In this essay, I will be explaining advertisements; advertisements are made up of lots of different things, from the USP (unique selling point) to the techniques and the way adverts are controlled and censored.
The first advert I am going to talk about is the Gilet Razor adverts featuring Roder Federer. The first thing I'm going to talk about is the USP of this advert, this means what sets it apart from other products. At the end of the advert text pops up saying that this is a limited edition version of the product. The text is in a gold style font. The use of the colour gold is associated with rich and of high value, which portrays to the audience that this product is valuable and will stand out when they are watching it. The advert doesn't specifically say what is different with the limited edition in comparison to the normal edition, but men who are watching the advert will be more inclined to buy this product as the gold font will make them think that this is of higher quality than other similar products as well as it being targeted to them specifically.
This links into techniques, which are used in nearly every advert. Techniques are used in order to get the consumer to buy the product that is being advertised. The technique used in the advert I'm looking at is called testimonial; this is where a company use a celebrity to advertise and promote their product. As a result, this makes the product stand out to people as they often use a very well known celebrity who many people look up to and will attract many people to buy the product. They always use a celebrity who can relate to the product, for example if they are advertising shoes, they might use an athlete to advertise the product and not someone such as an actor. This is used so you can relate to the advert because the person selling it is believable and appropriate to the product. It will also make the shoes look like a better product to purchase if an athlete is using them as they are a powerful person in the sporting industry. In addition to this, Subway use athletes to advertise their food; yet we all know that Subway is an unhealthy brand, however when we see an athlete eat it, it will make us think that it isn't that bad for you therefore leading us to buy Subway in the future. Federer is one of the most successful tennis players of all time and when we see him go from the court to using the product it makes us think that this product will make us more successful just like him - this is a common technique used by advertising companies. If we saw the same advert but instead they used a unknown actor, the audience will turn off and not pay attention as they are not as appealing and interesting as a more famous star, but when they see a well known figure it makes them more likely to be attracted to the product as it is glamourised by the celebrity. The advert is trying to say 'buy our product and it will make you as big as this sportsman', we know that it isn't true but it is a common technique used and it sells the product. A lot of people think that this is wrong to advertise a professional product like that, but as evidence shows when they use a celebrity in a advert the sales go up.
Another advert which I think uses good techniques is the VO5 hair gel advert. This advert sees a young man joining the army, and during the process of recruitment, the men in front of him all get their hair shaved off. While on parade, a girl sneaks a bottle of VO5 hair gel to him, as they all stand in a line on parade. While all the other soldiers have very short hair cuts and bald heads, he has his hair all gelled up and is the centre of attention as he stands out from everyone else. Using the army as a theme, I think was a very wise choice as joining the army is socially considered to be a brave, heroic, manly act. By using a soldier for the gel represents that the gel is strong and will work and represents individuality. At the end of the advert, the last shot shows all soldiers on camp wearing the hair gel. This is known as the band wagon affect, where everyone joins in on the same thing/trend. We as humans always want to be part of the group and by seeing this it makes us feel like the only one without it making us want to purchase the product.
Before the advert is made the company have to decide what the intended demographics are. This means who the product is aimed at. As this is a razor product involving a male celebrity we can tell that this product aimed older adult men. I think it is also aimed at middle age office men as they have to look smart and are often clean shaven. This advert is show around 7pm on television, which is chosen so there target audience is home from work and they are more likely to watch the advert at this time rather than 11am when they are in the middle of work.
The structure of this advert is non linear, this mean there is a beginning, middle and end, however the clips are not shown in order. The advert shows Federer walking onto a tennis court with non diegetic music starting to begin the tension, and then it cuts to him shaving and using the desired product. This makes a big build up for a small product making it look superior to the big event, and it is also glamourised by using an attractive, important well known celebrity.
This advert did not cause any people to complain but some adverts do lead to controversy. If someone sees something that offends them, or if they think is unsuitable for viewing they can make a complaint through the ASA. Once someone makes a complaint through their official complaints board on their website, the advert is viewed by them to see if the complaint is worth taking action on. A example of this is the 2014 Jaguar advert starring Thor star Tom Hiddleston. In this advert we see a James Bond type villain in a underground car park, telling the audience what makes a great villain. He is wearing a classic suit and tie, looking very smart. This shows that it is being aimed at business men, and people with wealth who may be able to afford the car. After making his nemeses car spin out of control, he drives out of the car park at high speed. A complaint was made to the ASA saying that this advert was social irresponsible and promoting speeding. Once someone complained about a advert the ASA have the choice whether to uphold it. Thus meaning they agree with the compliant and the advert is taken off the air. They have to watch the advert carefully and look at the complaint at all angles, because what offends someone might not offend another. With the Jaguar advert, they thought that although it wasn't offensive towards anyone, it was considered irresponsible and promoting something very dangerous. Due to this complaint, it resulted in the advert being pulled from tv and not broadcast again. This shows how much power the ASA has as one person complained about the advert and it concluded in it getting pulled from television. This bring us to a bigger a question, is it right if one person is offended if it should be pulled from the whole of television? Some adverts for example, the 'Phones 4 U' advert was deemed too scary for viewers, but instead of getting pulled they were told to only air it after the watershed.
Once a company decide to make a advert for their product they have to pitch their idea to a production company, once they have found someone who is willing to help them make the advert they have to think about some important questions. What are they selling ? they have to get the advert spot on if they want the product to get to people. Who is it intended for ? These are the demographics, this includes the persons age, hight, appearance. This is important, especially for adverts which to promote cloths, if they promote something smart, but use a teenager skateboarder this isn't going to be their style, there for turning off people such as office workers who dress smartly.
The next thing is the psychographics, these are things like hobbies, lifestyle choices. The last thing is Geographic, this is where the person lives and the environment around them, For example if they are selling Hiking boots they want to aim at people that live in the countryside not people that live in london. Another important question is when they are going to air the advert. If the advert is aimed at old people they might want to air it during the day as most old people are not in work and don't go out so they are more likely to be watching it. Likewise if they are advertising beer, they properly targeting middle age men, therefore showing it at a later time such as 8pm to make sure there target audience is home and watching, also they wont show a beer advert on saturday night as much as they would on a monday night, as saturday night is known for the night most people go out.
The first advert I am going to talk about is the Gilet Razor adverts featuring Roder Federer. The first thing I'm going to talk about is the USP of this advert, this means what sets it apart from other products. At the end of the advert text pops up saying that this is a limited edition version of the product. The text is in a gold style font. The use of the colour gold is associated with rich and of high value, which portrays to the audience that this product is valuable and will stand out when they are watching it. The advert doesn't specifically say what is different with the limited edition in comparison to the normal edition, but men who are watching the advert will be more inclined to buy this product as the gold font will make them think that this is of higher quality than other similar products as well as it being targeted to them specifically.
This links into techniques, which are used in nearly every advert. Techniques are used in order to get the consumer to buy the product that is being advertised. The technique used in the advert I'm looking at is called testimonial; this is where a company use a celebrity to advertise and promote their product. As a result, this makes the product stand out to people as they often use a very well known celebrity who many people look up to and will attract many people to buy the product. They always use a celebrity who can relate to the product, for example if they are advertising shoes, they might use an athlete to advertise the product and not someone such as an actor. This is used so you can relate to the advert because the person selling it is believable and appropriate to the product. It will also make the shoes look like a better product to purchase if an athlete is using them as they are a powerful person in the sporting industry. In addition to this, Subway use athletes to advertise their food; yet we all know that Subway is an unhealthy brand, however when we see an athlete eat it, it will make us think that it isn't that bad for you therefore leading us to buy Subway in the future. Federer is one of the most successful tennis players of all time and when we see him go from the court to using the product it makes us think that this product will make us more successful just like him - this is a common technique used by advertising companies. If we saw the same advert but instead they used a unknown actor, the audience will turn off and not pay attention as they are not as appealing and interesting as a more famous star, but when they see a well known figure it makes them more likely to be attracted to the product as it is glamourised by the celebrity. The advert is trying to say 'buy our product and it will make you as big as this sportsman', we know that it isn't true but it is a common technique used and it sells the product. A lot of people think that this is wrong to advertise a professional product like that, but as evidence shows when they use a celebrity in a advert the sales go up.
Another advert which I think uses good techniques is the VO5 hair gel advert. This advert sees a young man joining the army, and during the process of recruitment, the men in front of him all get their hair shaved off. While on parade, a girl sneaks a bottle of VO5 hair gel to him, as they all stand in a line on parade. While all the other soldiers have very short hair cuts and bald heads, he has his hair all gelled up and is the centre of attention as he stands out from everyone else. Using the army as a theme, I think was a very wise choice as joining the army is socially considered to be a brave, heroic, manly act. By using a soldier for the gel represents that the gel is strong and will work and represents individuality. At the end of the advert, the last shot shows all soldiers on camp wearing the hair gel. This is known as the band wagon affect, where everyone joins in on the same thing/trend. We as humans always want to be part of the group and by seeing this it makes us feel like the only one without it making us want to purchase the product.
Before the advert is made the company have to decide what the intended demographics are. This means who the product is aimed at. As this is a razor product involving a male celebrity we can tell that this product aimed older adult men. I think it is also aimed at middle age office men as they have to look smart and are often clean shaven. This advert is show around 7pm on television, which is chosen so there target audience is home from work and they are more likely to watch the advert at this time rather than 11am when they are in the middle of work.
The structure of this advert is non linear, this mean there is a beginning, middle and end, however the clips are not shown in order. The advert shows Federer walking onto a tennis court with non diegetic music starting to begin the tension, and then it cuts to him shaving and using the desired product. This makes a big build up for a small product making it look superior to the big event, and it is also glamourised by using an attractive, important well known celebrity.
This advert did not cause any people to complain but some adverts do lead to controversy. If someone sees something that offends them, or if they think is unsuitable for viewing they can make a complaint through the ASA. Once someone makes a complaint through their official complaints board on their website, the advert is viewed by them to see if the complaint is worth taking action on. A example of this is the 2014 Jaguar advert starring Thor star Tom Hiddleston. In this advert we see a James Bond type villain in a underground car park, telling the audience what makes a great villain. He is wearing a classic suit and tie, looking very smart. This shows that it is being aimed at business men, and people with wealth who may be able to afford the car. After making his nemeses car spin out of control, he drives out of the car park at high speed. A complaint was made to the ASA saying that this advert was social irresponsible and promoting speeding. Once someone complained about a advert the ASA have the choice whether to uphold it. Thus meaning they agree with the compliant and the advert is taken off the air. They have to watch the advert carefully and look at the complaint at all angles, because what offends someone might not offend another. With the Jaguar advert, they thought that although it wasn't offensive towards anyone, it was considered irresponsible and promoting something very dangerous. Due to this complaint, it resulted in the advert being pulled from tv and not broadcast again. This shows how much power the ASA has as one person complained about the advert and it concluded in it getting pulled from television. This bring us to a bigger a question, is it right if one person is offended if it should be pulled from the whole of television? Some adverts for example, the 'Phones 4 U' advert was deemed too scary for viewers, but instead of getting pulled they were told to only air it after the watershed.
Once a company decide to make a advert for their product they have to pitch their idea to a production company, once they have found someone who is willing to help them make the advert they have to think about some important questions. What are they selling ? they have to get the advert spot on if they want the product to get to people. Who is it intended for ? These are the demographics, this includes the persons age, hight, appearance. This is important, especially for adverts which to promote cloths, if they promote something smart, but use a teenager skateboarder this isn't going to be their style, there for turning off people such as office workers who dress smartly.
The next thing is the psychographics, these are things like hobbies, lifestyle choices. The last thing is Geographic, this is where the person lives and the environment around them, For example if they are selling Hiking boots they want to aim at people that live in the countryside not people that live in london. Another important question is when they are going to air the advert. If the advert is aimed at old people they might want to air it during the day as most old people are not in work and don't go out so they are more likely to be watching it. Likewise if they are advertising beer, they properly targeting middle age men, therefore showing it at a later time such as 8pm to make sure there target audience is home and watching, also they wont show a beer advert on saturday night as much as they would on a monday night, as saturday night is known for the night most people go out.
