Commercial Advertisements Content Analysis - Essay Example

Commercial Advertisements Content Analysis Commercial advertising is characterized by the conveyance of information regarding a certain product with the intention of promoting the sales of these products. Advertising for commercial purposes requires branding of products, which is an essential aspect in this practice. Branding helps distinguish products from others of its kind in the market. Advertising takes two forms in which there is print and electronic advertising. Print advertisements are static while electronic advertisements are dynamic in that they can take various forms. Electronic advertisements form a story or event that is depicted in a short time frame through which the intended message is conveyed to its target audience. The core aim of an advertisement is to highlight values associated with a brand and portray the utility of a brand. The advertisements used for this paper portray different values that the advertisers deem influential in people’s lives, and are bound to have an effect on people’s choices and preference for the advertised product. The use of gender, race and sex as aspects in an advertisement has been applied in various contexts in the highlighted advertisements to garner differing impacts and perceptions on their audience. This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the representations of social class, ethnicity, gender, age, race, sexual orientation and youth in chosen commercial advertisements. The sociological aspects and impacts of the highlighted advertisements will be key focus of this paper in the immediate target audience and society in general. The Cheerios TV commercial portrays a mixed race family in which the father is an African America and the mother is a Caucasian female who have a bi-racial daughter. The daughter discovers that Cheerios made from oats have beneficial heart properties. The house is portrayed having warm inviting, accommodative beige, light browns, and cool blues and colors that set the mood for a happy and loving family. The house seems spacious with the kitchen where the advertisement starts being set apart from the living room where the father is shown taking a nap of long, maroon and comfortable sofa. The little girl is wearing a purple top an indication of loyalty or divinity that portrays her noble and pure intentions of using cheerios to improve her father’s health. The little girl’s innocence is illustrated when the napping father wakes up to find Cheerios poured in his left side of the chest where the heart is located. AXE is a male grooming products brand that markets deodorants meant for the modern metropolitan male to increase his sex appeal and sense of style. AXE deals with a very competitive cutthroat retail market necessitating the use of innovative and sometimes controversial advertisements to gain the much needed attention in the market. The advertisement seems to take place in a suburban location as depicted by rows of houses across from each other. The girl is in a blue tank top and red swimming costume like panties, and she throws the grey heavy steel ball through a window in which topless young man is applying an AXE deodorant. The axe commercial shows a very fit Caucasian female dressed in a sports bra and short underwear showing offer her manly skills. She does this by throwing a heavy steel ball over a long distance shattering the glass of a window through which a topless Caucasian male sprays cologne to the shock of the incident (Groza, Nicoleta, and Cuesta 70). The male is shown shocked at the female’s manly strength, and she later takes him down, stripping his pants off to close the commercial. The Active orange juice commercial portrays a young, white, fit and blonde female model that attracts tons of males who chase her across the city, which shows sexual arousal. The chase takes place through a city bazaar where men in suits and various work attire leave their jobs to join the chase for the beautiful woman. To close the commercial she shows off her hoody at the back of it is written ‘men only want sex’. The cheerios commercial raises the question as to why the girl decided that her father had an unhealthy heart, and thus needed cheerios to make his heart healthy. Why did the girl not perceive that her Caucasian mother needed cheerios to give her a healthy heart? This commercial brought a lot of heat from the media and from social websites stating how Cheerios were targeting black Africans who have a high rate of cholesterol (Russell 128). The public was also upset with the completely bi-racial family set up because their belief is how the social class portrays the African community on the bottom of the hierarchy, and there should not be a mix up between the Caucasian and the African community (Childs, 132). The criticism that this advertisement got from some sections of the public can be construed to come from groups that were against racial and ethnic integration. This should not come as a surprise in a culturally and ethnic diverse country such as the United States (US). The advertisement illustrates a cultural, racial and ethnic mix that sets out to depict the desired notion of an ideal family setting in America where the product of white and black is the child. The child seeks to promote her father’s health with the help of Cheerios, which are credited for being good for the heart. There are dimensions to this advertisement that create room to warrant for criticism because it begs the question ‘why the African American father yet heart disease does not discriminate along racial lines?’ There is a common belief or perception that African Americans have the highest prevalence of high cholesterol among the American population. This is attributed to their lifestyle, which exposes them to higher risks of developing heart disease. The Cheerios Company could have used this fact to its advantage by using an African American model in its commercial to further the commercial’s impact and effectiveness. By targeting the African American population, the advertisement could have had a hidden motive of promoting the sale of Cheerios to this portion of the population. The advertisement illustrates the desired family and societal setting that permeates beyond racial and ethnic boundaries (Childs 84). The equality portrayed by advert indicates a balance that Cheerios seeks to depict of its products in that it is suitable for all races and ethnicities. This portrayal of equality is not present in the real world leading to the negative criticism that the advert got from segments of America’s population. The equality displayed by the advert went against commonly held beliefs and values in segments of American population with regard to their power, status and prestige. The AXE advertisement uses a technique that targets the youth in the suburbs away from cities and major town centers by locating the setting of the advert in a suburban location. The combination of women as sex objects and targeting the youth who are more gullible increases the advert’s impact and influence. The AXE advert is considered sexist because of the way it depicts women as sex objects in a manly world where their bodies are used as objects of gaining men’s attention to commercial products in the market. This attitude is portrayed in the male model’s amazement at the female model’s ability in a task considered being the preserve of men in society. This is an exemplary portrayal of men’s perception of women and the inequality suffered by women in a patriarchal system. Gender stereotypes are also brought by this advert, in the sense that women are not expected to possess bodily strength as to be able to throw such a heavy steel ball through a window breaking the glass. The broken glass is also symbolic in the sense that it indicates the breaking away from societal norms to new avenues and opportunities for women. The notion of women being representatives of sex in society is challenged in this advertisement by the portrayal of women exhibiting man like abilities and strength. There is contrast in this advertisement if a different approach is used to analyze its context. The woman’s ability and manly strength is elicited by the man’s act of applying AXE deodorant on his body. The effect of increasing the man’s sex appeal is illustrate to elicit extraordinary strength in the woman who summons up enough energy and skill to reach the man after he applies AXE deodorant. The sexist notion in the advertisement is brought by this fact because the effect of the man’s sex appeal only skimpily clad woman (Groza, Nicoleta, and Cuesta 68). The woman further goes out her way to access this man by executing a manly fete, which is also an illustration of inequality in terms of what is expected of women’s physical strength. The fit physique is an accentuation of women’s efforts to break the gender socialization and stereotyping that depicts women’s physique as demure and lacking in physical strength. This commercial shows gender inequality because the male model underestimated the female model’s strength and physique. It is also an indication of how females are starting to step up to the patriarchy world. The Active Orange juice advert is an exemplary illustration societal stereotype regarding men’s perception and portrayal of women and their preferences with regard to sex appeal and its promoters. In addition, the commercial shows that to be an attractive lady one must have fit features and qualities of the blonde model in the commercial to grab a men’s reaction. This commercial shows that to attract men women have to have a certain body shape and sexual appearances to have men aroused. In addition, the statement about “men only want sex” is a biased statement because not all men are aroused by a female’s sexy appearance. The viewer of the Active Orange juice advertisement is led to believe that the woman is running away from the hordes of men running after her, but at the end, it becomes clear that she is running in order to reach the boat with Active orange juice before it sets off to sea. This is clever and ingenious way of catching the viewers’ attention by making them want to know if they will, catch up to her and what they will happen if they catch up with her. There is a bias where the advert illustrates that only blonde, young and athletic women have the potential to attract male sexual attention (Piety 58). It is an indication of established societal norms in America about what is regarded as sexy by the society and the rest of the population is depicted as lacking sex appeal if they do not possess these qualities. It is a false representation of what men regard as being sexy in society because each society based on race, ethnicity and other determinants, sex appeal is determined by other factors apart from the ones portrayed in the advertisement (Piety 63). The adage on the woman’s hoody claiming that men only sex illustrates two biases. The full content of what is written on the hoody is only revealed at the end of the commercial. Initially the part saying only want sex is visible to the men who chase her through the city. This is an illustration of commonly held belief by men that they regard women as objects of sexual gratification, and this truth is brought to the fore when the full content of writing at the back of the hoody are revealed. It is also false that all men want sex from women they deem as beautiful and sexy. These advertisements indicate a common aspect that is found in all of these advertisements is that they identify aspects in society that can be easily manipulated. Advertisements promote certain societal norms and attitudes that they attach as the value of their products in order to gain these products the attention needed to market and sell them. Sexist and racial advertisements are used by advertisers to stir up emotions in segments of society in order to gain the product or brand the necessary attention it requires for it to perform in the market. The choice of race and sex as themes in advertisements is chosen because they are aspects that do not lack relevance in any society or group that an advert is targeted towards. These themes are guaranteed to elicit mixed reactions from the public and advertisers rely on these emotions because they will gain a brand the popularity and attention. Advertisements employ the services of professional social psychologists who help them design and formulate advertisements and slogans that accompany them in order to have the most significant social impact on society. The controversy elicited by the cheerios advert might seem to have negatively affected cheerios, but in reality, it boosted the brands visibility and popularity. This is the mantra of each advertisement; the more an advertisement generates social debate whether positive or negative, it works in achieving an advertisement’s core aim. Research can support this fact because there are numerous advertisements by the above named brands that have been banned from TV due to their unsuitable themes. Brand visibility and popularity is the core principle and aim of all advertisements, and creating contrasting themes that go against social norms guarantees the required attention to a brand. Appendix A YouTube Sources Used for Advertisements 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEheLsN1apQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z2I8-bFChw The source of this advertisement is from the YouTube, and it depicts a biracial family with an African American father and a Caucasian mother. Their child pours cheerios on her father’s chest because her mother confirms to her that they are beneficial to the heart. 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M1h-BRkTeQ The link above is sourced from YouTube that illustrates an AXE commercial advertisement that has been labeled sexist by some quarters of society. It shows a skimpily dressed woman who demonstrates extraordinary manlike strength due to her desire to reach a topless young man applying an AXE deodorant. 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB0tgDwy0Gk The link above is sourced from the YouTube channel on the internet and it leads to an advertisement for Active Orange Juice. It illustrates a blonde fit young woman who is chased across the city by men who abandon their activities in effort to reach her. She is wearing a hoody with writings that are initially partly visible saying’ only want sex’. Upon reaching a boat where she picks up a box Active Orange juice, she reveals the full writing on her hoody which says ‘men only want sex’. This advertisement has been labeled sexist because of the way the writing on the hoody portrays men’s behavior and attitudes towards sex. Works Cited Childs, E. C. Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2009. Print. Groza, Nicoleta, and Jordi Fernandez Cuesta. "Sexist humour in advertising: just a joke or marketing strategy?." International Journal of Arts and Technology 4.1 (2011): 61-73. Piety, Tamara R. "Onslaught: Commercial Speech and Gender Inequality."Case Western Law Review 60 (2009): 47-93. Russel, T. Commercial Advertising. London: Routledge. 2013. Read More