A comparative analysis of a selection of advertisements produced for television – Sagar Gautam 12IW

Ever since the 1940’s and 50’s where TV was introduced and product lines expanded due to increased trading, commercials have been thoroughly used in order to advertise a specific company’s product. Companies have been attracting specific target audiences through advertising that heavily relies on budget and persuasive strategies to appeal an audience.

In the Guinness ‘Evolution’ advert, instantly a close up is used of 3 men drinking in a pub. This is not only indicating to us as the audience that the advert is going to be about beer and is specifically targeting males, it is also using the persuasive strategy conformity to draw attention to what’s actually going on within the first few seconds of the advert; 3 men in a pub, socialising, drinking Guinness. This is targeting the audience’s fear of not being able to fit in, and enjoy themselves, as if only one person were to advertise the drink it can give off connotations of isolation and being unsociable, which is why there are 3 men used in this advertisement. The use of the 3 men being middle aged reflects to us that the target audience for this advert are men aged between 22 – 40 years. This is also showing that its demographics is mainly aimed at males instead of females from S.O.C A – D2; however not E which is students as throughout the advert there are no signs of any students. This is because when advertising alcohol there are ASA rules to ensure no signs of advertising underage drinking, and this can still be reflected by someone who legally may be over 18, but still looks under; this is the reason behind using middle aged men for advertising alcohol as none of the actors at the beginning of the advert represent a student by being dressed casual and smart making them appear to be more mature. The idea of drinking Guinness and treating yourself is yet again targeting our fears; some may want to express their personal success through a trusted brand as it has been around for so many years, this will especially target aspirers and mainstreamers who look up to what they see on TV and are brand aware, though for different reasons.

Straight after the close up, we see a mid shot of the three men and after they take the first sip of the beer there is a shallow focus close up of one of the men’s facial expression, showing the viewers he is enjoying the beer and perhaps forgetting everything revolving around him for a moment except for that pleasure. This is a contrast to the end of the advert, which mimics the start of the advert with a medium close up of the characters who are now mud kips, but this time they are taking a sip of muddy water instead of beer and at this point we get close up of the main character's facial expression and this time he does not enjoy the drink. This is very important to the plot as a whole because the whole idea of the advert was to exaggerate how nice the beer is and that "good things come to those who wait," which is suggesting that anything else may not be as enjoyable and that compared to waiting for centuries for evolution waiting for a Guinness to settle down is nothing. The use of three men in comparison to the three animals from hundreds of years ago, along with the use of evolution suggests to us that we all evolved to enjoy Guinness. The non diegetic background soundtrack which is ‘Rhythm of Life’ builds up excitement due to its consistent up beat rhythm, right to the point where the mud kip burps at the end of the

advert, using the persuasive strategy of humour, which puts the audiences in a better mood so they find the product more appealing.

As the characters go back in time, a full focal field is used in order to show the location, which is very important throughout the entire advert. Whilst the mis en scene and camera angles constantly change, the full focal field is in use all the time. For instance, whilst during the time travel the camera angles change between a number of long shots, extreme long shots and close ups to show the detail of the world changing through the centuries the focal field remains full. It is crucial to provide a clear crisp shot to embed the viewer in the changing enviroment. The shallow focal field shots are used during the start and end of the ad to focus on the characters drinking the advertised product and focus audience attention on the product and the enjoyment it provides.

The non diegetic background soundtrack “Rhythm of Life” is played throughout the advert when the time travelling motion starts. I think the soundtrack used is parallel to the advert, as it does indeed relate a cheerful song to evolution of which many people in collectivist cultures do not believe in, inevitably opening up many arguments due to the seriousness of the topic. This advert makes a light of it, ultimately drawing more attention to male and female diverse ethnicities situated in the UK, either due to the amazing quality of the CGI animation and the product itself, or the different beliefs people around us believe in.

Guinness have used inversion as a persuasive strategy with the tagline “good things come to those who wait.” This is a clear example of a product’s negative connotation represented, so it seems like a good one. Due to Guinness being one of the fattiest beers around, it takes a while to settle down and froth out. The amount of ingredients in the beer means it is a really thick brew and requires a bit of time before you can actually sit back and enjoy it. They have used the line “good things come to those who wait” to further advertise their product, the ‘good thing’ being the Guinness beer itself, and the ‘wait’ is for the beer to settle down, and ‘those’ being the people who are about to drink the beer. This ultimately is targeting aspirer’s as they are seen by the media industry to have an aspiration to succeed, aswell as suceeders if they want to continue succeeding. Good things coming to those who wait may not just relate to Guinness, but can relate to major aspects of certain people’s life; especially if they are inpatient individuals. The idea of waiting also links to the imagery created from the ad itself as it represents evolution which many years to develop into where we are now. This concept of time and waiting has featured across a series of Guinness’s high budget concept based adverts; using inversion throughout to change the audience’s perception of the wait associated with the drink.

The mise en scene of costumes and facial expressions change during the time travelling quite frequently. The more years the advert seems to go back the more change there is in lighting, costumes, gestures and facial expressions. The use of this effect is very intriguing and eye catching as a lot of things are happening at once, showing us as the audience that this Guinness advert is a high production value, high budget ad. All of the editing and post production effects used throughout the advert means it was bound to have cost a lot of money to create. I have decided to do a comparative analysis of a German energy drink advert for ‘K-FEE’ in conjunction with the Guinness as it is an example of a low budget, low production value advert.

Similar to the Guinness advert, a full focal field is used to show the scenery, letting the viewers see the beautiful scenery in which the advertisement is based. However, when the monster scene is rapidly shown, the depth of the field is changed and the camera angle changes to a shallow focal field close up, mainly focusing on the character’s face. This use of the rapid change of camera angle into a close up of the character’s face is similar to the Guinness ad when the 3 men’s facial expressions were shown as the 3 mud kips. However, in the ‘K-FEE’ advert the sudden camera change to a close up angle was done intentionally to instantly trigger the jump/shock of the situation. The fact that a close up is very personal and intimate with the audience is why the close up camera angle is perfect for situations like this. Funnily enough this advert also uses humour as a persuasive strategy like the Guinness ad; however it has gone pseudo-viral over YouTube and is used to prank friends, ultimately targeting male and female teenagers and young adults up to 25. After a lot of research on reactions and reviews of the K-FEE ad’s the two main forms of reactions are being petrified/jumping and the other is bursting out laughing from the shock.

Extreme longshots are used to a high effect with the full focal field because the camera angle is setting the scene and the human eye is instantly concentrating on the car driving down the pathway. The extreme longshot extends which further continues to distract the audience and to trick them into looking at the car, opening up space for anything to occur because the view of the scenery is so huge, and this provides the space for all the shock.

The green scenery adds an effect to the ad itself as green symbolises nature, healthy and positive connotations. However this colour is used ironically as it is a perfect contrast to what happens in the end of the advert. The mise en scene of this ad is really simple, the natural high key lighting is mostly the same throughout and there aren’t many props used throughout the ad; which identifies that this is a low budget ad. This is very different to the high budget, high production value Guinness ad, where there are lots of different types of mis en scene and props. However I think the K-FEE ad’s mis en scene is intentionally simplistic due to the content of the advert; it is a build up to a structured effect received from the ad.

Similar to Guinness advert, the K-FEE ad also targets our fears and weaknesses but in a more personal terrifying way, in my opinion I think this is definitely a more interesting way to get any target audiences attention; however the idea of an energy drink will mostly appeal to those who are more physically active such as students from S.O.C E up to plumbers and electricians and brick layers C2-D1. The demographics of the ad is definitely both males and females as both would need an extra source of energy especially if they are suceeders who run a business and require a lot of work and concentration to be done on their behalf, however for those who are 50+, it may not be the most suitable drink to consume due to the high levels of caffeine aswell as little children. It is arguably not suitable for certain audiences such as these, as they can be dramatically affected by watching one of these ads however this particular K-FEE ad is one of the scariest, other adverts for the energy drink are not as scary. There are re makes of adverts like these now where in the screen action it does not even involve the monster meaning there is no overall shock at all, however

these remakes were publicised on TV after the first original ad come out due to daytime complaints towards vulnerable audiences such as children and the elderly.

The fear and shock effect received from this advert is why this ad was produced; it draws the target audience’s attention to the product. The idea of scaring the audience to get their adrenaline pumping fits perfectly into releasing adrenaline from energy drinks, vital for more males as they statistically require more energy consumption then women daily. This advert would not have been what it is today if it weren’t due to the sounds used in this ad. Sound plays a vital part in the advertisement because the sudden change from the non diegetic flute instrumental ‘peaceful’ sound is what intensifies the reaction of the video. Whilst the car is moving down the pathway a nice peaceful non diegetic sound is played however when the camera angle is changed a diegetic scream is played very loud, which contrasts to the scenery but is parallel to the exact moment occurring, which ultimately makes it shocking. (Translated: "You've never been so awake")

The ad obviously uses green screen but CGI is not as major as the effects used in the Guinness ad. The screaming sound effect which is the centre of attention of the whole ad has been edited as it is such an important part of the ad, the use of the non diegetic beating heart sound being played at the ending slogan in German: “So wach warst du noch nie." Which translates “You’ve never been so awake,” ultimately closes the advert, leaving the audience “awake” from the edited scream, allowing adrenaline to flow which is the sole of the idea behind an energy drink.

Cresta + Honda comparison

Advertisers also use animation to market products, this is epitomized by the animated Cresta commercial; they have chosen to use a drawn cell animation of a cartoon bear to help sell their product. This instantly tells us that the target audience for this advert is specifically aimed at children and parents, however since Cresta is such a trusted brand that has been around for decades it also targets mainstreamers especially E to C1. The simplistic animation and features in the screen action throughout this advert suggest it is a low budget, low production value advertisement.

The colour scheme throughout the ad is black and white, except for the product itself which makes the product stand out, drawing the attention of the viewers to the drink. If this failed to catch the viewer’s eye, the polar bear brings the product close to the screen to show what he is drinking. This is a close up shot of the product which is being marketed, which lets the target audience know exactly what is being sold potentially.

The persuasive strategy maternal and parental love is also used as this drink is presumed to be cool due to the polar bear character; and parents have that innate desire to meet demands of their children if it makes them happy. Cresta’s content across a series of ads reinforces polar bears being cool, we can also associate this by where they live and his sunglasses help. The polar bear has been humanised with a cool deep voice and also with a lazy/cool posture to really achieve that ‘cool’ effect. This in effect with the black sunglasses will not only appeal to our need to conform, our desire to fit in and be ‘cool’ which mainly appeals to children; it also inspires

aspirers to be cool and can persuade them to go out and buy this Cresta drink and maybe a pair of sunglasses too. Cresta reinforcing this cool polar bear to be the face of their brand in a series of their adverts targets identification in terms of celebrity endorsement as it was celebrity Jack Nicholson himself who gave the inspiration for this idea. This further motivates other mainstreamers to acknowledge how good this product is as it is advertised with a character of such popular appeal.

There are multiple diegetic sounds within an ad that’s just less than 35 seconds and all the sound is exaggerated due to the character being really loud and shouting, which grabs the attention of the audience as the volume increases. The camera angle also shakes when the character shouts and falls over. A continuous longshot is used to capture this throughout the animation as the character changes height and shape frequently. This all in effect intrigues the viewers as everything is loud and continuously moving reflecting the frothiness of the product being advertised.

Throughout the advert the persuasive strategy humour has been used to lighten the mood of the audience. The polar bear reacting wildly after drinking the product would make the target audience laugh, especially at the end of the advert where the character is getting up from his fall with wonky glasses. The slogan “its frothy man” followed by the little giggle also is used to make the audience laugh. The effect of using the persuasive strategy of humour is done because laughing makes puts us in a good mood, the better the mood the more money spent with pride on products! I think the clever use of humour and even nostalgia to some extent as Cresta has been around for decades causing parents now to remember childhood cartoon characters engages the target audiences mind more then the low budget, low production value content of the ad.

This advert I would class a low budget ad as it is all hand drawn and is a short duration ad aswell. There are not many processes of post production editing at least not in comparison to the Honda ‘Hate Something, Change Something’ ad, which you can easily tell it is a high budget, high production value ad as there are lots of evidence of post production editing which must of took hours because so much goes on in this advertisement.

Unlike the Cresta ad that targets aspirers, the Honda ad targets reformers as there is an environmental theme throughout the ad which implies that their product is safe and more eco friendly. Evidence of this is the polluted engine that is causing a disturbance in the environment; the surroundings around the engine react negatively to the pollution and disturbance. This reassures the audience that buying their product is the right option. The Honda ad manages to draw the attention for all audiences to enjoy, this heavily processed CGI animation’s screen action is very fast, complex and snappy which glues the audiences mind to the screen due to the energetic content of the ad.

The colour scheme used in the Honda advert is really vibrant throughout the ad to represent that peaceful nature. The use of the bright colour scheme implies to the audience that purchasing their product is a good thing and it will benefit the world. The contrast between the old diesel engines as apposed to the vibrant colours is clear as it looks dirty and stands out in the vibrant environment, grabs the attention of the audience as it is telling them that the motor they are already using will not be as

efficient as the Honda diesel engines they are selling. Similar to the Cresta ad, the Honda advert is also using parental and maternal love as a weakness, as it is showing to parents if they want a better world for their kids to live in, changing over engines is a start; the use of a country side setting further appeals to the idea of a safe, healthy family environment which is a mandatory for parents to make their children feel.

The Honda ad uses a diegetic happy soundtrack ‘Hate Something Change Something’ to lighten the mood of the target audience as the animated characters within the text dance in sync with the music especially when the penguins hit the old diesel engines in time with the music which emphasises “hate” and “change.” The lyrics are contrapuntal to the soundtrack itself as it is positive happy music talking about hate at the hands of the animated animals and nature. The voice used to sing the lyrics in the soundtrack brings a warmth and feeling of hope, suggesting that everything is going to be alright. This in combination with the use of the persuasive strategy humour puts the target audience in that good mood. Throughout the advert there a multiple funny ways of the polluted old engines slowly disappearing. This is similar to Cresta as Cresta has used humour to lighten the mood of the target audience throughout the use of the cool polar bear character in effect with diegetic sound.

Iceland and Aerial comparison

In the Iceland ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ advert, it instantly opens up with a camera zooming back through a window that is clearly showing use of nostalgia as outside the window there is a heavy snowy, white scenery in combination with kids playing outside and a typical snowman with a carrot for a nose and a scarf. Within just the first 10 seconds of the advert it’s introduced us to this Christmassy scenery before it zooms back straight into a warm house party scenery, with lots of background visuals of families and kids having fun consuming lots of food from Iceland. This clearly states its target audience which is aimed at families, mostly for the working class D1, D2 and E mainstream classes due to the price of the goods they are advertising. There is a hint of conformity, aswell as reference to parental and maternal love as persuasive strategies; this is due to the background party showing families socially having fun at this party, with a lot of food while the diegetic conversation sounds in the background also suggest that sociable feel for Christmas. Audiences who come across this advert at home will be given the impression of having a lot of food at Christmas means to have a better time, aswell as being part of a group rather then an isolated individual; it is definitely represented to seem desirable.

There are a lot of close ups directly on the food itself to advertise the different types of food Iceland is offering combined with longshots to show the quantity of food there is, possibly an indication of how much you can afford due to the cheap prices. By the close ups there is a special on screen graphic which keeps popping up which labels the food with its name aswell as its price tag. There is a heavy use of the persuasive strategy of gluttony due to the price tagging and long shots of the foods to trick the human mind into genuinely wanting to consume more food for no particular reason, just due to its low price.

What also contributes to the persuasive effect of buying Iceland food is the mise en scene of the advert. The colour purple is the colour of royalty; it connotes luxury, wealth and sophistication. In this advert the colour purple is frequently used

throughout to suggest not only is Iceland’s food cheap; it also is luxurious. The colour purple is also seen as a unisex colour, which targets both males and females. There is a lot of bright, vibrant scenery inside the house to reflect that it is a Christmas party. It suggests the idea of a happy cheerful family environment which contrasts to the outside scenery which consists of life-less, dull colours and a cold atmosphere which suggests that inside is more attractive; ultimately due to the presence of Iceland food. The use of the bright colours targets kids aged up to 12 as bright colours is associated with having fun but also suggests positivity to adults. From the outside scenery pulling straight back into the inside warmth scenery with Iceland food suggests that Iceland’s products themselves can improve your Christmas; therefore targeting parents/adults who celebrate Christmas especially female mum’s as it can be a big duty for them to organise Christmas.

The content of the advert uses the persuasive strategy of celebrity endorsement aswell, as Jason Donovan plays a character who has to leave this Christmas party but gets stopped by Kerry Katona and Coleen Nolan through the temptation of the food and the excuse of the diegetic soundtrack played throughout the whole advert “Baby it’s cold outside.’ The use of these celebrities targets aspirers and mainstreamers as Iceland is already a well known company, and when they hire celebrities to present their ads no matter how much that exact celebrity most probably wont even generally eat Iceland food, it leaves that sense in the back of an aspirer’s mind to look up to these celebrities and succeed in life, just by purchasing Iceland food.

There is a slight sense of sexual appeal which is backed up by midshots of Kerry Katona and Coleen Nolan’s breasts on show, which is in direct height to Jason Donovan’s face using diegetic speech in the song lyrics such as “a pleasure that cannot be denied,” and “I wouldn’t say no” which would also attract more males to the advert as there are breasts on show with two females literally begging a man to stay at a party, by bribing him with food which he “likes a lot” as Donovan says and can “hit the spot” as Nolan claims. Katona and Nolan are both single mum celebs, this therefore persuades all the single mum females out there that you can enjoy Christmas even if you are single, you do not need your husband to have fun. I like how Iceland has managed to give non direct motivation to females out there without being too indirect. There is also a frequent use of humour throughout the ad, but in my opinion it is a bad comical humour which makes us laugh at the joke and not with the joke. The singing within the advert also links to nostalgia as a strategy, as it is so bad it is clearly to be remembered if someone mentions any of the lyrical content of the singing in an everyday casual conversation, it is reminiscent of cheesy old musical movies as that’s where the song comes from. Cheesy lines and smiles are repeated throughout the ad to naturally put the audience in a better mood when seeing this ad. For example “is that my king prawn she ate?” which was said after a child grabs a king prawn from the plate, which is stating the obvious which isn’t funny but is comical in its own way which surprisingly does not make people feel more reluctant to go and buy these products from Iceland.

The Aerial advert is similar to Iceland’s target audience of families, however it predominately targets mothers and house wives from SOC C1>A as there is an instant close up of a mother and grandmother doing their daily monotonous, stereotypical routines maintaining family life. It also uses parental and maternal love to target these audiences as the ending of the advert depicts a little girl playing around with her

mother, comfortably wrapping herself around pure, clean sheets which ultimately connotes that maintaining clean, white sheets of clothing can definitely bring a feeling of safety and comfort within the family as a whole. This is re enforced throughout the whole advert as the colour schemes imply naturalness with all characters being well dressed in immaculate, clean white clothes whilst being surrounded by blue sky, icicles and green grass. The diagetic sound created when the anonymous hand squeezes the lime or breaks the icicle helps convey that raw freshness of nature. This increasingly targets reformers as well as aspirers through identification and pride by envying this pure, clean household with a well-dressed clean family. The screen action epitomizes having this personal success in managing to maintain this level of cleanliness, which ultimately allows aspirers to conform to these standards of living. Especially with females over the age of 20 who are house wives, as the soft female voice over inspires other aspiring women by mentioning having this “pure clean” house and environment allowing them to identify with the actors on screen; all by buying aerial.

The advert also targets aspirers through personal success similar to Iceland, however by using a little girl playing on a piano, singing along. The target audience portrayed here could be argued to be suceeders whose habitat is amongst a rural upper enviroment, as one who has access to a piano, training their kids to learn to play and sing at a very early age is an advantage in comparison to other low income family backgrounds; who may not be able to get this opportunity. However, the presence of males is lacking in the advert could potentially limit the target audience as it implies they do not wash. Also, this absence continues to manifest it’s stereotypical depiction of family life as it could be said the male figure of the household is out working, whilst the mother is with the children, the grandmother is watching the little boy go out on an adventure whilst the little girl sits by the piano and sings like an angel, almost giving a religious like affect on the target audience.

This ‘angel-like’ portrayal is enhanced throughout the whole ad as the repetition of the “pure clean” non diagetic voice over with its pastoralized soft foucus cinematography, (almost over exposed to an extent,) definitely does achieve that purity feel, almost god like in a sense. This non diagetic voice deliberately appealing to our senses helps to convey this innate desire for cleanliness, which could be associated with this innate desire for some religious target audiences with religion such as Jesus who is associated with this pure white presentation. Some connotations from this advert can be taken to great offence to ethnic minorities as whiteness could be associated with purity, especially with the repetitive blue eyes and blonde hair presence. This absence of the wider multi-ethnic target audience in England could be deemed an accident; however the director’s use of this highlights the media industry politically, as some viewers are not aware of these covert connotations which may see quite straight forward but are not. This is also supported by soap’s which have been going on for generations now such as Eastenders, the process of transforming it’s original cast to a multi diverse cultural cast has taken years to achieve, however it now represents the multicultural diversity of Great Britain. Culturally, it is how society has been structured from years ago as Jesus and the disciples’ were dressed all in white, regardless of black individuals who also existed in this time, however this has been taken as the norm with society to this very day and this advert continues to epitomize that.

Ultimately, I think it is the mis en scene of this advert that really sells the product, similar to Iceland’s multicolored scenery, the costumes of the characters within the ad has high levels of soc which is implied by characters wearing white clothes everywhere. This shows how great aerial is as a product as it takes all the stains away, the milky white complexion of the actors used also helps convey this. It is mainly targeting aspirers through washing powder, the whole narrative is set up as a quest of a pure form of cleanliness, reassuring it’s audience that somehow using this particular washing powder will create a sense of security within the family, emphasizing that ideal perfect world and family which aspirer’s would strive for. The use of the aerial logo spinning 360 degrees implies a washing machine, which allows the advert to finish on the second most important part of achieving these “pure clean” garments, with the first being the product of Aerial washing powder first.