Crucial Factors Of Advertisement - Research Paper Example

Crucial Factors Of Advertisement Different marketers in media have different ways of portraying their thoughts to their target audience. It is these differing forms of media analysis that leads to different forms of reception from the audience. Factors such as race, age and even gender are crucial factors that different marketers focus on in their advertisement endeavors. This essay will analyze the Cheerios advertisement in an attempt to uncover issues that made the advertisement trigger huge discussions; thus, making the advertisement less effective. In addition, the paper will assess the human behavior incorporated in the advertisement, the target audience and lastly, the costs of production, ownership and representation issues. As seen in the work of Stump, the Cheerios advertisement would be interpreted to be less effective since it incorporated a biracial family in the storyline (1). Going with the fact that racial issues are existent and ever rising in advertisements as Plous and Neptune indicate, the Cheerios advertisement would explain in detail what the American community thought of racism (627). Through advertisements, the producers and marketers are able to steer communication in the society both consciously and instinctively. Plous and Neptune continue to argue that advertisements have incomparable communicative ability in the modern society (627). In line with this thought, therefore, it is understandable that the Cheerios advertisement created huge discussions to the extent that the comments were disabled on YouTube (Stump 1). In this context, therefore, the aim of the advertisement was not reached as more focus was put on the racism factor that was clearly brought out by the major players in the advertisement. Various elements contributed towards the mass audience reaction of this commercial. One of the major factors that led to the reactions against the commercial was the incopration different races in the advertisement. Stump writes that for a long time commercials had not incoparted mixed-race families (1). However, with the changes that wre taking place in America such as the election of a Black president, the commercial would have been thought to come at the right time. Secondly, the commercial would be indicated to cause lots of comments online since stereotypes characterize the lifestyle of many Americans. Stump writes that the social media is governed by White superiority (1). This explains why the Cheerios commercial created a huge commentary base online. It is also evident that through social media any person can give any comment and still retain their identity. Through this, any person with a racist opinion could easily leave their comment on the Cheerios advertisement and still withhold their identity. This factor also contributes to the reason behind lots of comments being made online regarding the advertisement. As far as the advertisement is concerned, human emotion and behavior is incorporated in the story line. According to the research conducted by Hall, broadcasting structures yield information in a manner that creates different emotions in individuals such as emotional, perceptual, cognitive and behavioral (511). Since the Cheerios advertisement is visual and audio, the emotional aspect was aroused in the audience. Hall warns against the audience being fooled by the visual aspect of presentations as the case mostly happens in lots of contexts (511-12). For the case of the Cheerios advertisement, it is arguable that lots of the audience were fooled by the visual aspect of the advertisement and failed to grasp the intended meaning of the marketers. The emotions that are linked to this advertisement range from resentment, disgust to hate since the audience retain racist thoughts. Since the audience still believe in White superiority despite the society changing by the day and embracing diversity even in terms of racial groupings, the audience could not appreciate an advertisement that involves different races and more so, a Black race. From the commercial, it is arguable that the aspects of the commercial that the public mostly identify with include a biracial daughter conversing with her mother in whether Cheerios are good for the heart (Stump 1). The public also identifies with the daughter placing the batch of Cheerios on her father’s chest (Stump 1). These two aspects make the core of the commercial since the father is Black and the mother, White. The public does not see the innocence of the child asking if the Cheerios are good for the heart and even her good quality of sharing with her father. Plous and Neptune indicate that at most times racial stereotypes in many types of contents focus on stereotypes on male racial images, mostly the Black men (630). Going by Plous and Neptune’s argument, it is valid to explain why the major response in the Cheerios advertisement related to resentment on the Black man on the commercial. Evidently, the media has a powerful way of quantifying different portrayals such as that of men and women. Through the media, it has also been possible to trace the development of different personalities such as that of the Black men to their present. Through the Cheerios commercial, it is justified to argue that the Black men are almost at their peak as they have been featured in advertisements, though harsh comments govern their advancement in the contemporary racial society. The target audience of the Cheerios advertisement was the general family. This is because Cheerios has been known for its nutritious value for the entire family and is known to be good for breakfast. However, the marketer would be indicated to mostly focus on the woman, the mother of the young child, as the conversation begins with the child asking her mother if the Cheerios were good for the heart (Stump 1). The mother would then confirm to the child the benefits associated with the Cheerios. It is this confirmation, therefore, that motivated the child to give some Cheerios to her father after getting permission from the mother. The advertiser would be said to generally ask the mothers to always serve Cheerios for their families. The embedded message, in this case, was to confirm that Cheerios is good not only for the heart, but also for the entire body. The cost of production, the issues of ownership and effect and issues of representation come into play as far as the Cheerios advertisement is concerned. Jenkins indicates that the American media has gone to an extent of lowering the costs of production of content as well as the distribution charges (33). An impact of this move has created a wide range of channels that can not only distribute content, but also disseminate content in a powerful way. It is this low cost of production that can be said to lead to the production and distribution of the Cheerios advertisement on the digital environment. The distributors were able to sell their content directly to the consumers through the internet. This explains why, as Stump reports, the Cheerios advertisement hit the online waves, all for the wrong reception reasons (1). In terms of ownership, the media industry has seen a great transition. As Jenkins indicates, the mainstream media had a huge ownership, but the technological developments have seen a shift in the patterns of media ownership with other players coming to field (34). The old systems have been challenged; thus, providing a platform for the emergence of other media forms (Jenkins 35). In line with this thought, it is possible that the Cheerios advertisement found a channel of representation, thanks to changes in the media industry. Conclusively, it is evident the media industry has changed over time. These changes have created an opportunity for other players to equally contribute in terms of sharing their content to their viewers. The Cheerios advertisement is a good example of the media developments, since the advertisement not only found a way to the industry, but also evoked lots of feelings from its audience. Works Cited Hall, Stuart. “Encoding, Decoding”. In Simon During The Cultural Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 507-517. 1999. Print. Jenkins, Henry. “The cultural logic of media convergence.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7.1 (2004), 33-43. Print. Pious, S. & Neptune, Dominique. “Racial and gender biases in Magazine advertising. A Content-Analytic Study”. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21 (1997), 627-644. Print. Stump, Scott. “Cheerios ad mixed race family draws racist responses”. Today News, 3 Jun. 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2015. < http://www.today.com/news/cheerios-ad-mixed-race-family-draws-racist-responses-6C10169988> Read More