Hello EssayForum.com! This is my 1st post onto this website; but I have been a long time lurker. I have a paper due in a week; and I have yet to be satisfied with it after 4 or 5 re-writes. So, I figured I should get some other views into my paper. We did not receive a prompt; but here is a general description of how our paper should be.
Our paper is supposed to be an essay about 3 different advertisements with an overlying theme and we should talk about the methods they have used to capture the attention of their possible audience.
And now the paper...
A $385 Billion Dollar Image
According to pwc.com, more than $385 billion dollars were spent worldwide on the art of advertisement. However, what that doesn't tell you is how advertisement is a gamble. The ad produced from millions of dollars could work or could not work. Companies spend millions trying to create and produce their ideas so that their product shall be picked by the judging consumer to be purchased. Flashing lights, catchy slogans, and the playing of emotions are all sample ways to create an advertisement and give yourself a false hope of success while the unforgiving public judges and gives you an undisputable verdict. In this essay, I shall look at 3 current ads and how they play on the vacillations of today's society.
Nikon's new D700 "guerilla" billboard is very flashy and plays on the celebrity-obsessed world that we know live in. The 1st thing anyone would notice is the flashing lights of cameras as you walk by the advertisement. This would give the potential consumer a false perception that if they buy this camera they will be able to connect themselves to this Hilton driven world we have fallen into. Next, you would notice is the "guerilla" aspect to this ad; using a special frame and by increasing the size to make the scale of the objects to 100%. Due to this indirect camouflage; you start to believe that this is real; and you are one step closer to becoming a part of Hollywood. You begin your walk and notice that the flooring has changed from tile to velvet red carpet; you are literally big time now. You are on the red carpet walking to where your Grammy lies. Laughing as they look on are the producers of this great commercial. Having a faux red carpet leading to their store where you can purchase their link to this fantasy world. Overall; this advertisement seems to play on one big idea; the idea that this world is celebrity driven. The second human nature they play on is our natural reaction to move our eyes to flashing lights. After analyzing this artful display of a product; I have started to realize that playing on what society dreams of and playing on human reaction is one way to advertise a product.
Fitness First's Wait Watching advertisement is the next sales pitch I will analyze. A short synopsis of this display is the fact that this waiting bench for the Bus tells you your weight. As you being to think of your weight you look down and realize an easy solution... contact Fitness First. This ad is very simple a blue screen with a scale display and the company's name. I deem this is a try to arouse curiosity in the potential customer. Also, since it is at a bus bench it leaves you to believe that the people they are aiming at our ones that would rather ride the bus then walk; and would rather sit then stand to wait for their form of transportation. Another brilliant idea for this ad is the choice of font color and style. The style is the classic one of a digital scale; which to me is unforgiving and tells the truth whether you like it or not. While the color is red; red seems to be an aggressive color to most. So, now this board is yelling at you about your weight. This is a great play on human emotions as everyone is concerned about their weight all the time. However, Fitness First is providing you an easy solution; just contact them and those boards will slowly being to yell smaller numbers. Eventually that yell will become a whimper and almost a confidence-inspiring strong whisper. This ad seems to play more on a very popular insecurity in this image obsessed society as well as playing on color recognition.
The final advertisement being analyzed is a very creative political display; that being the Obama/ McCain - The Coloured Race display. This sales pitch is one for the government and seems to not favor either party. The first thing you notice is that this is not Barack Obama or John McCain picture; well at least not the normal pictures of them. Barack Obama appears as a Caucasian man while John McCain appears as an older African-American man. Across this odd picture of these men is a slogan "Let the Issues be the Issues." This is a very strong statement in my opinion and gives across the message that the American people should only care about their political viewpoints; and not the candidates' race. This is a shocking ad at first with a very important message; as once again this is an image driven world; while this picture provides a nice slap of common sense and rationality into our heads. As you slowly being to stare and get lost in the almost hypnotizing appearance of these two figure heads of the American people; you being to realize on how wrong you might be. Maybe you have only based your decision on race and ethnic background. This also tells you that race is an issue that shouldn't matter but also name, speaking ability, as well as political party. The only thing that should be the issue is the issues.
As we have looked at these advertisements; we being to realize that without the ability of using sound in a billboard; the best based off of popularity seems to be a shocking or flashy image. Due to this the study of human sociology to come to the conclusion that ostentatious images seem to catch the fancy of the human mind. After $385 billion dollars, it seems that your best bet in this tremendously huge market is that of showy images. This is in part to human nature to catch quick moving objects in your eyes and our extremely image driven society that we live in. After this analysis, I hope the reader feels like I do; where it seems that the producers of these sales pitches treat as guinea pigs for their pieces of art.
Thank you for reading; and please provide links to a paper you want to be looked at.
Also, I really won't mind criticism as long as you provide an example of how to fix it.
Thanks once again,
MCafOcc
Thanks for posting, long-time lurker!
your last para needs help:
As we have analyze these advertisements, we begin to realize that without the ability to use sound in a billboard the best source of popularity seems to be a shocking or flashy image. Due to this the study of human sociology to Social scientists tell us that ostentatious images seem to catch the fancy of the human mind. After $385 billion dollars, it seems that your best bet in this tremendously huge market is to go with sensational images. This is in due in part to human nature as the eye catches quickly moving objects in your eyes and our extremely image-driven society gravitates toward excitement . After this analysis, I hope the reader feels like I do: It s eems that the producers of these sales pitches treat as guinea pigs for their pieces of art.
And now I think you should go back to that last sentence of the intro and specify that your analysis brings us to this conclusion that it is not a certain process, that it is not necessarily a safe bet. That is the point of the essay, so introduce it in the introduction. Thanks! Please go give some other people feedback about their essays.
:-)
