Gaze & Identity

This is the most obvious example of the 'male gaze' in the fact that it literally addressing men, and the woman is obviously there for men to look at.I think this also addresses the subject of identity as women would compare themselves by the idea against this and that women are meant to embody beauty, elegance and domestic abilites.This is what women have been represented as in patriarchal mass media for years for what it means to be female. It is assumed we need to mould ourselves to the set ideal.





TBWA's "Hello Boys" billboard for Wonderbra

 

 This ad shows a different side of the usual male image represented in ads. The CK billboard in New York’s Time Square,  created quite a stir because at that time (1980s) people weren’t used to such a bare and intriguing public display of the male body. Men would usually be represent as being tough, business minded and competitive.

 

 

 

 

 

Icon

Icon

Choose an ad that features an 'icon' and discuss how it functions- in terms of meaning and society.

I have chosen the Sky Atlantic Ads that ran in 2011 featuring iconic actor Dustin Hoffman. Although Dustin Hoffman is not a particularly an icon of mine, I find this advert really inspiring and quite beautiful. I think by starting with a panning shot of a New York skyline(also iconic) and his point of view (which i also think represents some sort of God like status, as he is above everything in the city) including the  semiotics (the sounds of a busy city) really gives the ad that hollywood like feeling and you really feel like you are New York city. People talk about New York as the 'city of dreams' and this ad really captures that feeling

   I think in terms of emotional benefits this will really inspire people and one of the reasons i think this is in which the way he is talking to the camera in such a conversational way, it doesn't sound rehearsed or forced and that will make the audience feel relaxed and you  lose yourself in his words and believe that what he is saying is true.

Tony Kaye

In what way does Gibbons define Kaye as a post-modern Creative?
He talks about the way he can more between jobs easily, and he is also a key figure for his creative work in the way he show fluidity between displines.

In what way does Kaye fit the Romantic Rebel?
 He claims art as pure activity, which art in this case is the feeling and imagination which is at stake, as opposed to the notion of the comercial applied artist who practises a somehow 'lesser art'. In this case he embodies the notion of the Romantic rebel in his approaches to both art and to advertising kicking in each case against institutional forces and producing work that engages the feeling and subjectivity of the viewer.


How does Nick Studzinski, Creative director of Publicis decribe how Kayes approach fits into the (Romanti) notion of (Creativity)?
Nick describes Kaye as a premier example of a create able to operate in the more self-directed manner of the Romantic tradition. As he given a much freer hand at developing the concept visuals. While Kaye considers his advertising work to be compromised in its creativity he has frequently been able to operate in advertising with the sort of autonomy that a fine artist might expect in a production of supposedly more interested works.

Gibbons points to 1999 Ad Vauxhall Astra (Lowe & Partners) as an example of a rare type of advertising, again how does his advertising work have similarities to the Romantic paradigm?
In this advert when mimicking a union gathering, the babies make demand for better conditions. In the interests of authenticity, Kaye insists on the actual presence of 800 babies, having trenches built for parents/nannies to hold the babies in place. Consequently, he is able to produce a rare type of advertising that clearly draws creativity from individual vision and from the ability to activate the imagination of the viewer in a way that has on notable occasions invoked, the grander narratives of our culture rather than the everyday concerns of consumerism.

List the way in which Kaye uses Romantic devices in his Dunlop TV commercial (1994) Unexpected?
The whole sequence is characterised by a sensual overload in which the visuals are accompanied by quasi-hipnoic and equally sensual soundtrack and adds significantly to the strangeness and somewhat forbidden nature of the visual imagery,  in the transgressive nature of the song Venus in furs by the Velvet Underground. His intention was to change his ads from the run of the mill conventions of tyre advertisements and in doing this he has created a fantastic world peopled with hybrid characters, reminiscent to a carnival or masquerade. The strange and elaborate feel of the commercial is partly created by the setting, a landscape made unreal by the use of artificial colour laid over black and white footage and by the wealth and sensuality of texture and materials. All these elements sound very artistic and fitting to the Romantic Paradigm. However, this is part of a more complex cluster of signification. For example, there is a sense of decadence in the styling of the make-up and costume and there is also a lurking threat of devastation or destruction within the overall opulence, suggested by glimpses if dead vegetation and sporadically erupting flames. This effect is achieved through dramatic contrasts what is present much throughout Kaye's work.

Kaye evokes feelings of melancholy in advert Twister and creates what Roland Barthes calls a punctum- explain this effect and how it would lead to a successful advertisement?

70's Ads

The Advert i have chosen to represent the seventies is this political ad created by Saatchi & Saatchi.

In the summer of 1978, members of Hendon Young Conservatives answered an emergency call to turn up at a municipal park near the Welsh Harp reservoir in suburban north London.

Volunteers were told help was needed for a top secret aspect of the Tory plan to win the general election which, everyone thought, would take place in the autumn of that year. This is a great (and possibly one of the first) example of using the general public to sell something and create the ad themselves. It is such a good idea because this will actually persuade the audience to buy into the ad more because the advertisers are just showing the people of Britain how bad it is to spark reaction and using a advert like this which i think at the time would be quite shocking would be a good way to do this and as expected this ad had huge impact. This tactic of putting up a controversial poster and then getting free publicity has been used again by advertisers and has proved extremely effective. They even released a second poster when the election was delayed in 1979 to a ‘Labour still isn't working’ poster. Lord Thorneycroft conservative party treasure even claimed this poster won the election for the conservatives. This poster changed political advertising forever which is evident in the contemporary ad I have chosen.

This was an ad released in 2010, created by M&C Saatchi included taglines such as ' I caused record youth employment, let me do it again' across 80,00 billboards in the uk. I think it is really interesting to see the link in politcal advertising from the seventies to now and how similar they are and how the tactics used then can still work today.

Unknown. (2001). 'Epoch-making' poster was clever fake. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1222326.stm. Last accessed 27 March 2012.

Unknown. (2010). Anti Gordon Brown election advertising campaign posters. Available: http://mastercom.over-blog.com/article-anti-gordon-brown-election-advertising-campaign-posters-49170619.html. Last accessed 27th March 2012

Laudrette

At this time the Levi's brand was perceived as old fashioned and uncool. This ad was a breakthrough.
It was an alternative to the punk scruffiness that was popular at the time. The ad had humour and sex appeal from the teen idol Nick Kamen.
It can also be described as one of the first integrated campaigns with Marvin Gayes 'I heard it through the Grape vine' being re-released and going to the top of the charts. At the time appearing in an ad only in underwear would be socially unacceptable and the advert was really different from anything at the time. The advert also showed the 'American Dream' and showed male sexuality in a different way than has been seen before as women would be more commonly used as sex symbols in ads around this time which is why it could be described as post modern.

So Clean

Reading pp74-92 in 'So Clean' Lord Leverhulme, Soap and Civilasation By Brian Lewis(2008)
Using the extract, organise and summarise the contextual information under the following headings.

Cultural and Aesthetic


Culture is one of the main things that affected the soap ads, and the context of the time was a hugley important factor which shows in the ads of this time which may even be true today.'Ads rarely challenge the mainstream' and 'Thus in soap advertisments the figure, dress, comportment, posture and cleaniness of the characters gave a very clean indication of what was socially acceptable'. I think things like this show just how influencial advertising was on society at the time. Ads at the time ' drew strongly on reinforced late Victorian and Edwardian domestic and gendered norms'. I think ads gave the image more to women as consumers than the housewife in what was I think a male-dominated world. Some ads even 'sensual classical goddesses, well aware of their seductive power'  which may in turn have been the start of women appearing commanding and controlling and a picture of feminine power.

Political and Economic
The ads that were produced in the first world war by Lever brothers focused on British and patriotic card. with the idea that 'when such quality exists, victory is assured'  and an ad showing a British solider resting his foot on a box of Sunlight which might even make people feel guilty if they didn't buy Sunlight for it is ' Soapmaker to her majesty the queen'.


Social and Technological


The social theme in the soap ads for Sunlight were of women being 'saved from drudgery'. The main audience for was primarily targeted at women as the main purchases of the product. The soap also claimed to improve their love life because of how easy it was to wash with Sunlight. Lever Brothers also gave domestic advice in booklets, they also say that the trouble she (woman/housewife) has with washing 'should never form the principal item of her conversation', because 'a wife who..never nags.. will have the reward in her entire trust of her husband' This shows just how much Sunlight and their power as advertisers effected the life of a housewife. It also said to effect the social status of their daugters. 'Does your daughter know what Sunlight soap can do?' Then they go on to tell them about all the amazing benefits and results you can get from Sunlight and then say ...'if you have told her these things, then you have indeed worked for your daughters happiness'..  The extract also mentions that Victorians sanitary achievements with the manufacturer of affordable soaps which helped tackle Britain s problem with cleanliness and people began to shower on a regular basis. The extract also talk s about how we might not discuss the positive side of soap today but if it was not for this crucial change in society ( invention of cheaper soap) it is a sign of 'how ideas have been transformed'.  Advertisers made it their business to tell people of their hygiene problems another clever way in selling their products as they made out their soaps were the perfect solution 'people who did not know they had a problem soon knew they had'.  the advertising campaign for Listerine even invented their own disease called 'halitosis' convincing millions of people they had it. The message was that ' if one wished to gain or retain a partner, a job, a reputation and self asteem, one needed to attend to personal hygiene.'

Lurpak Lightest- Be Wonderful, Be Wise

For my Advertising Medium Brief, I have chosen the 'Lurpak Lightest Ad Be Wonderful, Be Wise' with voiceover my actor Rutger Haeur. I've done an anaylysis of it using semiotics.

In this ad we are taken through a spectrum of colours in surroundings (mis-en-scene) and in fruit and vegetable. I thought about what each colour might connate, yellow i think connates sunshine and happiness and I think green could also represent freshness. Orange i also see to connote freshness because I always think of fresh orange juice but also warmth and in this case homely foods that fill you up. Then the darker colours red and purple which in the case of this ad represent danger and panic.
    The first colour is green and the first shot takes a dramatic P.O.V with a pea coming into the shot from above in slow motion and splashing into the water dramatically with equally dramatic sound effects which almosts reminds me of a shot you might see in hollywood film. This i think is first in the message of fruit and veg doesnt have to be boring that they are trying to get across. I also get this when the word 'humdrum' is used and sweetcorn is tossed up in the air.
   The process of cooking fruit and veg is really exagerated through the shot styles and sound effects throughout this ad. The P.O.V throughout is made to feel like were actually cooking the food, (which i think is also exaggerated by the part where the masher is banged on the side of the pan and the camera turns with this action) and the colours are always kept really vibrant and fresh looking.
  Rutger Haeur always played quite violent character in each roles in played in films and I think this is mirrored in this ad. The chopping action is quite violent and his voiceover only exagerrates this. I also had to notice the change of hand colour through the different races and men to women seeing Lurpak trying to target a broad audience and not just the stereotypical view of women in the kitchen. In the next shot we are also shown a child who is watching his mother cut the onions and showing an interest- another meaning is connotated through this, Lurpak is getting children interested in healthy food but i don't think this is enough to consider children as an audience to this ad as it mainly features men and women with sharp knives and electrical kitchen equipment.Which is another thing i noticed about the ad, it features handheld blenders, blenders, stainless steel etc. which also brings with it the notion of bringing fruit and veg into the 21st century and really modernnises (or even bringing it into fashion) it also bringing with it the 'healthy food dosent have to be boring message'.
  I also choose a middle class audience for a reason which is for reasons signified throughout the ad. For example, the kitchen looks very clean and modern, and clutter is kept to a minimum, possibly housed by a stylish flat or family, also we see butter being taken out of the tub by a wooden spatuala which i find a bit of a 'posher' of a cooking tool, and also spreading butter on a rivita which I would consider more middle class.
   I think the ad also features violence in association to Rutger Haeur's background of characters in films. The crushing of garlic is quite violent and the splatter of food could be compared to the splatter of blood and guts and with the man cutting his finger this also connotes violence and mirrors Rutger Haeur's career.
  One of my favourite parts is the chopping of the red cabbage which i think is really visually interesting and artistic- again showing that healthy food can be interesting as well as tasty. I think what the whole ad is trying to say through different things is that healthy food is fresh (eyes in fish represents freshness) and fun to cook and quick to do ( in the way he shouts the word 'whipping' louder than everything else e.g i'll just whip something up'). But I also think there is a lot of violence is a very strong theme without and even the endline refers back to this 'Say Hello to new Lurpak Light' - 'Say hello to my little friend' from Scarface referring to a gun.