Week 11 EOC: Evaluation

From taking this class, I have learned what is necessary to manage and write a blog and also how to run a twitter account. These things I had never done before and will be able to continue doing into the future. I have learned the basics of advertising and have showed what I have learned through my blogs and advertising plan for the final project.

I have also learned somewhat about what advertising was like in the 60’s from watching a few Mad Men episodes. This helped understand where it all took off and was neat to be able to see the way that they used created advertisements in that decade.

Most of the class I felt unsure of my work, but now finally being at the end I know I have a much better understanding of what goes in to an advertising plan, how to relay messages through advertisements, how to brainstorm ideas for advertisements, how different typography can affect the image of your advertisement, and many other tools that will be used throughout my career. 

Week 10 EOC: What Makes A Great Advertisement?

Week 9 EOC: For Those Who Think Young

Is advertising today aimed at younger people more than in the past?

In 1961 Pepsi Cola had a commercial and advertising campaign called For Those Who Think Young. This campaign targeted a younger crowd as well as young families, based on the people in the advertisements and the lyrics of the commercial song. They targeted the younger crowd because it was a sugar filled carbonated drink that was fun.

Today, there are a lot of advertisements that are targeted at a younger market crowd as well as many other types of consumers and consumers that have different incomes, who are different races, consumers who have different interest, and other variables that marketing can be broken down into for different categories.

I think that a younger aged market is being targeted more than ever. Weather the young consumer had an income or not, their parents most likely do. This leads to products being bought that were aimed at the younger consumer, reasons for being that maybe the parents wanted their children to have the things that they never got, or that the targeted younger crowd had worked hard to save money to get the product that they wanted. Another reason that there is so many products aimed at younger people could be that they don’t full understand the difference of needs and wants, therefore they might be under the impression that they need everything.

There is also a lot of advertising that targets other ages as well. Cars, jewelry, medications and supplements, food and beverages, and vacations are all targeted to people 30 years of age and up.

Today, there is more advertising going on than there has ever been. I think it is fair to say that there is advertising aimed at all different ages from toddlers to seniors and of all different lifestyles. People are more individualistic than ever creating thousands of different markets, pretty much a market for every interest. There is no one-way to market everyone through one strategy or visual in advertising.

Week 8: Typography

Font for Maybelline Mascara 

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Billo

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Alba Super

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Snell Roundhand Black

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Modern No. 20 Bold

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Handwriting - Dakota

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Jazz LET

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Giddyup Std

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

American Typewriter

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Academy Engraved LET

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Rosebud Antique

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Diamante

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Vintage

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

Philosopher Bold

Laugh, Love, and Cry.

olivia

Laugh   Love   and Cry.

Ashby Medium

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

Product: Maybelline New York Great Lash Waterproof Mascara.

Maybelline New York Great Lash Mascara is known as America’s favorite mascara and a tube is sold every 1.7 seconds. Although it doesn’t seem like they have any problems selling the mascara, from my researches I think that the product could form a more appealing and creative image. From the Maybelline website I found this description for their Great Lash waterproof mascara.

“AMERICA'SFAVORITE MASCARA CONDITIONS AS IT THICKENS WATERPROOF”

That was all that the page displayed about the product, which is a great product that I think needs a better slogan behind it. They need to be more creative with their advertisements and work on targeting more consumers. Their competitors Cover Girl and L'Oréal both have commercials that really grab my attention so I know that Maybelline's Great Lash Waterproof Mascara can compete with their advertisements. My pitch for this product is this:

Whether you are crying from breaking up with your boyfriend or laughing so heard your eyes start to water, Maybelline New York Great Lash Waterproof Mascara stays on your lashes and doesn’t run down your face, helping you keep your cool.

The advertisement for this product will show a young woman that has been crying with black eye makeup and mascara running down her face and then will show her again after she has applied Maybelline New York Great Lash Waterproof Mascara without eye makeup running her face. There can be many different variations of this advertisement such as showing a before and after of a woman that is in the rain, a woman that is laughing so hard she is crying, and a woman that is sweating from the heat of a hot summer day.

New Slogan: Laugh, Love, and Cry. Maybelline New York Great Lash Waterproof Mascara.

Week 6 EOC: Copywriting

The Got Milk? Campaign caught my interest because it is such a short slogan. The print ad’s and television commercials I have seen up until now have always led me to believe that the advertisements were to show that drinking milk is good for your health and bones. While doing more research on the Got Milk campaign I have learned that the first got milk commercial (below) is suggesting that if the guy in the commercial had a full carton of milk he could have gotten the answer right because he would have washed down his peanut and butter sandwich faster than without it. I also found in my researches of this campaign that they aren’t really advertising milk to make people healthy, they are promoting it for the sole purpose to sell more milk. “This is our objective statement today: Sell More Milk. Everything that we do, every moment that I spend, gets filtered through this objective. If it doesn't sell more milk or have the potential to sell more milk, we won't do it - it's that simple.”

Wendy’s Where’s the Beef? Advertisements are also a good example of a short and simple slogan that attracted attention. Wendy’s wanted to stand out from the thin beef patties from Burger King and McDonalds so they advertised their thick patties and in a way to attract the fast food eaters of the United States. I found in a blog at americamthinker.com “We were red blooded Americans, by God, proud and vigorous, with hearty appetites for red blooded all American beef!” This is true, but it also stirred up some negative thoughts from vegans and vegetarians and people who are just against eating cow and slaughterhouses. This led Wendy’s to lay off their Where’s the Beef commercials but who ever said that bad publicity wasn’t good publicity.

Volkswagen Slug Bug Super Bowl Commercial

Owning a Volkswagen Beetle myself I found this commercial funny and real. I have always liked Volkswagens and their commercials. When I drive my beetle down the street and I pass people walking I can always rely on looking back in my rearview mirror to see someone getting slugged. This commercial advertisement showed that there are a lot of people out there that play the slug bug game. The most important thing in this super bowl commercial is that Volkswagen opened up the game of slug bug. They are now saying to give the person next to you a punch whenever you see a Volkswagen, and not just the beetle but also any one of the 13 models that they have to offer. They didn’t focus on just one Volkswagen model, but all of them. Doing so opened up a larger market for the advertisement verses other Volkswagen commercials that tend to focus on just one model. For example there is a commercial for the VW Touareg model, which focuses on targeting expecting mothers or women who want to get pregnant just so they can get the new Touareg. This was a good advertisement for Volkswagen to show during the famous super bowl commercials because a lot of people can relate to it. There are many different types of people in the commercial such as young and old, men and women, and different ethnicities and cultures. They also showed hummer in the characters that were giving the punches. They showed a little boy slugging his grandpa in an area that shouldn’t be punched, and also a pregnant woman in labor out of nowhere punched her husband who is driving them to the hospital. There is always time to play slug bug and now the game has opened up to more Volkswagen lovers.

Women's Role in Advertisements

Women are in advertisements for all different types of products and services. A big role that women play in advertisements is to influence the consumer on many different levels, needs, and wants. ABC news said, “Woman's domesticity was implicit in the whole genre of 1950s ads.” In the 1950s, women were wanted by society to be kept at home and be housewives and mothers. It was not uncommon to see women in advertisements for cleaning products during that time, because women were being influenced to be happy housewives. As time progressed the social revolution if the 1960s made women step out of the house and start to fight for what they wanted to pursue. Advertisements during this time showed women with an outgoing and fun attitude or personality. Some common uses of women in advertising that can still be seen is ads to day for example could be an advertisement for a women’s beauty product will show an attractive women looking flawless, happy, and sexy to make the women who are looking at those advertisements want to be that women, which influences the purchase of the product, which is called “femalecommunicating to female.” Women are also used in advertisements that are targeting men, for example an ad for beer may feature a sexy woman along side the guy drinking, to make the men who are seeing the ad think if they drink that beer they can have beautiful women. Today the use of women in advertisements where the women is playing the role of a housewife or mother are not quite as popular as they were but “Traditional sex role model, however,still dominate the pages of most women’s magazines.” A good example of a sex role model influence in women and advertisement would be Victoria’s Secret. If you think about it they are selling sexy not just undergarments.

Thank You For Smoking

Determine the scenario: What happens in this frame?

This scenario in the Camel brand cigarette advertisement shoes Joe Camel being a ladies man because he is so smooth. In the ad it looks like Joe Camel and his date are going to cruise around town all night in his nice yellow car and smoke cigarettes.

What is the setting? What are the conditions?

This advertisement is probably from around the 1980s based on the Miami style scene, which was popular from the television show Miami Vice. The weather looks nice and the sun is setting giving the scene of the ad a nice array of color.

Who are the people or groups?

Joe Camel, who is known for being smooth and full of character and a good looking brunette in the back ground.

What is their point of view around this specific experience?

That smoking smooth Camel brand cigarettes will give you character and make you cool like Camel Joe in Miami.

What are their goals?

Their goals are to try to get people who smoke or even don’t smoke to start smoking camel brand cigarettes.

What are their assumptions? What are their perceptions?

The Camel brand is using Joe Camel smoking a smooth Camel cigarette and then showing that these cigarettes make him look so cool that he can get a cute girl and cool car. They are using this imagery assuming that’s what men want.

Are there conflicts? Is there cooperation?

In my opinion there is conflict in this advertisement. First they are saying if you want to be cool like Joe Camel, you need to smoke Camel brand cigarettes. Second they are using a cartoon camel to promote their product. The cartoon can have a big affect on a market way too young to even consider the decision to smoke; I’m talking about children.

What are the outcomes?

The outcome of this advertisement is that they are advertising a life style along with the cigarette, which can be a let down to the consumer when they find that buying camels wont attract pretty brunettes. Another outcome could be influencing under age smoking by minors who were attracted to the cartoon spokes figure Joe Camel.

Questionable Ethics

This first advertisement I found I felt was so inappropriate I almost didn’t post it. It’s a Bryers creamsicle ice cream ad featuring two very young girls in gymnastics leotards bending over in a stretching position, with their back ends facing the cameras. The ad then had in large bright orange colored letters “Lickable.” I don’t know who thought this advertisement was acceptable with the poses used and the word lickable. There is such a high rate of child molestation and rapes I find it disgusting that the key inappropriate points that I mentioned weren’t carefully considered. Its almost like they are provoking the idea. 

The second advertisement I came across that I thought was inappropriate and un ethical was an ad on preventing the abortion of African American babies. Myself have certain views on abortion and I think in some situations abortion is acceptable. The advertisement I found is going against abortion but they used African Americans to exploit the situation. The ad says “Black children are an endangered species” and the web site is names TooManyAborted.com. In my opinion this advertisement is targeting African American women and saying that they have un protected sex and have abortions if they get pregnant. This as is discriminating against black women and is unethical to target the one race when every other ethnicity of women are having abortions too.

Another advertisement I found that was displaying questionable ethics was from Burger King. The ad was for a new sandwich called the “BK super seven incher". In the ad there is a side profile picture of a women wearing red lipstick with her mouth wide open and a picture of the sandwich placed an inch or so in front of her mouth. The phrase Burger King used in the advertisement in hug letters says “IT’LL BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY.” This advertisement in my opinion is using questionable ethics because it is using sex to sell their food. Burger King is supposed to be a family restaurant they even have the kids club for children.

Volkswagen Lemon

Honesty is a great way to promote and sell a product. It can give the consumer a sense of comfort as well as show them that the retailer or manufacturer isn’t hiding anything and showing their imperfections. That is exactly what Doyle Dane Bernbach displayed in an advertisement for Volkswagen automobiles in the 1960s. The advertisement was titles “Lemon” in large bold letters and beneath was written the following:

The Volkswagen missed the boat.

The chrome strip on the glove compartment is blemished and must be replaced. Chances are you wouldn't have noticed it; Inspector Kurt Kroner did.

There are 3,389 men of our Wolfsburg factory with only one job; to inspect Volkswagens at each stage of production. (3,00 Volkswagens are produced daily; there are more inspectors than cars.)

Every shock absorber is tested (spot checking won't do), every windshield is scanned. VWs have been rejected for surface scratches barely visible to the eye.

Final inspection is really something! VW inspectors run each car off the line onto the Funktionsprüfstand (car test stand), tote up 189 check points, gun ahead to the automatic brake stand and say "no" to one VW out of fifty.

This preoccupation with detail means the VW lasts longer and requires less maintenance, by and large, than other cars. (It also means a used VW depreciates less than any other car.)

We pluck the lemons; you get the plums.

I’m a big fan of honest selling my self and I think that Doyle Dane Bernbach did a great job utilizing this technique. It was a great way to separate Volkswagen from other automobile makers of the decade. Instead of using persuading words to attract the attention of a consumer they used a word to be wary of in the automobile industry. The word lemon attracted the attention of the reader and got them reading the small print, which is the seller of the ad.