as one of the most famous women in the world and a huge fashion icon as she has a large influence in the world. In this particular advert, she is standing in a suggestive pose; showing off her body. This gives the advert a large amount of sex appeal because the audience will see her with little clothing on and this will be seen as attractive. She is known for having a great body and the advertisers wanted to show this to the audience as this may be seen as the ideology for what women should like look. There is also strong lighting that is making her facial features stand out more. This therefore adds to her beauty and sex appeal; which is what she is famous for. We see that she has signed under where the advert has her name. This makes the advert seem more personal because we see that she has made a personal connection with the audience to help sell the product better.

7. Reward and Punishment in Advertising – This advert campaign is being used to try and make people quit smoking. They use techniques that involve making parents feel guilty for smoking around their children by reinforcing the idea that this is bad for their health. This advert clearly uses the idea of punishment, which is that if you do not quit smoking, your children’s health will suffer as a result. However, the reward in involved is that the child will not have to breathe in the smoke if the audience member was to quit smoking. The use of a child looking directly into the camera with his eyes gives us the message that he is asking for help, therefore appealing to the audience’s ‘need to nurture’. This will also appeal to the audience’s ‘need for guidance’ because there are helplines and websites that the person can visit to help them to quit. This may also appeal to our ‘physiological needs’ because this is implying that the children will have bad health as a result of their parents being addicted to smoking and they will have a major decline in their basic needs with potential breathing problems and asthmatic attacks.