Adverts are the way that shops and their companies promote themselves or their product. Adverts can be found on television, radio magazines or newspapers. A wide variety of techniques are used in the structures of adverts; humour, computer generated images, use of known celebrities, intertextuality, visual or special effects, music/dance etc. Good adverts are ones that catch our eye and make us look or read it again, make us laugh, have a catchy tune or jingle; the best adverts are the ones that make us remember them and the product they were advertising. The Guinness advert in 2000 was an example of good advertising.
Guinness launched a i?? 1 million pound advert that featured a variety of techniques.. It included computer generated images, a catchy tune and it caught your eye. Sales of their product increased. People could remember the advert and were talking about it; they also and more importantly remembered that the advert was for Guinness. Good adverts encourage trying products that we do not normally buy. Good adverts encourage us to look for this particular product on the supermarket shelves. Good adverts also encourage us to switch from our normal brand to the one advertised.
The first advert I have chosen to look at is “John West Salmon” advert. This featured a man fishing. He catches a fish and a bear tries to steal it. The man then wrestles with the bear, and wins, because he wants to keep his fish rather than let the bear have it. This advert is extremely funny and very unreal. No-one would fight a grizzly bear for a fish. The humour behind the advert is that the man is fishing; the bear tries to take the fish. The man knows he cannot win so he distracts the bear “Look an eagle,” he says. This is enough to distract the bear, and as he looks behind the man kicks him hard where it hurts!
This stuns the bear leaving him helpless and clutching himself in agony. The man then walks off with the fish and a voice over says “John West will go to any lengths to get their salmon. ” There is no catchy tune with this advert; the sound effects mimic the flowing river, the peace and quiet of the mountains, the cleanest of ricers, birds and wind in the trees. This advert is not particularly eye catching, nor does it have a catchy tune, but the punch line to the advert makes it funny and memorable. The computer generated images on this advert are superb.
The way the bear reacts, the closeness of the bear and the man and the expressions on the face of the bear are extremely lifelike. The target audience for this advert is mainly shoppers. It gives the impression that if you choose John West rather than any other type of salmon you will be buying the best as they go to great lengths to fish in the cleanest water and catch the best fish, so by buying John West rather than another brand, you will be assured of this. Another advert that has had a profound effect on the public was the Gap advert. Gap use similar features to their adverts each time.
You can easily identify Gap adverts by their white background and very catchy tune. The songs the adverts use are very well known and catchy. The young people who are modelling the clothes are pretty, handsome and all attractive. They are also chosen from different ethnic backgrounds to equality. They usually have a routine to dance to while modelling and youngsters can connect with this. They will associate the tune with the advert and many young girls will practice the dance routine. Gap clothes are particularly colourful, so making all their backgrounds pure white creates a fantastic contrast to the bright fashionable clothes.
The consumers’ attention is drawn to the people and clothes rather than focussing on anything else. Gap’s target audience is children, teenagers and people who like comfortable fashionable, everyday clothes. The final advert I have chosen is the ITV digital advert. It features a teddy bear type monkey and a man who is a real couch potato. The two characters have a dialogue which forms the basis of a comedy sketch. Once one sketch has been viewed the audience is waiting for the next one to come out, and the next. Throughout the series of adverts their characters develop and this allows the audience to get to know them better.
The monkey is much smarter than the man, but is also very bad tempered, paranoid and disillusioned. The man is sarcastic and conniving. They keep trying to get one better than each other. Their voices add to the comedy and contrast between the rough northern accent and a rather posh London accent. This makes the monkey sound even smarter. He is one who gives details about ITV digital and tells the audience about the features it offers.. The man just cracks jokes about it which annoys the monkey. The visual effect of the advert is important in the way it contributes to the humour of the advert.
There are no special effects using computer generated images, however, the unrealistic way the monkey moves and speaks is important to the comical role he plays. They both have a lazy lifestyle; couch potatoes who sit in front of the telly all day. The man in this advert is played by comedian Johnny Vegas, who looks and sounds the part. He already has a wide following and an audience who enjoy his style of humour. There is a short drum role at the end of the advert where they display the telephone number and website address for more information.
The target audience for this advert would be people who could afford to buy a satellite and box set to get extra channels on their television. I would presume the audience who would find it amusing would be younger. An elderly audience would not be able to share some of the jokes. In conclusion, the points I have gathered from these adverts are that comedy and computer graphical imaging seem to be the most effective form of advertising. People remember the scene or comedy sketch. This is certainly true with the ITV digital advert and Guinness advert.
