Advertising (May 31)

Advertising is all around us - in TV commercials, internet ads, in magazine and newspaper ads - there is even advertising on the floor of train stations, on the ticket entrances, and flyers in our newspapers and in our mailboxes. Clearly, it is difficult to go through the day without being exposed to some form of advertising.

While we might not pay much attention to ads, they are very creative and persuasive forms of communication and companies pay a lot of money to make them and to distribute them. Therefore it is worth paying closer attention to them.  First of all, the appearance of the product name and the company name are important, and some ads display them more clearly than others. This, and whether the website appears or not, are worth paying attention to.

What other things can we consider about ads? Here are some basic elements of ads that you should pay attention to:

1. the name of the product and the company that makes it and the type of advertisement, where you saw it, and when
2. the target audience of the ad
3. the layout of the ad
3. the colours used
4. the people that appear
5. the words and sentences that are used
6. the slogan (catch copy in Japanese)
7. the message of the ad
8. the effectiveness of the ad

As an example, look at the following:

Today we looked at a magazine advertisement for Kellogg's All bran cereal. The ad I showed you was from the May 17, 2013 issue of Orange Page magazine, a magazine that targets young women and housewives who are interested in cooking. It is a full-page colour ad, as shown below:

The target of the ad is also young women, as we can see a young woman in the ad who appears to be interested in dieting and her health. This young woman is 釈由美子. She is an actress and a talent (in Japanese). Therefore, the ad makes use of a famous person and this might appeal to viewers. Since she is shown eating the cereal, and dressed in a sports top that shows her thin waist in a pose that emphasizes her waist, the image gives the message to consumers that if they eat All Bran, then they can look like her too.
The slogan of the ad, 「だから私は、ブランフレーク。]  "So, that is why I eat All Bran." emphasizes her endorsement (support) of the product. The colours used are fresh and bright. The colour of the cabbage and the orange highlight colours are the main colours used, making the ad positive and bright looking - fresh and clean, healthy and natural (see the tree branches in the top left corner?). Furthermore, the text is talking about the connection between the cabbage and the cereal - can you understand it? If you can, then you know the main message. Are there any other messages in the text or the images? Try to analyze the ad further. Then, make your conclusion - is the ad effective or not? Why or why not?

The above is the basic outline of an advertisement analysis. Can you find anything else interesting in the ad?

Homework for June 7 class:

Bring a one-page colour advertisement from a magazine. The magazine must be new - within the last 2-3 months is best. Analyse the ad according to the above 8 criteria and write your answer in a paragraph and bring it together with the ad. In the class, you will present your ad and your analysis to your blog group. Make sure to do this and do a very good job! After your presentation, you will hand in your ad and analysis.