Advertisements are basically a way of communicating with the consumer. Companies thrive on the effectiveness of their advertisements as they need to be attractive in order to entice the public into reading them thus enticing them into buying a product. In advertisements, companies always make their product sound phenomenal and make it out to be the best. Also, usually in beauty or food advertisements, the product is enhanced even more by scientific jargon e.g. amino peptide complex, bifidus digestivum and zinc formula all pop up in certain advertisements. Advertising agencies use this to make their product sound sophisticated, complex and to baffle the consumer into thinking that the product is some scientific innovation that will improve their life one hundred percent. Consumers fall into this trap and this is how the industry thrives, through aspiration and disappointment.
Lighting and digital imagery also play a vital part in the fight to win custom from consumers. Up lighting on a dark background for example would make certain products slightly shadowed and secretive, thus, subliminally invoking the basic human instinct of curiosity. However, conversely certain down lit products could look warm, attractive and inviting. Photographers would use down lighting in order to give products implications of luxury and comfort, or in a food advert to make ice cream or another frozen desert shimmer and to look as if radiating light.
Advertisements spring up in everyday life, on advertisement boards, on bus shelters, in shop windows and so on. We are subconsciously processing everything we see and this is what advertisers play on. Lots of red is usually used in adverts as this is the first colour the retina transmits. Digital effects are usually used to improve images making them look practically perfect and also different colour schemes and images are used to capture the right target audience.
I have chosen to analyse two contrasting food advertisements. These are the “Hello Mr Chips” Hellman’s Mayonnaise and the Grove Fresh Organic Juice Co. adverts. I have chosen these adverts because they both employ different media techniques. For example, The Hellman’s Mayonnaise advert relies on photography and soft-focus. Whereas the Grove Fresh advert relies mainly on computer generated imagery (CGI).
The Grove Fresh advert is rather simple and “to the point.” Because of this it uses a scarce amount of copy and it does not use the classical technique of a close up shot of the product, taking up most of the page. The main feature of this advertisement is a computer generated image of the text “Fruit Juice Now Available in Non-Pesticide Flavour” arranged in such a way and given the texture of orange skin that it makes it look like an orange.
This text could attract the reader into buying this product as it suggests pure healthy orange juice that tastes how orange juice should. Currently there are many issues arising on the effects of genetically modified foods and foods treated with pesticides on people’s health, so many people are now only buying organic fruit and vegetables, therefore this would be especially appealing to them. Also I think another target audience could be mothers with young children. They may be anxious about their child drinking orange juice treated with pesticides and after reading this ad they will be even more anxious due to phrases like “you risk consuming a cocktail of chemical residues.” I believe this is a deliberate scare tactic on the part of the advertisers.
The advertisement for Grove Fresh is extremely influential and makes orange juice that has been treated with pesticides sound potentially dangerous. For example it says “Every time you drink non-organic juice, you risk consuming a cocktail of chemical pesticide residues.” This would persuade most people to buy this product on account of their health. The advertisement presents only one statistic and this is that the product is only made from one hundred per cent organic oranges. Usually advertisements are packed full of statistics, these are to shed a positive light on the product and to make it sound better than others.
As there is a meagre amount of copy in the ad, not much information is presented, therefore not much knowledge about the product is gained and the consumer is left in the dark about where he or she could purchase the product. However, this could work to the advertiser’s advantage as it would keep the consumer thinking about the product and maybe find out where they could purchase it. The second advert I have analysed is the “Hello Mr. Chips” advert for Hellman’s mayonnaise. The image used on the advert is one of an unusual concept. This started off in Mainland Europe and was not fully embraced by the United Kingdom and the United States until it was pontificated upon in the cult classic “Pulp Fiction”.
The image is that of a close up of a plate of home cooked chips and mayonnaise where the focus has gradually been softened as the camera pans out. The image is down lit thus making the food look inviting. This advert consists of just the right amount of copy without “overdoing it.” The advertisement relies on its image to entice and interest the reader to peruse its rather formal small print. The font used is very simple and plain. The text consists of enticing language that draws the reader in and creates a vivid image in their mind. It also invites the reader to “Discover how good Hellman’s Mayonnaise tastes with a variety of hot foods”. This advert is intended for everyone as it uses phrases like, “Who can resist?” then mentions containing Omega three intended for people who are more in touch with a healthy lifestyle.
The slogan “Hello Mr. Chips” is a rather humorous phrase. It personifies the food stuff but also plays on a famous film title “Goodbye Mr. Chips.” In conclusion, after analysing both adverts it is clear that they both have an intended target audience. The Grove Fresh advertisement has a target audience of health conscious, anti-pesticide people. I think it is mainly aimed at people who have families and it persuades them to purchase it for their families in order to keep their families healthy.
On the other hand the Hellman’s Mayonnaise advert has a much broader target audience. It appeals to everyone. It appeals to people who are conscious about their health as it mentions that it contains Omega three. It also appeals to people who might like to indulge in certain types of food. Another target audience could be people who are quite weight conscious as it proposes the option of Hellman’s light and extra light mayonnaise. In my opinion, the better advert of the two is the Grove Fresh advert, as it is set out in an easier to read and more structured format, whereas the Hellman’s Mayonnaise advert is not as structured because the writing is extremely small and the image draws attention from it. If people who disliked mayonnaise looked at the advert and saw the image of chips with mayonnaise they would not bother to read further on.
