Over the past few weeks we have been analysing some adverts. We have realised that the purpose of advertising is to try to persuade the viewers to purchase the product being advertised. I think that the main reason television advertising is successful is because of the actors they use and also due to the number of shots which have been put together to construct the advert. In the adverts we are focusing on we are introduces to the main actors which are children. Using children to represent the product being sold means that the viewers are going to pay more attention because children are recognised as cute an innocent.
There are some adverts in the television industry that seem to be more appealing and effective then others. I think the cause of this is the age they are aimed at or what the aim of the advertisement is- whether it is to sell a product or make viewers aware of issues. It may also be the use of mise en scene, camera work or sound that make a big difference to the popularity of the advert. In my opinion I feel that for an advertisement to be memorable and successful it must appeal to the age group aimed for by including certain types of shots for different age groups for instance an advert for teenagers would be enormously triumphant if there was a particular model or celebrity which is known by most teenagers.
The ‘Vodafone live’ advert meets this example and is known to be quite successful. This is due to the fact that the famous footballer, ‘David Beckham’ stars in the advertisement and makes teenagers as well as young adults buy the product- wanting to be like the celebrity. Other adverts such as ‘herbal essences’ a shampoo and ‘maybelline’ a successful make up company also use models and celebrities to encourage the selling of their product.
Advertisements made for world wide companies and fast food restaurants such as ‘McDonalds’ are also widely effective and persuasive because rather than using the common technique of including idols or celebrities in their adverts they like to be unique and use sound effects and mise-en scene well to achieve the goal of the advertisement. All these adverts are set out to sell products. Adverts, which represent events such as the clothes show or concerts appeal to a lot of viewers too because of the way they are constructed. They are made to look interesting by showing previous events of the kind. I think this attracts the viewers because they get a taste of the event and so believe in what the advert is putting forward.
The other type of adverts, which also are quite effective but in an opposite way are adverts which raise awareness to viewers-issues of the world. These kinds of adverts include shelters such as Oxfam and children’s society. The adverts I found particularly valuable were the ones produced by the children’s society. The reason I found these adverts effective were because they successfully raised issues of the children’s world and completed the task of encouraging the viewers to donate within the advert. I am going to analyse two different adverts created by the children’s society and will be closely analysing how the advert is constructed to meet the objective of the advert which is to donate money to the named charity.
In the first advert we looked at we saw an average sized male adult getting beaten by a companion who was bigger built and made out to be stronger then the opening man. During the advert we were made alert of the abuse some grown ups experience as children and are aware that the abuse needs to stop. we realise that the man did not have much freedom in his youth and are conscious of his want for freedom.
The second advert analysed, what looked like, the runaway of a young girl at the age of 10 to 11. We are introduced to the child in the first image and notice that she does not look familiar to her surroundings. We realise that she is alone at a time, which is known to be shared. We see her walking the side streets of a busy town and are informed about the goings on of the outside world. This shows us the dangers some runaway children and also makes us understand world issues.
In the second children’s society advert the outside world is shown to be dangerous and complicated. We are given the impression that the streets are unsafe for children. This is shown in shots 13 and 14 when we are introduced to a curb crawler. This makes us aware of the extent of danger in the streets. The frightened look on the girls face after the shock she has is opposite to the boy in the first advert when he thinks of the world outside the four walls. In the first advert the boy looks as though he wants to be outside in the brightness and exciting world.
This is shown in shot 4 when we see the main character of the grown man at the window of a terraced house. We see the man deep in thought and feel his want the camera is at a medium shot at this point but slowly zooms in to focus on the man and his expressionless face. We, the viewers feel his want. This difference is also an extreme opposite because in one advert we empathise with the child’s character because she is outside and we understand her want to be inside whereas in the other we empathize with him because he’s inside and we feel his want to be outside.
This use of daylight and night in the outside world is effective because it can be used to make the viewers feel a number of things depending on the mise en scene, sound, lighting and camera work used in the shots. This use of natural light or settings atmosphere is useful for the directors of the advert as it allows them to give an extra realistic look to the advert, which makes it easier to understand.
