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Advertisers and Artists

I found the two most distinct differences between advertisers and artists has to do with MONEY and TARGET MARKET!

Advertisers

Advertisers often times use extensive research and feed in to what society responds to, in order to create a product that will sell to the largest possible market – typically regardless of personal ethics. They take the “This is a job approach.”

Artists

Artist’s work because they truly love their pieces and are passionate about what they love. When it comes to selling the products, it seems that the artist produces products more for themselves, with the hope that some market will also enjoy the work.

Rosser Reeves has made a unique impact on my educational knowledge of advertising. His straight-forward communication approach is hardly a guessing game, whereas the artist’s featured in Wednesday’s film take a more creative approach to selling products. Ironically, I found Rosser Reeve’s approach oddly similar to artist Paula Scher.

Scher, absolutely fell on the artist end of the selling spectrum, but I found her “Citi story” a bit unique. Rather than feeding in to the research of what society will respond to, like most advertisers will do, she simply used her life experiences and spit out a Citi logo in just five minutes! So although she took a creative approach, she was straight forward, just like Reeves.

To conclude, I in no way think an advertiser’s approach is more or less efficient than an artist’s approach, but I actually find them equally artistic and creative in their individual crafts.

Political Advertisements

Brie Gambles video regarding Harry Bertram’s views on gun control

1.       The signifier is the quote stating, “West Virginia loves guns,” this signifies the obvious:     West Virginia must love guns.

2.       The signifier is the American flag behind Harry walking at 15 seconds. This signifies the commercials intent to make Harry seem like a “true American.”

3.       The signifier is the dancing man and this signifies the sarcastic truth behind Harry’s opinion on guns. The song may be funny, but the words in the song are true, “People kill people.”

Holly’s commercial on Ron Paul’s gun control laws

1.       The signifier is the smiling man next to the dead deer, which signifies how guns provide both entertainment and a food source.

2.       The signifier is the bold letters used at 35 seconds stating “or to protect yourself,” which signifies the importance behind owning a gun.

3.       The signifier is Ron Paul’s determined face of him looking off into the distance at 39 seconds. This signifies his confidence and assertiveness.

John Kerry’s views on gun control

1.       The signifier is the numerous signs shown stating Kerry’s name. This signifies the mass support and followers of John Kerry

2.       The signifier is the use of Obama at 24 seconds. This signifies that John Kerry has been around a leader and knows what it takes to be a leader.

3.       The signifier is Sarah Palin with a gun. This signifies how irresponsible have a lack of gun control can be.

Ethos or Pathos?

The airline company, Song, attempted to focus their advertising largely on persuading through pathos. Based on the PBS documentary, The Persuaders, Song used a “third of their 12 million dollar budget on marketing.” That seems like quite a bit of money to spend on an advertisement approach that showed little or no reference to flying.

The Song Logo

In such a competitive market, Song ‘s intention was to “break through the clutter.” Unfortunately, they may have just added to it.

Song focused on the emotional stance of what flying could offer rather than the cold hard facts of what it takes to fly. After choosing to market women, they spread word of organic food and a low fare, all while focusing on the art form of advertising and the emotional state of the typical woman.

2005 Song Advertisement - Sky is seen, but still no airplane, which allows room for personal interpretation.

Images of dancing women, or freedom of running through a field was Song’s attempt at saying, “If you fly song, you will feel like this.”

Unfortunately, not everyone is as gullible as Song may have liked and worse, that magical and happy vibe they are displaying allows women to relate that “freedom” to numerous other activities, not including flying.

Song’s risky broad approach wanted the consumers head and heart, Rosser Reeves wanted the consumer’s soul. Instead of taking an emotional approach, Reeves pushed an ethos approach, which allowed the power and authority of the candidates to influence.

Rosser’s approach was to influence, reassure and convince the viewers. Unlike Song, Reeves’s approach at advertisement was not a guessing game.

In one of Reeves campaigns regarding Eisenhower, he pushes the feeling of power and assurance. The one minute black and white commercial began by asking about all the questions regarding problems in the United States. Vivid images of the war, hard workers and money prices, were followed by the presidential candidate saying that this needs to stop!

It may seem odd, but Eisenhower didn’t once say how he could make it stop, yet the power in his voice and the slogan claiming “Eisenhower is the answer,” is convincing enough!

Reeve’s approach is to the point. Although the facts are often missing, he is putting out the problems in the current economy and using the candidate to pull the viewer in. There is no Song-like whimsical cultural approach, Reeves’s ads have one purpose –to convince and therefor sell.

http://adamlauzon.wordpress.com/tag/song-airlines/

http://oldmagazineads.blogspot.com/2008/10/2005-song-airlines-magazine-ad.html

John Cheese

Based off a few other reads, it does seem that John Cheese’s article regarding bullying is a bit out of place, but the truth is, the title of the site is “CrackedOut,” with a title like that would you expect any type of reservation?

I didn’t think so either…

Maybe you look to Cracked Out for your funny, stress relief at the end of a day, but I am sure that one article from John Cheese will not change your opinion on the site as a whole. Besides! It seems to me that whether you prefer the hilarious, comedic articles to the thought provoking mixed emotion articles, most anyone can relate and find interest in the truth!

Let’s face it, the extensive and obnoxious, reality-TV craze is proof of that.

 So although Cheese’s article didn’t flow with the typical content that explains how video games can double your testosterone or how five bad habits could change your life, it’s really not that out of place!

Bullying is a prevalent problem beginning with kids as young as four and continuing until men have their own nerdy children. Cracked Out seems to be a site that is intended for males aging from teenage years to mid-20’s, why not approach them with the issue?

 I actually commend John Cheese for reaching out of what seems to be his humorous light-hearted comfort zone and speaking of personal experiences to make readers aware of a valid cause. Let it be known though that Cheese, even in the midst of his seriousness, managed to toss in an occasional laugh.

Basically, it’s simple. Sure Cheese’s article was out of the norm for Cracked Out, but I didn’t really find any of Cracked Out’s material to be “in the norm.”

This was on the home page... point proven?

Cheese is obviously a well-respected writer for this site and his material was from the heart, informative and entertaining. In my opinion, any read that can hold your attention is a success.

Sneeks!

Peer pressure, good or bad, may arguably be the most influential concept pushed upon teenagers. With that being said, it seemed obvious for our campaign approach to target the stereotypical teenage influences- the good ones of course.

We chose to work with a comic book type of vibe. Although the middle and high school years replace short and sweet gossip novels with endlessly boring history books, we figured the comic book vibe would symbolically represent a happy medium between the necessary reading and the more preferred modern, fun, artsy world of music, comics or teenage novels.

Basically, we’re hoping that our talking “Sneek” can relate to just about any walk of life.

In the boy’s advertisement, we chose the bold colors of black, white and orange. The advertisement in general was very simple, so the use of the three main colors was a big part of our “look at this” statement. We chose to place both a basketball and a JanSport backpack in the ad with the shoe, because JanSport is a popular backpack and basketball is a popular activity for many young men.

We chose to use a worn out backpack because JanSport is immediately related to the middle to upper-class kid, simply based on price range. The fact that the bag is not brand new indicates that it has had its fair share of use and therefore relates to the middle to lower-class kid that may not have a new backpack every year.  

We do understand that the use of basketball immediately eliminates certain types of boys, but we figured that basketball, for the most part, is a popular universal past time for both the athletic and un-athletic boy.

Our approach was intended to be simple, inclusive and most importantly, catchy. We thought the “Lace up Bro,” comment was a nice final touch to the ad. It’s similar to Nike’s “Just Do It” because it’s short and sweet and we thought that was the way to go. The use of “Bro” was just another attempt to become relatable to the potential buyer and frankly, the use of the word, “Bro” is in. We’re always trying to tap in to that peer pressure.

The girl’s advertisement looks very similar to the boys as far as being simple yet still attractive. We chose an artsy theme while emphasizing the colors red, teal and black. The edgy colors and artsy twist was our attempt at catching every teenage girl’s eye.

The use of a heart, a common doodle for a boring math class, was our effort to pull in the everyday girl. What girl doesn’t like hearts? It resembles love, like, peace, anything you want it to mean! It’s universal.

The camera was just an addition to go with the artsy heart, but it potentially has multiple meanings depending on the viewer. A camera could mean that the shoes are worth photographing or even you in the shoes are worth a smiling picture. Also, in an age of technology, pictures are covering the internet via Facebook and Twitter, so a digital camera is a regular sidekick, just like Sneeks should be.

The last advertisement was meant to entice either gender. We used a vibrant red to appeal anyone who might come across the ad and red is typically neutral to all genders. The upright shoe was purposefully placed as a powerful centerpiece which symbolically represents the power of the shoe and the authority of those who wear them. The wings are an extra push for the “powerful” vibe. Wings immediately resemble flying and we want the viewer to think that these Sneeks could make them fly.

We placed the Sneeks logo in a generic spot in the other advertisements, but figured we would tilt it above the shoe in the unisex advertisement to resemble a halo. The halo resembles an angel, which was another attempt to promote the good peer pressure.

The last touch is the placement of the faded words in the background. The words offer the same teenage school vibe and put an edgy more creative twist to reading.

Ultimately, we hope that our three advertisements offered a simple, catchy and edgy twist to a humble everyday type of shoe. We predicted that our use of dominate colors and comic book approach would attract a young vibe and leave our possible customers wanting Sneeks!




Pictures from : 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/livn2do/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemcdonald/4965113556/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwolman/177212396/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooohoooh/222131418/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42931449@N07/5517922985/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/docjohnboy/4487454218/

Sex Sells

Lil Wayne…

In the second it took you to read his name, you’ve probably already had five or six images of him smoking weed, rapping, dancing with women, cursing, or drinking. Maybe his tattoos came to mind or his butt because his pants are usually sagging far below his waist line.

DON’T WORRY! You’re not the only one. I typed “Lil Wayne” in to YouTube because I was sure a video disgracing women or abusing drugs would quickly pop up, but instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m not much of a rap listener, but I had heard Lil Wayne’s song “How to Love” and decided to watch the accompanying video.

Go ahead…

I know, you must be thinking the same thing! The video displayed a success story at its finest. A real life experience that could have potentially happened to both you and me depending on a few different decisions made throughout our lives.

Despite the positive image the video shows of a young woman learning how to respect herself in life and love, the video does give glimpses of the female as an object.

Prior to the “successful” life, the woman is portrayed as a beautiful failure. She has been rapped; she strips for money, and she has kids without a husband.  

Let’s face it, her “sexy” rebel side was intriguing to the viewer and although we felt bad for her lifestyle, we continued to watch her dance for money in clothes that barely covered her body. Only after seeing her half-naked did we truly appreciate her reformed lifestyle- one with clothes and school.

Her looks were essential to the video. Everyone wants to be that success story. Beautiful, educated and steady.

I suppose the stripping and lack of clothes could have been avoided, but Sut Jholly’s Dreamworlds said it best, “sex sells.” In this case, Lil Wayne was able to use sexual appeal to his advantage. He still had the naked woman but then explained that the naked woman was wrong- A mixed message at its finest.

I also find it interesting that in nearly every other Lil Wayne video he portrays women as something he expects to be there, such as the following:

This video truely represents the purpose behind Dreamworlds. Besides a few statements Wayne makes about women being "Hoes" etc... the women walking around are completely insignificant. But again, sex sells.

But who cares! Lil Wayne is working the market perfectly. Doing ONE video that shows women matter is a sly way to make all the women out there remember Wayne’s little soft spot.

Even I have a newfound love for him.

These are Comics

All three comics, yes, I am referring to them as “comics,” were entertaining to say the least.

As a rookie comic reader I'm forced to rely on what little knowledge I have as well as my personal opinion. Lucky for me our required reading did wonders for me.


In Scott McCloud’s, “Understanding Comics,” he talks of the various ways to create a comic. He claims a comic can be filled with detailed pictures, stick figures, few words or paragraphs, but ultimately a comic tells a story through imagery and possibly words.

I suppose my opinions of comics are fairly similar to McCloud. I personally interpret them as anything that can portray an unconventional short story/ novel.

           With that cleared up...

The Japanese comic was a bit shocking. I obviously had no idea what those symbols/words interpreted in to, but the pictures cleared things up enough for me. 


The use of internet definitely had a big part in the success of this comic. I think the same story read on paper would not have been as impacting. The use of technology enabled the reader to get the full effect of the bloody woman’s frightening attack on the young girl.

In fact, without that shocking factor of the bloody woman, I wouldn’t have been nearly as impressed.

McCloud’s comic format was also effective. I read the short introduction prior to reading the comic and it mentioned that he tried this layout as an “experimental format.”

I found it efficient and completely relevant to the actual meaning of the story. Think about it, each click left me asking, “what’s next!?” only to click and again ask the same question.

The story began with a blonde in the man’s bed, which after reading part one and two, makes me think it’s just another hopeful fling or he has finally found the right woman, but the story quickly flashbacks to the man’s relationship with Jodie, three years earlier.

What begins as a romantic love story, smoothly transitions in to a frightening obsession with finding a perfect lover, through the use of some mathematical phone number theory.

I suppose he has never heard of coincidence…

Clicking to see the next image becomes extremely effective when it gets to scene 45 on part 2. The man is first seen in a full body shot holding a camera, creeping on his potential women. The next click leads you to a closer shot of the man still holding a camera, but only from the waste up. The following click shows just his eye.

This short span of images successfully portrayed a man that had literally become consumed from (head to toe) in a sick obsession.

I wouldn’t say McCloud’s format was more successful than the Japanese format, because I think format is essential to the purpose and meaning meant to be portrayed from a particular story. With that being said, I preferred the weird, excitement of McCloud’s format rather than the Japanese one, but that may just be because a bloody woman is hardly my style of reading.

Deciphering Nike

The Surface:

·         Black and white

·         Very Simple Ad

·         Well Known Nike slogan- "Just Do It."

·         Infamous Nike swoop below the words

Intended Meaning:

·         Nike is known for their outrageous advertising budget, yet this simple ad is just as impacting.

·         Black and White makes a statement -just like the slogan. The ad is precise, to the point and most importantly relatable to anyone.

·         Just as I was searching for the perfect ad to decipher, I came across this Nike ad and figured I would “Just Do It.”

·         It’s motivational! Anyone that is contemplating something or complaining about something would be encouraged by this ad.

Cultural Meaning:

·         The Nike swoop and slogan are immediately related to athletics to most, but what I love about this ad is that it’s relatable to everyone. Any outsider could decipher and relate “Just Do It” to themselves.

·         There is no indication that the ad is targeting any specific income.

Nike Ads

The Nike Advertisements have my heart. I’m an athlete, so Nike’s motivational slurs regarding tennis shoes and a variety of other athletic equipment, easily reels me in.

It’s evident that Nike has an unbelievable amount of money to spend on promotion of their products. Their specified commercials pertaining to basketball, football and numerous other activities, all have the same motivational edge.

The infamous “Just do it,” is simple and precise and as an athlete I can relate to the slogan. There’s no time for complaining only time to improve – it’s brilliant.

Their ad’s are creative such as the “Nike Addiction” commercial, where numerous sets of shoes are hanging from a tree as if they were birds, insinuating that the shoes make you fly. It’s one of my favorite; it’s appealing to the creative mind and the athlete.

Another compelling ad regarding soccer, says that you can “Change history with just one strike,” referring to the Nike strike and the kick. Under that it says “Write the future.”

Nike’s ability to suck in their consumers with short and sweet messages is inspirational and easily makes them one of the best ad campaigns… In my opinion of course.

Student Graphic Novel Evaluations

I really enjoyed Carrie’s story, “Watched.” It was intense and held my attention. I thought at times her sentence structure could have been more precise, but the suspense was affective.

Carrie’s photographs were well placed in most cases. She obviously wasn’t working with professional actors/actresses, so some of the facial expressions weren’t compatible with the emotion of the words, but overall the completed project flowed well.

Carrie's story was compelling, easy to read and enjoyable.

Brie’s story, “Home Alone,” ironically had a similar story line to Carrie’s. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the story and the twist at the end was a perfect finale.

I thought the use of her pictures was very affective and she was able to capture photos that truly related to the story line.

The title, “Home Alone,” made me think the story was going to be predictable, but Brie did a great job holding my attention and I really enjoyed the read.