Advert mood board

Advert mind maps

Task 6

The Advertising Standards Authority, or The ASA for short, regulates the adverts in the UK. They are responsible for monitoring the adverts that air in the UK and dealing with complaints that these ads may bring. They monitor the ads because they have to be able to judge whether they have broken the rules, if the rules have been broken, they would have to contact the producers of the ad either make them change it or have it withdrawn.

According to The ASA website, you have to firstly check if it is covered by The ASA. Here, is the link that shows what The ASA covers. If it is still unclear on what it covers, you can call/text the complaint to discuss matters. If your complaint is covered then you go ahead and submit it online, telephone, text, or write to them. Someone who is relevant in handling the case should then contact you. You don’t need to worry about your name being mentioned to the advertisers that you are complaining about, so you don’t need to second-guess your decisions. Unless you’re a competitor, such as a corporation or an organisation. Once this is done, the complaint should be dealt with quickly if it is something like a small mistake or undelivered mail orders on your behalf. It wouldn’t be as simple as that if they have to conduct a formal investigation, which would obviously take longer to pursue.

When a formal investigation is being conducted, it means The ASA Council will rule on the matter. They will contact all parties that were involved (complainant, advertiser and if relevant, the broadcaster); they will then inform all of the process. The advertiser and broadcaster will be asked to provide evidence for any claims they make and is needed, to justify about why they thought the ad was appropriate. All information they receive is considered and facts of the case are placed before The ASA Council who decides whether the Advertising Code has been breached. Rulings are published in full every Wednesday and are found available to the media. When advertisers break the rules, they are expected to be amended or withdrawn, if they are not, The ASA will take the required steps to make sure the ruling is followed. The ASA take every step to make sure the process is fair, which is why they have an ‘Independent Review Procedure’ that allows complainants and advertisers to request a review for a ruling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVo8ynkZj9I

“Little Girl” Phones 4u – 2011

Complaints: 659

Reason: viewers believed the adverts to be “offensive, irresponsible and unduly distressing”

This ad by Phones 4u starts of with a women coming out of an elevator on level -3 in a car park. The car park appears to be disserted and the lights are flickering, this gives a very typical horror genre feel to it. As this woman is walking towards her car she hears a noise and abruptly turns around to find nothing, she is now running towards her car and looking back on the way. She reaches for her driver’s door and reflecting back at her in the window is a stereotypical image of a pale little girl wearing a pale blue, old fashion gown. Upon seeing this, the woman jumps and spins back around to see yet again, nothing. She rushes in to the car now and slams the door, she looks down to put her seatbelt on and as she is realigning her spine, the little girl is pressing her hands on the glass. Obviously very scared, she’s screaming, clearly accepting her fate. Unexpectedly the little girl isn’t dragging her to the pits of hell, but instead says hello. In a rather eerie, ghostly way. The girl then goes on to say “The Samsung Taco Icon is only £59.95 on pay as you go” During this scene, there is a “£59.95 when purchased with £10/£20 airtime. Full terms apply” disclaimer at the bottom of the screen. After this whole exchange, the woman is looking at this girl in bewilderment. At the end of the ad, it has a slogan “Missing Our Deals Will Haunt You”, and is read out to the viewers in yet again, a ghostly voice.

This advert could be banned because it can be deemed to disturbing to some viewers, particularly to younger viewers. This advert wouldn’t really be appropriate to have being aired before the watershed hours, as it would be more likely that children would be seeing it. Parents wouldn’t want their kids to be seeing this, as they would have to be dealing with night terrors and having to constantly reassuring them that there are no monsters coming to get them. Why make a parents’ life more difficult than it already is.

This could appeal to some peoples’ sense of humour and the theme of the ad does fit rather well with the slogan at the end. Older viewers, especially horror fans can quickly make a connection with the two. Because of this, it can help boost sales.

“We do not know the content of the complaints, but we imagine that they all run along similar lines, which is that the advert is scary, and includes the sort of imagery you might usually see in the kind of DVDs you keep away from the kids.”

Dave Neal. 2011. Phones4u ‘scary little girl’ ad is too scary for viewers. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2116549/phones4u-scary-little-girl-scary-viewers. [Accessed 22 January 15].

This supports the evidence that the main complaint was that it seemed too scary to be aired. Despite receiving around 600+ complaints, it was considered very minimal compared to the number of views it had and the positive sentiment from online in relation to the campaign outweighs the negative.

After further research, it seems that the advert was not pulled off air according to one website - Mark Sweney. 2011. Horror-themed Phones 4U advert cleared by regulator. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/21/horror-themed-phones-4u-ad-cleared. [Accessed 22 January 15].

“The ASA dismissed the complaints because the restriction put on when the campaign could air "minimised the risk" of children, and in particular very young children, seeing the ad.”

And further evidence is quoted on the website

"We see the ASA's ruling as an absolute triumph to creative and impactful advertising," said Caspar Nelson, head of brand communications at Phones 4U. "The campaign has been extremely well received by a large audience who recognise the classic horror themes, get the Phones 4U sense of humour, and understand what our ads are trying to communicate."

However despite the positive outcome, PHONES 4U decided to have it run around programmes that ran after 9pm.

I am happy that it wasn’t pulled off air after further research, as the complaints were all trivial and were basically the same complaint but reworded through different people’s mouths. Although I can understand why these people had complaints, it was out weighed by the positive feedback that Phones 4U received. As the above quote has stated, it is an absolute triumph to creativity and is an impactful advert.

To summarise my main point, you can complain about an advert but don’t expect it to go your way.

Toothpaste Advert Essay

Advertisement has been around for many years and little has changed, despite that, new techniques and equipment has pushed advertisement into making their products more desirable to the audience, changing with the times and keeping up with the mindset of each era. I will explain some of the similarities and differences between the old and the new and how they affect us as viewers and consumers. To do this, I will use two contemporary toothpaste adverts, one from 1955 (Gibbs SR Toothpaste) and another from 2011 (Colgate).

The SR toothpaste advert is the first broadcasted TV ad in Britain so it is no surprise that the technique is unrefined but it has the building blocks of what advertisement is. These building blocks are what the old and new adverts share. A very prominent similarity is that they use repetition to try and sell the product. Although it is used differently, it still has the same goal. In the 1955 ad adjectives such as, ‘tingling’ and ‘fresh’ are repeated a number of times to emphasize on the supposed aspects that the toothpaste possess, however in the Colgate ad, what is repeated is not adjectives but the product’s name which is ‘Colgate Total’. By using this technique, the companies have embedded the properties and name into the viewer’s minds and increased the chances of them remembering to pick up the product on their next shopping trip. Another technique that the old and new share is that they use expert advice to validate their product, using a dentist’s approval of their product, it tells the audience that their product is reliable and is worth spending money on. Both of the ads say that dentists approve that they can help with gum disease, this adds to the facts and stats technique, which is then even more validated by using charts and graphs. When the audience sees these, they would think that the companies have done their research and testing to be able to provide them with figures. This assures the audience that they are not spending their hard earned money of bogus and unsafe products.

However despite the similarities, old and the new obviously have some differences between them, such as in the newer ad, the duration of the ad is much shorter (00:50), while the older one is far longer (01:01). 11 seconds may not seem like a lot but it is when it involves the attention span of nowaday viewers’, it is enough to make a difference. The difference being whether modern day viewers are bothered to watch the whole 1 minute ad or not, which is unlikely as today’s generation are used to a fast paced lifestyle. It’ll also cost more for the companies to have a longer timeslot as there is competition amongst the other companies, whether they relate in the products or not. The Colgate advert has the use of CGI (computer-generated imagery) effects unlike the SR advert. The advancement in technology is a clear advantage in this because it is much more amusing and interesting to view. Having a shorter airing time, it really does need to have something to keep hold of the audience. A very obvious difference is that the 1955 toothpaste advert is in black and white, again because of the technology used at the time. Another thing that the old and the new differ in is that the Colgate one has a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen, maybe because over the years people have complained about the side effects that toothpaste has had on them. Whatever that could be. Companies typically do this so they can say “We have warned you of the possibly side effects that this product may or may not have. Buy at your own discretion”, this will help hold them up in court if they are being sued.

All in all, despite the differences, they share more solid similarities that differences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99T-iGcii8U - Colgate Total

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKuEwsEiSp8 - Gibbs SR Toothpaste

Analyse three different TV adverts and state which persuasive skills and lines of appeal have been used:

Advert1

Product Name: Coca-Cola

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqUTA6AegA

Persuasive techniques: ‘Happy Families’

By portraying a happy couple that just discovered that they are going to have a child they have successfully established the familiarities of what a happy family is. Throughout the advert, the beverage is shown along side with the child as he is progressing in age. This is showing the viewers that the beverage will ‘always’ be there during the good times and the bad. In the advert, you see that the parents have no time for themselves and that their lives has gotten substantially more complicated as they are bringing up the child. Despite the difficulties they are happy to find out that they are going to have another child and they celebrate with a Coca-Cola Life.

Product USP: They don’t exclusively have one, but they have repeating images of the product in everyday situations. For example when the mother is walking in with a tray she has a Coca-Cola Life bottle clearly shown on it as she is coming into the sitting room towards her husband and child.

Advert 2

Product Name: Nescafe    

                                                                                     

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/media/video/2009/aug/30/nescafe-coffee-ad

Persuasive techniques: Dreams and Fantasies

This technique taps into our innate desire to explore the unknown venture into undiscovered territories. Nescafe has done exactly this by putting on an almost ‘Indiana Jones’ theme to their ad. In this ad they have a lone adventurer manoeuvring through dense jungle terrain as he goes about trying to find a coffee bean bush that magically grows out the ground in rapid speed and that just so happens to release a fairy like light that he then captures in a Nescafe coffee jar. He then moves on with he’s journey to a cave that is glowing from all the other captured nature that he has collected. By portraying this, they have embedded a fantasy like quality to the coffee Nescafe can provide.

Product USP: “Nature Provides, Nescafe captures at it’s brightest”. This implicates that they harvest the beans at it best and that you, the consumer, are buying a top quality product.

Advert 3

Product Name: HSBC        

                                                                                 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK_NinOmFWw

Persuasive techniques: Glamorous Places

At the beginning of the ad, you see a gentleman walking down a corridor in a modern office building, soon after you find out that he is on his way to a meeting, but the attendees are standing rather than sitting because it saves time in some people's opinions. It cuts to the busy streets of Japan and then to a traditional Japanese home where another business meeting is happening where everyone is sitting down, because firstly it it traditional to sit and also it is explained further that the head of the meeting likes to sit and contemplate the subjects that are being discussed around him. Switching between both the streets and office locations, it gives the sense that HSBC is both for the working class and to the high class individuals that deal in business. Depending on what you find to be glamourous, this ad can connect to all sorts of audiences. An individual might find the life on the road to be glamourous or another individual might find that a stable, high earning job is glamourous. HSBC is connecting everyone together in some way or another.

Product USP: "HSBC, the world's local bank". This indicates that everyone is welcomed to be a costumer.

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?

The anecdote: Personal experience or story which is sold to us as proof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_ztoeP4h4

This is a Macmillan advert and its tells a story from a cancer patient's POV in first person. She is saying thank you to all the services that Macmillan provides to families and people suffering from cancer.

"Mark. Thank you for talking to my husband, I hate how hard this is for him"

This is one of the many services that she says in the ad, this is indicating that they provide support for patients by helping them tell people they love about it. It is informing the viewers that they can get help from Macmillan in this aspect as well as other services.

Adjectives & Repetition: Crisp, fresh, healthy, nutritious, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iiZZVDCsxg

Adjectives can be easily found in ads whose product is food. In this case, 'crispy' and 'fluffy' are the key adjectives for McCain chips. By using song and dance, they are able to demonstrate  how they make their chips 'fluffy' and 'crispy', these indict to the viewer that they are indeed delicious. Repetition is used a lot in this ad as well, there are visual aids for the words 'crispy' and 'fluffy'. An example to this is within 10 seconds in a man pops into the screen with a chalkboard with the words 'crispy' and 'fluffy' with a drawing a streaming hot chip that is broken in half. Another one is when it is the factory scene and the ladies are biting into a chip and then they pull a string beside them and in the middle of the screen, the word 'fluffy' pops up and they say this in unison. This action is then repeated but the word on screen is changed to 'crispy'. You may also notice that the words stand out even more because they are the only red thing on screen present.

Statistics: Often presented as factually accurate but sometimes they are a bit dubious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_wl8uK4QCg

An advert for IAMS cat foods. There are no visual numbers but why would you need them when you have a talking cat telling you that "gram for gram, IAMS has more high quality nutrition" while compared to normal wet cat food. This is telling cat owners that by buying this cat food than any other cat food that it is more beneficial for your cat.

Fact: A statement that is true and can be proven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyqcST29wQ

Much like statistics, facts are more about information rather than numbers and figures. In this anti-smoking ad, it says:

"When you smoke, the chemicals you inhale cause mutations in your body. A mutation is how cancer starts"

This is a fact because you can go into a science textbook and you would probably see it there, or if you actually listened to your science teacher. You can google it.

With this fact and the visual aid of the cigarette growing a tumour on it, it is considered a hard hitting anti-smoking advert.

Advertisement

1 - What is tv advertisement

An advert is generally a 30 sec - a minute long, visual aid to try and sell a product, media companies are hired by corporations to produce one. They are typically aimed at a certain target audience depending on the product, it could range from working class to the middle class. If the advert is a toy for a child, they would be aimed at a parent rather than a child because a child doesn't have money/income.

 2 - Explain three different contemporary TV adverts and three list key characteristics of them: viewed Christmas adverts

• Target audience - Generally in these adverts, they were aimed at parents and trying to sell them products that their children might want. e.g - game consoles, electronic gadgets etc.
• Short timeframe - They are typically 30 seconds to a minute long. This is because the viewers would get bored of watching it and might switch channels before they even got to see what the product is. Also, the longer an advert, the more it would cost for the corporation to make. They would go bankrupt.
• Product placement - You can clearly see the product they are trying to make you buy. Sometimes it would even show up multiple times. The narrative might even revolve around this product, they want you to think you need it.