Advertising
Workbook
TASK 1 (label this on your
blog as 30.1.1)
Advertising is everywhere. It is one of the
largest sectors of the media industry,
adverts being presented in a wide range of
media such as television, film, radio, magazines, posters, billboards, the
press, and the internet. Of all of these, television advertising probably has
the highest profile, some television advertisements being so effective and
memorable that they become classics and part of the cultural background for a
whole generation of viewers.
Television is used to market almost every
product one can imagine from everyday consumables, like washing powder, to
extravagant sports cars, whilst some advertisements promote a service such as
insurance, banking or vehicle
breakdown cover. Television advertising has become more and more sophisticated,
utilising the very latest digital production techniques. Content and style can
be simple or complex, using traditional narrative structures or less obvious surrealist
imagery, and messages can be overt or understated. There seems to be no single
approach which can be said to be more effective than another.
1.Explain
what TV advertising is?
A
commercial advertisement on television is a span of television programming
produced and paid for by an organisation, which conveys a message, usually to
market a product or service.
2.
View three different contemporary TV adverts and list three key characteristics
of them
·
Narrative/Story – Sainsbury Christmas Advert
·
Product Placement– Toys R Us
·
Target Audience/Age – John Lewis Christmas Advert
TASK 2 (label this on your
blog as 30.1.2)
Advertisers
use a variety of techniques to get us to buy goods or services. Some of them
are listed below. Can you fill in the gaps and find an example of an advert
which fits the persuasive technique used?
Type of persuasive technique
|
Link to an advert which uses this technique
|
The Anecdote: Personal experience or story which is sold
to us as proof.
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM. Sainsbury Christmas
advert gives a personal experience, as the story is a true story from the
war. Which is a special subject, making the advert more effective and
personal. As many families have been affected by war.
|
Adjectives: Crisp, fresh, healthy, nutritious, etc
|
|
Repetition: Key points, positives about the product,
themes etc
|
|
Statistics: Often presented as factually accurate but
sometimes they are a bit dubious.
|
|
Fact: A statement that is true and can be proven.
|
|
TASK 3 (label this on your
blog as 30.1.3)
The two adverts have new and old
features to them, they are also simular in the way that they both protect gum
disease. The key differences are the
technology and the overall concept of the toothpaste. The most recent colgate
gives us information of all the different ways the toothpaste helps get rid of
“Cavities, gun problems, plaque, tartar, bad breath, staining, sensitive teeth,
enamel erosion”. This is a lot more information than the older advert that aims
its attraction to the audience about being “Tingling fresh”. In the older
advert, it does explain how certain chemicals in the toothepaste do prevent gum
infections. It also goes on to say that tooth infection is worse for your teeth
than decay. Which does show that there is research in the older advert aswell
as the newer advert. This is something that the two adverts have similarities in. There are many differences
between the two adverts. For example the older is in black and white. There is
also no technology in the old one. Whereas there is a lot of green screen, and
also a gadget that can look at the bacteria on the teeth. The newer advert also
includes many more features, you are able to see the bacteria on the teeth.
The newer advert
is grabbing the attention of the audience by using someone who is just going
work; they show the difference the toothpaste does to your teeth. By visually
showing you the experiment and the test.
The older advert
on the other hand as advanced, it grabs the audiences attention by having the
toothpaste in a block of ice. Giving it a fresh, “tingly feeling”. The older
advert uses repetition of the word “tingly”. This word is repeated because it
gets into the audiences head and makes them want to buy it.
TASK
4 (label this on your blog as 30.1.4)
According to Gillian Dyer (Advertising as
Communication, Routledge 1988) advertisers use among other techniques, the
following lines of appeal. They use images of, or make reference to things to
tap into our desires or fears. View the Powerpoint called Lines of Appeal which
is available on Moodle.
Analyse
three different TV adverts and state which persuasive skills and lines of
appeal have been used:
Advert 1
Persuasive
techniques: Happy Families. Using the aspect of a family and the coming together.
Product
USP: The advert uses the relationship between a mother and son. The son comes in the room as a police officer and the mom does role play with him. The son Highlighting the fairy liquid name with his magnifying glass.
Advert 2
Persuasive
techniques: Rich Luxurious Lifestyles. The advert is designed to be made as a mans best dream apartment.
Product
USP: The advert is definitely aimed towards men, as it includes mild sexism. As the women is cooking and also baking pizza. Whilst they have a few over a football pitch, which is most mens dream, whilst having a beer.
Advert 3
Persuasive
techniques: Dreams and Fantasy's
Product
USP: The advert uses a water-slide through a city, to attract the attention to the audience. As everyone at any age enjoys waterslides. It also brings the fantasy part of the advert. Which makes it more entertaining for viewers.
TASK
5 (label this on your blog as 30.1.5)
Audience
Demographics
One
of the most common ways of identifying a target audience is the socio-economic
model. Although this model has
been in use for a very long time, it is still a useful tool in identifying a
target audience. The basis for this system is level of earnings. An AB audience, for example, is assumed
to have more spending power than a CDE audience.
A
|
Lawyers,
doctors, scientists, managers of large-scale organisations – well paid
professionals
|
B
|
Teachers,
senior managers, some middle management – fairly well paid professionals (and
very poorly paid teachers!)
|
C1
|
‘White
collar’, junior management, bank clerks, nurses
|
C2
|
Skilled
‘blue collar’ workers such as electricians, plumbers, carpenters
|
D
|
Semi
and unskilled manual workers such as drivers, post sorters
|
E
|
Students,
the unemployed, pensioners
|
Audience
profiling
There
are many other ways that an audience can be segmented or profiled. Whenever a TV advertiser is producing a
commercial, they will always take care to identify the target audience as accurately
as possible. After all, if the
audience is identified and targeted well, the product is likely to be
successful! That is why audience
is considered a key consideration – because it is fundamental to the planning
and shaping of an advertisement.
Audiences
can be segmented in other ways as well as the socio-economic model above:
- Age
- Gender
- Demographic (where
the audience live)
- Profiling (this is
often done by advertisers to identify ‘types’ of consumers)
- Values, attitudes and
lifestyles (in other words the types of products which are likely to
appeal to those with these values, attitudes and lifestyles.
Watch a series of adverts
and identify as accurately as possible the target audience for each, provide a
link and give explanations to back up your conclusions about why the advert
appeals to the specific demographic.
1. For the Sony "Bravia" advert, they used 170,000 bouncy balls in multiple colours. To bounce down the streets of San Francisco. They contrasted the incredible colour of the bouncy balls to match the incredible colour and definition the Sony Bravia Television has. The thousands of balls make you not allow your eyes to be taken off the screen. The age and target audience, is anyone. As the the advert is eye catching and everyone can agree on the greatness of it.
2.
The Hovis Advert is a family based advert, its aimed towards a family. As the advert is a timeline, of a boy going out and getting bread. It starts from the early 1900's going through the World War 1 and 2. Both of the wars have emotionally affected many families in England. Its a very touchy subject so the advert had to be careful that they did not push the boundaries of being acceptable.
3. This 02 advert is directly towards dog owners. They took a risk by making the advert as its prejudice towards cats and cat owners. They made they advert into more a joke than being serious, so cat owners didn't take it so seriously.
3
TASK 6 (label this on your
blog as 30.1.6)
THE REGULATORS: (Video
Cast to be uploaded to your blog). Use the ASA website to help you answer these questions. Answer the following questions in a
videocast:
1.
Explain who regulates TV advertising in the UK?
http://www.asa.org.uk/. The ASA do, the advertising standards authoirty regulate what is and isnt allowed on to the UKs screens.
2.
Explain the process of how to complain about a TV advert which you
thought was offensive in some way.
There are 10 steps to making a complaint;
1. First, check whether your complaint is
covered by the ASA. Find out what
we cover here, or if you're still not sure, call/textphone us to discuss your
complaint. Our contact details can
be found here.
2. If it is, submit your complaint online, or
telephone,textphone, or write to us.
3. We’ll give you the name of the person
who will handle the case and be your point of contact.
4. The names of those who make a complaint
are kept confidential from the advertiser, unless you are asking us to have your
name taken off a mailing list or the complaint is from an individual,
competitor or organisation with obvious interest in the outcome of the
complaint (such as consumer bodies and pressure groups).
5. We can often resolve complaints quickly.
For instance, we can have an ad changed if it’s a minor mistake or chase up an
undelivered mail order item on your behalf. If it’s not that simple, we may
need to conduct a formal investigation, which can take longer.
6. A formal investigation means the ASA
Council will rule on the matter. We contact all parties involved (complainant,
advertiser and, if appropriate, the broadcaster) and inform them of the
process. We ask the advertiser and broadcaster to provide evidence for any
claims they make and, if needed, to provide justification about why they
thought the ad was appropriate.
7. We consider all the information we
receive and place the facts of the case before the ASA Council which decides
whether the Advertising Codes have been breached.
8. We publish our rulings in full every
Wednesday and make the findings available to the media.
9. Ads that break the rules are required to
be amended or withdrawn, if they aren’t, we will take steps to make sure our
ruling is followed.
10. We take every step to make sure the process
is fair, which is why there is an Independent Review Procedure that allows
complainants and advertisers to request a review of a ruling.
4.
Explain what happens in the video.
At the start of the video, the viewers thinks the actors are all swearing, this is inappropriate as the advert was most likely to be showing during the day. Instead of swearing saying the "F word". But instead of swearing they are saying Famine. Its a shock tactic to attract the attention of the viewer to the advert and makes it powerful.
5.
Explain why was this advert banned?
The advert was most likely banned because there is suggestion that there is swearing being bleeped out, when instead the word is famine.
6.
Do you think the regulators were right to banned this advert. Back up
your argument with clear points.
I do not think they were right to ban this advert.
7.
Summarise your main points.
They were not right to ban this advert, because it may have been suggestive, but it was powerful and got people talking about it. The advert was about famine, and by making it suggestive about swearing, it got people talking. Which also makes people more aware of famine, it was a brilliant advert because it made people aware of famine.
