A big aspect of Don
DeLillo’s White Noise is our
culture’s increasing dependence on mass media information. Your assignment is to create an Anti-Ad that
showcases, and makes fun of, one of our dependencies.
Today will be a three part blog in preparation for your
Anti-Ad:
Part One:
Brainstorm at least
ten iconic products or companies in our society (Note: Do not list and go into beer or cigarette
products – those have been discussed in detail in health classes. Focus more on consumer culture.)
Ex: Apple, Evian (no, you may not use these in your list now....)
For two of the above products you listed, find an
iconic ad that people connect with the product, then complete the following:
1. Post a link and/or picture of the ad to
your blog post
2. Answer the following questions:
a. Why do we (society) think we need the
product?
b. What does the product do for us? What
are the benefits?
c. What are the side effects of the
product?
Part Two:
Browse the following
websites to find effective and appealing commercials/advertisements. Take some time to look at a number of sites
so you can get a feeling of typical
techniques used and products
advertised. Also note the emotions the companies are trying to
elicit.
· http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-best-ads-of-2012-2012-11#10-cartier-lodysse-de-cartier-by-marcel-paris-1 - 2012 Best Corporate Ads
· http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/most-influential/top-10-corporate-publicity-stunts-across-the-world/ - Corporate Publicity Stunts
· http://www.cbsnews.com/media/top-10-most-viral-super-bowl-commercials-of-all-time/2/ - Top 10 Most Viral Super Bowl
Commercials of All Time
· http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_490_19-famous-advertisements-revised-accuracy_p19/#14 - Some examples of Anti-Ads
In
a thoughtful and well-organized paragraph or two respond to the following:
What advertisement do
you find that display the most overt use of propaganda? What advertisements do you
find to be the most subtle? What advertising techniques are used the most?
Which advertisement do you think reaches the widest range of audiences? Which
do you think reaches the narrowest audience? Try to predict at which time slot
and channel certain advertisements are aimed. Which advertisement is the most
surprising? If someone from outside our
culture watched/looked at a number of these advertisements, what would they
believe about our societal values? Why?
Do not worry about watching every
single advertisement and answering all of the above questions. I do, however,
expect you to watch a range of ads and provide a thoughtful and eloquent
response to current advertisements in our society. Use examples with links or
pictures to elucidate your points.
Part Three:
Definition of Anti Ad: an art project of sorts that's basically the
philosophical mirror image of the traditional ad.
Choose two ads you viewed today and
explain how you would create an Anti-Ad for that product.
Make sure you respond to the following: What does the advertisement demonstrate about American society? How can you make fun of our values using the product?
Make sure you respond to the following: What does the advertisement demonstrate about American society? How can you make fun of our values using the product?
Anti-Ad Example Taken from Adbusters at https://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/environmental
Post a response to the blog as well as a thoughtful response to a peer's blog by Sunday night.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete10 Products: Peta, Dell, Abercrombie and Fitch, Victoria’s Secret, Hershey’s Chocolate, Nintendo, Microsoft, American Apparel, Kraft food, and McDonalds.
ReplyDeleteNintendo: http://digitalnipples.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/photo-e1299635725912.jpg
a. We need this product because it’s advanced technology and maybe apart of us feel as though we need advancements in order to not be left out. Given the ad, I mean, heck that looks like a cavalcade of fun, the man’s eyes are popping out - he looks happy. Maybe it will make us feel happy.
b. The product benefit would be entertainment.
c. Side-effects would include possible decline of eyesight, distraction, fidgety fingers, restlessness, frustration, and a lighter wallet.
(Part 1)
McDonalds: http://newworkplace.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/mcdonalds-1.jpg
a. We need this product because as we are as an organism, we need to eat and fast food joints tend to offer a quick and convenient meal. In terms of the ad, it makes us feel included and that we aren’t isolated, making us feel like McDonalds really gets and understands us.
b. The product benefit would be delicious food and food for our system so we can survive.
c. Common side effects could include grumpiness, obesity, and desire for more similar food.
I think one of the most subtle ads was the one about wearing a seatbelt: they gave us zero information about the situation, leaving you to insinuate what is actually happened and even used symbolism in order to get across the message, stay safe for those who matters, wear a seatbelt. It's clever and gives off the right message, so kudos. Some techniques used in advertising is the use of stereotypes and make the "protagonist" of the ad white. A large majority tended to be white people which narrows the audience and also excludes other groups, giving them no representation. They also tend to target men in most what could be considered gendered neutral subjects- such as the "got milk" ad, they said that calcium would reduce symptoms of PMS, which attacks women and gives off the attitude of "ha ha amirite guys now plz buy milk", making it like a boy's club kind of deal. However in female-targeted ads, this situation is entirely different.
Most flashy and expensive ads will tend to be on prime-time (around 8 at night) because that's when there is a larger group of audiences. A lot of big brands like coca-cola or McDonalds have this money to spend, so it makes sense. As well, many large brands will appear during the superbowl, paying millions because they know how many people watch it, and know that's how they can get the widest audience (however narrow the range, as they will often target the commercials at straight men)
I think if someone looked at our advertisements from a different culture, they may think we value how a women looks, white people, straight couples, and consumerism. A common factor in these were objectification of people and the lack of value they actually hold. That they are just there for this product, and that they fit these narrow, narrow, standards.
(PART 2)
ReplyDeleteAnti-Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRikB2n9J08
What does the advertisement demonstrate about American society? Well, for one, the lack of understanding about female anatomy and the lack of sensitivity towards especially the female population.
How can you make fun of our values using the product? Turn it around and make fun of men, point out how, during menstruation, that our hormonal balance is closest to a man’s at that point, so honestly you’re just getting upset about how you act 24/7. Make them feel uncomfortable and like they won’t get any sensitivity during an already painful process. Make them feel left out and make the girls be like “lol amirite girls eh?”, because now they got all the dang dong milk! These men will be thrown out of the house if their significant other figures out about this.
ACTUALLY, include couples that aren’t straight, maybe include a lesbian couple catching eachother buying milk for the other person because they got the same loo of information, because funnily enough, women can feel just as uncomfortable or frustrated with another girl’s PMS. Destroy heter norms.
Part I:
ReplyDelete10 products/companies: Victoria's Secret, Aunt Jemimah, Heinz, Macy's, JCPenny, Oscar Meyer, Revlon, Maybelline, Aveeno, Trident
Maybelline, Baby Lips Ad: ( http://www.sassisamblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Maybelline_Babylips_Loves_Colour.jpg) We think that we need the product so that our lips stay hydrated, bright and shiny. Society also thinks that it needs the product so that we will look as beautiful as the model in the ad. The catchphrase “Kiss dull lips goodbye” creates a demand for the chapstick because it negatively portrays dull lips and persuades the consumer that the chapstick will prevent them from having dull lips.
Trident Layers Ad: The ad creator uses the catchphrase, "everyone wants a piece" and shows hands grabbing for a pack of gum. As consumers, we think we need the gum because everyone else wants it. This is a common tactic used in media. The ad does not even talk about the way that the gum tastes, smells, or looks. It is only effective because of the reaching hands and attractive colors.
Part II:
The most common methods of propaganda I viewed were association and “beautiful people.” The Mountain Dew 2000 “Bohemian Rhapsody” super bowl commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-S29PrNyqQ) is an eloquent example of association. Associating a product with an already famous organization, group, or in this case, song, is a genius tactic. The consumer will automatically associate the product with the song, and everytime they listen to the song will be reminded of the advertisement. Old Spice used another method of propaganda, “beautiful people,” to entice its consumers. In their 2010 super bowl ad, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE) an attractive man talks about all of his accomplishments, and how he will treat the woman he’s with. This ad hits two target demographics, both men and women. Women see the ad and want to be with the man on the screen, so they buy the product so their man smells like the one on the screen. Men see that women are attracted to that man, and buy the product so they can be more like him.
Other common advertising techniques are humor, animals, cuteness, pop culture references and demand for product. The 2008 E-Trade “Baby” superbowl commercial
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crVa0mg9skQ) knocked both humor and cuteness out of the park while successfully getting the message across. The baby isn’t a distracting factor to the main objective of the advertisement which is to get people to buy stocks. The baby contributes buy catching peoples attention. In 2011, the NFL used pop culture references in their commercial entitled, “Best Fans Ever.”
(http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1030291-50-best-super-bowl-commercials-in-nfl-history/page/16)
As if the NFL even needed to advertise during the superbowl, they chose to thank their fans and show enjoyable clips from past and current TV shows. This is a very subtle use of propaganda. The NFL uses “bandwagon” tactics during this commercial to show viewers how important they are and how they have a foothold in American values. It sends a message that says “hey, we’re really important because TV shows have written us in for decades.”
PART III
ReplyDelete"Visit Texas" Ad: (http://10steps.sg/wp-content/uploads/article72/28.jpg)
Anti-Ad: I would change the background to a strip of fast food chains, replace the skinny woman with a morbidly obese one. I would then change the catchphrase to “Visit Texas and Explore all its clogged arteries.” The advertisement demonstrates that American society likes to use women as bait for consumers. The target demographic for this ad is men aged 12+, there’s no doubt about that.
Garnier, "Hide Yesterday" Ad: (http://newsdrilldigital.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/garnier.jpg)
Anti Ad: I would change the point of view around to the parents and keep the catchphrase “Hide Yesterday” the same and have a hilarious parade of the hijinx of the night before behind the parents. This ad depicts the “work hard play hard” mentality of the U.S. and how old values like impressing parents still exist. We can make fun of our values using the product because we have such an obsession of looking good, and have this idea that in order to impress someone we need to look good. I think this is a plausible assumption, but it is also a sad one.
McDonalds is everywhere we go and look, and around us everyday. In this add, the food looks delicious and it is advertised for being at a low price. The person in the add looks friendly and healthy, so why wouldn’t people want to go there. The product feeds us and is known for their large quantities at an extremely low price. Side effects of the product it that it isn’t healthy and cause cause serious health issues.
ReplyDeletehttp://assets.fontsinuse.com/static/use-media-items/6/5994/full-799x1024/5012ff3e/6145751493_4446d3cc9a_b.jpeg
Society would think that the need the product because it looks, safe, heavy duty and more efficient. Also Fords are pretty popular cars in the country so lots of other people are driving them. The product allows for us to travel places, and carry/ pull heavy things unlike other cars all while burning less fuel. Side effects are that it still isn’t good for the planet, and can actually end up costing a lot of money in repairs.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2010/11/05/504766.1-lg.jpg
Part 2:
I think that the most obvious use of propaganda was the add with for the super bowl commercials. Most of them find someway to objectify women, since the majority of the people who watch the super bowl are men. I would say that the ads with the least obvious use of propaganda are the minimal print ads. They are simple and subtle and most of them are pretty effective. I think that the corporate publicity stunts reach the widest range of audiences. They catch everyone's attention and reach many different types and ages of people. The ads that reaches the narrowest range of audiences are the super bowl commercial because most of them only target men who like sports and women. I’ve been to many other countries around the world and I honestly haven’t seen very different ads and commercial techniques from the US. So if someone from outside of our culture probably would be too surprised, or think much of it.
Part 3:
http://www.sternadvertising.com/wp-content/themes/stern/images/print/mcdonalds/McD_print_ad4_large.jpg
I came across this McDonalds ad in my research. Its claiming that the food they serve is delicious. Instead of saying “deliciousness by the handfuls” I could make fun of this by saying something like obesity by the handfuls.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kyqmv7DT831qzqfg2o1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI6WLSGT7Y3ET7ADQ&Expires=1398966300&Signature=lfI0uuSPdBDepqfMo9k07aBKEqI%3D#_=_
This is a Victoria's Secret ad that I came across earlier today. Its says “I love my body” and there are three thin girls in underwear standing next to it. Maybe you could change it like toothpicks and arranged them into stick figure people.
10 iconic companies in our society: Snickers, Budweiser, Gieco, Acura, Toyota, AllState, Tide, Denies, Coca Cola, Gatorade
ReplyDelete1) Budweiser: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1030291-50-best-super-bowl-commercials-in-nfl-history/page/22
The Budweiser advertisement is not targeted towards men who get together to watch football games. This Super Bowl commercial is targeted towards females who love the fact that a dog helps train a horse and they become friends. If anyone can relate to that, even if their underage, they will remember the Budweiser logo and be more aware to buy it when they are of drinking age.
2) Gatorade: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1030291-50-best-super-bowl-commercials-in-nfl-history/page/27
The dangers of beer are present and the society needs to understand that this is bad to advertise to underage people. It is bad that our society is so competitive that they anything in advertising is fair game. Another advertisement I think can connect with people is this gatorade commercial with Michael Jordan. Anyone who likes basketball can relate to this, but it especially targets middle to older age men, who used to watch Jordan play.
I feel the best advertising technique is to get people to relate to something; not necessarily the advertised product but anything to get the consumers attention. If someone’s attention is captured by an Ad, they are more likely to buy the product over competitors when they come across it. Companies have smaller target audiences depending on what type of consumers would use their products. Some ads, typically seen in phone companies, mention aspects of their competitors directly or indirectly to put them and look better themselves. People from other countries that saw these type of ads would think we are unpleasant, selfish people. I also think that more ads that aren’t directly telling you about the product would also confuse them. Advertisers are smart in finding weak points in consumers where they can get you to relate to their product.