Selling in the 60s!

Selling in the sixties, this ad takes place in a laundry mat.  Where two women are having girl talk and a man is in between them being clueless of how to wash his laundry and what to do.  The women on his left clearly knew what to do and which product has worked for her.  When they shot a close up of the product and what it can do, you see the woman wearing a ring.  I thought that was really clever since it shows that this a woman that knows what she is doing- though it may be a little sexist nowadays.  But I believe back then that wedding ring and the fact she is doing household chores gave her some credibility to vouch for this product.

Favorite Car-mmercial

This is my favorite ad- it's more targeted to fan boys and fans of the sport. It sort've pays an homage to formula 1 and the rich history one of the most prestigious racing team- Ferarri.  It shows the evolution the formula 1 car since the early days and through all the evolution they still use shell fuel.  It takes the car through famous cities to continue to show how even though the formula 1 car changed the location and prestige of it doesn't change. So they still embrace the history.  A lot of the shot of the commercial includes the car, famous cities, the sound of the car, and the reaction of the people when they see and hear it.  Which is really what formula 1 fans really enjoy.  There was a scene where the formula 1 car flies passed a parked Ferarri, probably symbolizing and reinstating that their formula 1 car is faster and more powerful than their road cars which is obvious.  This is my favorite ad because I am a huge fan of Formula 1 and it is nice to see the older historical car being properly represented even if it's a gimmick commercial to advertise gas.  But I bet the coordination and planning of this caused a lot of headaches.

Consumer Behavior- Motivation

I believe consumer behavior is driven based on both internal and external decisions that may have influenced whether or not we want to purchase a certain product or service.   We get the urge to fulfill our desires and needs by shopping or doing something we enjoy.  Ultimately that makes us a consumer whether we go to McDonalds to order some fries or go to the mall and purchase new clothes.  These are all caused by external and internal factors that influenced us subconsciously.  This is why companies spend hundreds of thousands if not millions on advertising and build these thoughts into our brains.  So when you need to go shopping for a new laundry machine, you know to go to Best Buy since you probably have seen their ads about having household utilities, or even when you see a commercial about a laundry machine they mention that Best Buy carries their products.  This in turn causes familiarity and trust towards these brands.  

Overall, these types of consumer motivations will change the marketplace and provide ways for you to shop different, whether you shop online or like to go into a place to check the product in person before you buy.  You have this safety net/ urge built inside of you.  As a consumer, we have a lot of power to influence what the market produces.  Consumer motivation drives changes the market place, and whatever you do has influence to the way we shop or what the market provides.  Motivation is going to make it that much more likely for us to be involved in the market or brand.  The more we are involved the more attention we will give advertisement and will cause the advertisement industry further and help the world's producer be more innovative.

The Invisible car that is aware of the environment

This is the ad I chose for the environmental awareness.  It shows the low emission that the car produces thus making it "invisible to the environment", with it's f-cell battery it is safe and efficient.  This is a good thing since everyone is so worried about global warming and co2 emissions- this help alleviate that issue, and becomes kind've a fun project to raise awareness.  The car with the LED attached to it causes people to take note of its presence even though it's not loud, flashy, nor is it appealing.  It's just the fact people can essentially see through the car due to its "invisibility" caused people to look it up which in turn will earn support due to the 0 emissions it produces.

I feel like this very effective when companies spend a little extra money to raise awareness in a different fashion.  I mean though they are promoting that their car is producing 0 emissions it's also for a good cause.  I feel like more people would pay attention to this rather than if they saw a billboard. Because a lot of individuals were involved from little kids to old adults many probably don't even take interest in cars, but they fake they are seen across from it- makes it fun.

Rose Petal Cottage & Diet Coke

This ad may be innocent or not is still very inappropriate.  The song is very girly and the lyrics said stuff like "Taking care of my home is a dream dream dream".  It is very specific in the uses of the stereotype to fit the role of women.

• Emphasized that girls are to be housewives 
• the cottage is pastel colors and obviously tailored to girls.  You don't see the boy in the commercial- in a sense to state the fact, he's working
• Specific roles as a housewife- clean, cook, raise the kids, host house party.  

Here are some ideas I have that could improve the commercial to make it less gender specific: 

• Have boys in the commercial help out 
• show that the guy can help out too and clean the house while the girl is out working or something. 
• Perhaps having the boy and girl help each other with house chores
• Though many would argue changing the house color to a neutral color, I believe keeping it more solid girl colors wouldn't be too bad cause at the end of the day it's still a girl toy.  Girls are probably naturally not attracted to darker guy or real house colors. 

This ad is reversed sexism, but gets away with it because the guy is the object of the joke.  If this was ever reversed it would create a lot of controversy.  The girls are using the guy as a sex object and laughs it off so in terms it has a very playful touch to it.  The song choice is quite unique as well, as it does have sexual innuendos kind of narrating the thoughts of the ladies. They sexualize him of his good looks. 

• Emphasizes that girls are flirty and guys do the hard work.  And sexualize since he has a nice body and is receptive to the girls. 
• The song choice has sexual cues, "I just want you to be a slave and make love to me".  Though the audience grins or thinks it's funny.  In the end it's still a sexist ad and it only doesn't get a second look because the guy is being sexualized.  If the roles were reversed- if the girl had to take off her shirt since she got coke on it.  It would've been bad.  

Ways the commercial would've worked better:

• The commercial is gets a pass because our culture deems it more acceptable if the girls are flirting towards the guys as guys want to be sexualized. So I would argue that the commercial is fine the way it is without any dramatic changes. Since there's no way that it would be appropriate had the roles been reversed.  
• Perhaps not sexualize the guy too much. 

Gender and Diversity in TV shows

The Office TV show, is general not very racist or reflect a lot of gender stereotypes.  However in this particular episode titled Diversity Day, shows all of the office characters playing a game to help encourage diversity.  However in this particular exercise that the manager wants the group to play helps, the character Dwight is being stereotypical along with Pam.  Pam was forced to be stereotypical she says that Asians are bad drivers, and Dwight assumes another stereotype and thought he was a woman, and moans at the fact; making it sound bad to be a women. 

Is one race better than the other?

Racism has always been issue throughout the world since the dawn of time.  It is very unfortunate that even as a civilization today, we still see it very much alive today.  Though it is not as blunt as before, it hides in media.  Advertisement is one of the bigger offenders of stereotype and racism in modern day. Media that have racial or stereotypical connotations tend to focus on negative issues in society.  It is a very bold move for the company to hold such an edgy campaign, often time it goes unnoticed; while other times it is subject of headlines. 

Like the ad I have selected it shows a man tossing a Stereotypical African American look away with the caption "Re-civilize yourself" which implies that the look isn't very civilized and that men need to change their look to be clean shaven.  The title of the campaign is "Look like you give a damn" which also implies the fact that guys have to care what they look like and no matter where you are you have to look good.  However, a point I would like to bring up is the African American ad uses the word "civilize" as if African Americans aren't civilized; whereas the white guy in the same campaign is shown in a suit- in sin city and there's no excuse to look bad.  So though Nivea's campaign seems to reflect both races the African American is much more negative. 

Meanings in Ads!

Denotation

- White background. 

- Shows half cat with yellow eyes

- Shows half jaguar with yellow eyes

- Black Car

- Text

- Audi Logo

Connotation

- Jaguar represents power and speed 

- The cat represents it can be relaxed when it doesn't have to use power

-White background keeps it plain and simple to contrast the black cats, cars.

-Bigger cat picture shows more

The advertisement draws immediate attention to the picture of the cats, which is followed by the next biggest thing on the ad.  The text that explains both what each animal is known for and their characteristics.  Which reflects to the performance of the car both being able to be powerful and agile when you want it to be vs it can be fuel efficient and casual when you need it.   

Denotation

- Night Sky

- Big Bold Time

- White Text

- Gold Arches McDonald's logo

-Outlet

Connotation

- Bright Golden Arches to be recognized from far away

- The time is large to tell the consumer that even at X hour they are open.  

-Chose a night background to show sort've the same thing the clock did, that at night when no one is awake they are open. 

This billboard is to show that they are open 24 hours and they used the logo as a night light to signify that they are still up.  The clock shows that even at anytime they are still open.  Which reinstates the idea of being open 24 hrs.  The night background is also at night again to signify that it is late, and also let's the txt and brand stand out more. 

Denotation

- Masquerade Mask

- Mansion

- Butler

- Two Convertible Mercedes

-Black Car

-Track

-Buildings

-Tunnel

-Boats

Connotation

- The masks represent mysteriousness 

- They are in a mansion which represents high class people with wealth. 

-They race in Monaco is only for the wealthy

- Suits in the car means the car is comfortable to race/ drive in 

-The cars have enough power if you need it, cause it can perform on a F1 track. 

It just symbolizes that you can take this car to a high end wealthy party, and that other people have the same taste as you.  With that then the racing scene happens which indicates that even though the wealthy drive it, it has the elegance but also power that you want to race around if you want to impress other people.  

Super Bowl Ad that I favored

Every year, hundreds of millions of people tune in for the Super Bowl.  Many watch it for the game, some do it for the commercials but most watch it for both.  This year as previous years we had controversial commercials such as the Godaddy Bar Refaeli kiss, the Nationwide commercial, and Budweiser one.  However these popular ones are interesting to watch and listen to the comments made afterwards.

However my favorite ad of this year, despite NOT being a Dodge fan I enjoyed the motivational aspect of it.  Senior citizen that were born in the 1900s still being inspirational with their wisdom. And since that was around the time that Dodge was born, it was cool to see them tie in that they know what they are doing.

I also had another commercial that stood out to me too, because I was out watching the game at a bar, and all of a sudden the screen distorts and goes out.  Everyone was silenced and was surprised, only to realize it was part of the commercial.  This was smart from Chevy, because it really caught everyone's attention and showcased their new innovation in their trucks and since the majority of the Super Bowl viewers are probably mid 20s-40 year old men-it said "You know you want a truck" which probably pushed a few guys over the edge to go get one. 

Favorite Ad Agency in the world!

I recently discovered Venables Bell & Partners and they have became my favorite ad agency.  My prior thought to this, was that companies usually had their own creative team in house and just employed film studios to film it and do the rest.

To my surprise after the lecture on Wednesday, was that there are many of agencies around the world who create these memorable ads. I wasn't sure where to start so I googled Top/ Famous Ad Agencies, but that didn't help me as much so I decided to google my favorite brands and see who they employed to do their commercials.  And to my amazement Venables Bell & Partners did ads such like Audi, Intel, Google, and ebay.  I decided to browse their work portfolio and I've seen these commercials before.

These are few of the memorable commercials I've seen from them:

http://www.venablesbell.com/work/prom

http://www.venablesbell.com/work/motorcade

http://www.venablesbell.com/work/rules

I feel like they take the foundations and values of a company and turn it into something very relatable and make it very easy to remember to the viewer.  There are plenty of memorable commercials produced by ad agencies around the world, so picking one favorite agency was tough.  However the reason Venables Bell & Partner stood out because of the vast amount of campaigns they had but also how they throw in a bit of comedy in it.