Thursday, September 10, 2009
MESSAGES IN ADVERTISEMENTS
In today’s society we are bombarded by the media everyday. Whether its television, magazines, newspapers or computers; the media is always around us, and it’s always trying to sell us something. Advertisements are used in these ways to communicate a message. Advertisers use any way possible to persuade the consumer to buy their product even if it involves telling deceitful lies. Today in class we looked at several television commercials and studied the messages that the advertisers were trying to convey. Through this we were able to discover which advertisements were truthful and which were unknowingly deceiving us.
Body image has always been a complex issue when it comes to advertisements. Advertisers often target self-conscious teenagers with the promise of improving their physical appearance. Since most teens strive for a perfect exterior, these teens will give in to the commercial’s false message and buy the product. This type of advertising was shown in the Maybelline commercial. The advertisers created a non-existent problem (pores are bad) and made it seem as if Maybelline was the only solution. Young women who care about their body image will feel as if they too need to hide their pores and in turn they will buy the Maybelline product.
On the other end of the spectrum was the Dove Evolution commercial. The message of this commercial was that society’s perception of beauty is distorted. This marketing campaign is very interesting because it is trying to discredit beauty products while still trying to sell Dove beauty products. I definitely agree with Dove’s message that our perception of beauty is distorted. People, especially women, try to achieve an unattainable type of beauty; a beauty that airbrushed and photoshopped. The only way this can be fixed is if the media changes their image of women. Advertisements need to stop idealizing fake, unachievable beauty and start praising the real people that we are.
Another interesting topic that was brought up in class was gender roles in advertising. As shown in the Pepto-Bismol commercial, men are always stupid, lazy slobs while women are smart, perfect angels. After watching this I immediately thought about a commercial I had seen on TV for V8. In the ad a man is constantly being bonked in the head by his wife since he doesn’t want to eat vegetables. Obviously it is the stupid husband who doesn’t want to be healthy and obviously his smart wife has to show him what to eat. This is just one of the many examples of the media’s false perception of men and women. Here’s the commercial if you haven’t yet seen it:
Body image has always been a complex issue when it comes to advertisements. Advertisers often target self-conscious teenagers with the promise of improving their physical appearance. Since most teens strive for a perfect exterior, these teens will give in to the commercial’s false message and buy the product. This type of advertising was shown in the Maybelline commercial. The advertisers created a non-existent problem (pores are bad) and made it seem as if Maybelline was the only solution. Young women who care about their body image will feel as if they too need to hide their pores and in turn they will buy the Maybelline product.
On the other end of the spectrum was the Dove Evolution commercial. The message of this commercial was that society’s perception of beauty is distorted. This marketing campaign is very interesting because it is trying to discredit beauty products while still trying to sell Dove beauty products. I definitely agree with Dove’s message that our perception of beauty is distorted. People, especially women, try to achieve an unattainable type of beauty; a beauty that airbrushed and photoshopped. The only way this can be fixed is if the media changes their image of women. Advertisements need to stop idealizing fake, unachievable beauty and start praising the real people that we are.Another interesting topic that was brought up in class was gender roles in advertising. As shown in the Pepto-Bismol commercial, men are always stupid, lazy slobs while women are smart, perfect angels. After watching this I immediately thought about a commercial I had seen on TV for V8. In the ad a man is constantly being bonked in the head by his wife since he doesn’t want to eat vegetables. Obviously it is the stupid husband who doesn’t want to be healthy and obviously his smart wife has to show him what to eat. This is just one of the many examples of the media’s false perception of men and women. Here’s the commercial if you haven’t yet seen it:
I really enjoyed Dr. Leech’s lesson about text and subtext in advertising. It was really interesting to learn just how complex something as short as a commercial can be. In just 30 seconds an advertiser’s message can unknowingly persuade you to buy just about anything. As someone who wants a future career in media, I found the class to be extremely informative and I will definitely remember what I learned the next time I watch a commercial.
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