“We’d rather have a bowl of Coco pops” remember that song? This is just one example of a successful advertising campaign – if the slogan is remembered then so is the product. A consumer in the world of the twenty first century is very much a victim of the media; the main vulnerability lies in the campaigns put forward by advertising. Advertising is very persuasive and develops strong compulsions. Its sole purpose is to influence the public into choosing the advertiser’s product over all the others on the market, although this has proved
harder to do in today’s society as we, the purchasers, have become more aware of the way that they try to manipulate us. To overcome this problem, the advertisers have had to make their campaigns more sophisticated in very subtle ways. Advertising is all around us, so much so that many people don’t realise that it is there, although we are all affected by it. For example, think of a major football team, then think about their shirt. One of the things that people remember about it is the name of the company on the front – Manchester United are sponsored by “Vodaphone,” Arsenal by
“Dreamcast,” Chelsea by “Autoglass” and so forth. Also many sports personalities are paid to wear a product made by the company. One example: most children that are interested in golf would want a “Nike” baseball cap, as worn by Tiger Woods. This shows a very successful way to sell the name as parents are besieged by their children wanting to own the product. Using famous characters can, however lead to complications. Just recently there has been a case with the company that makes the “Brylcreem” gel, as they used David Beckham to sell their product, because many children wanted their hair like his.
The problem arose when David Beckham had all of his hair shaved off, as he had no need for gel anymore, and the “Brylcreem” campaign folded. Advertising can be found almost anywhere. Just walking down the street, it’s in shop windows, bus shelters, hoardings and phone boxes. Also the radio is an extremely good way to advertise as most people listen to the radio at least three or four times a week. When products are advertised on the radio, as there are no visual aids for people to remember, advertisers tend to add a jingle at the end. A jingle is like a slogan but it is
edited into a short catchy piece of music so that it will stay in the minds of the public. Although advertising is good for the company’s profit there has to be some control over what is broadcasted or presented to the public. The Advertising Standards Authority is the authority that has the control. They see every advert before it goes out and if they don’t think that the advertisement is suitable, they will not allow it to be shown. They also encourage members of the public to report any adverts they think are offensive, incorrect, or misleading.
An image is a representation of the personality of the product. Every product on the market has an image. One outstanding example of this is the advert for the “Levi twist jeans. ” This has a strong sexual image, as the advert shows a young, beautiful, sexy lady who has recently got out of her bed where she has left a young, good-looking man sleeping. The actor and actress used in the advert help to create the image of the product, and give the message that wearing these particular jeans can improve your social life. It is especially effective because it appeals to both sexes.
The advertisers hope that the public will buy their product because they think it will make them become like the actor in the advert. This is why many companies use aspirational figures in their advertisements. These are people we are supposed to aspire to be like, or ‘become’ in some way. Also the story and the setting for the advert plays a big part in conveying an image, as certain places give certain images. A loud and busy night club would put forward a fun-loving, young and naughty image, whereas a quiet office with efficient looking professional people in, would give a sophisticated,
independent and intelligent image. The image is connected to the target audience of the product in many different ways. The characters in the advertisement must be someone who the target audience can relate to, whether that is someone of the same age, or someone who the age group would admire or look up to. Also the setting of the advertisement connects to the target audience of the product. If the target audience was 10-15 year olds it could be staged in a school, as all children in the age range would attend a school so they could relate to this. On the other
hand if the target audience was affluent thirty year olds the advert could be set in a night club or an exotic holiday location, as they would probably be able to relate to this. One recent advertising campaign that has proved to be very successful was the adverts for the “Orange Tango. ” These particular adverts were aimed at young children to teenagers, aged around seven to fourteen. The advert was shown in the afternoon and early evening when most young people are watching television. The way the advert was intended to appeal to young people was shown by the way that in the television campaign the
advertisers used action replays and sporty voice overs to explain what was going on. Tango used this effect as many children in their target audience would enjoy playing and watching sport. Also the way that the tango man ran around like a little child helped to appeal to the target audience, as it appeals to their sense of humour. A man covered in orange paint running around slapping people, is somewhat strange and not an everyday occurrence. Because it is so strange, and very different to normal adult behaviour, the children think it is funny.
