Sunday, March 17, 2019

Advertising: Persuasive techniques

1) What does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

John Berger stated that "All publicity works on anxiety", what this means is that audiences are constantly trying to improve themselves, and when a product comes around and promises that their product can improve them, our urges make us want to purchase that product.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

2) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

Psychologists states that we refer, either knowingly or subconscious that we refer ourselves to an idea that a product or service will improve your life

3) How was Marmite discovered?

It was discovered by Justus von Liebig, a German scientist that found that concentrated brewed yeast can be made into an edible product.

4) Who owns the Marmite brand now?

It is now owned by unilever 

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

Two noticeable examples of intertextuality are marmites Paddington bear advertising campaign; a £3 Million project that appealed to older audiences. And their Zippy advertising campaign that featured zippy, a loveable cartoon character showed viewers that Marmite is also a family-friendly product.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

Pop culture is the culture adopted by major society, while high culture are beliefs, mannerisms, hobbies etc that "elite" society has adopted 

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

It has two effects, one being that the audience will have a boost of ego, making them more inclined to purchase from Marmite, second, it helps the audience ignore the fact that they're being advertised to.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Hyperreality is when reality and fiction are fused to form a new reality. The Marmite advertisement uses hyperreality by showing that marmite is used (when in actuality it's barely used as much). Then through the narrative that bases itself on social neglect, it has the audience questioning their social values. 


Thursday, March 14, 2019

Representation of women in advertising

1) How does Mistry suggest advertising has changed since the mid-1990s?

Mistry suggested that since the mid-1990's advertisers have employed an increasing amount of gender ambiguous models, with this, there has been a growing amount of homosexual images.


2) What kinds of female stereotypes were found in advertising in the 1940s and 1950s?

women were suffering their own identity crisis. Prior to the war, feminists had been articulating the
idea of women having their own plans and careers; but soon after 1945, women were made to feel
guilty by warnings of the 'dangerous consequences to the home' that had begun to circulate

3) How did the increasing influence of clothes and make-up change representations of women in advertising?

It led to women being increasingly portrayed as objects, an example of this would be perfume advertisements where the model would be shown as a fair maiden and any rude contact could harm her innocence 

4) Which theorist came up with the idea of the 'male gaze' and what does it refer to?

Laura Maulvey came up with the theory; what it refers to is the idea of women being used purely to gain the attention and observation from men, making them nothing but objects.

5) How did the representation of women change in the 1970s?

from passivity to independence, the 1970's saw the rise of a new representation of power for women, showing them in a new light, thinking for themselves and getting jobs.

6) Why does van Zoonen suggest the 'new' representations of women in the 1970s and 1980s were only marginally different from the sexist representations of earlier years?

Zoonen state that the new representations of women are only marginally different from previous years after dissecting an advertisement with the following tag line " A woman should look forward to dressing for the office"; showing that physical appearance is still the main importance for women.

7) What does Barthel suggest regarding advertising and male power?

Barthel suggests that while there is an innocent and pure representation of women, there is also a dark lady representation of knowledge and sexuality for their own pleasure.

8) What does Richard Dyer suggest about the 'femme fatale' representation of women in adverts such as Christian Dior make-up?

Dyer suggests that femme fatale representation often mistake sexuality with liberation. And with that female viewers often conform to that over sexualisation mistaking it for liberation.



1) What was the Protein World 'Beach Bodies' campaign?

It was a campaign for a weight loss product that featured a slim model with that tag line "are you beach body ready?"

2) Why was it controversial?


People thought that the model and her figure was not a realistic representation of what real women look like; it also implied that with Protein Worlds products would transform users to the same extent shown in the advert

3) What did the adverts suggest to audiences?


The advert suggested that in order to go to the beach and to be comfortable with your body, it has to look like that, otherwise you're below average.

4) How did some audiences react?


Most audiences decided to stand up against the advert by both creating a campaign to battle the advert and to also pose in their own swimwear to show protein world what a real woman's body looks like 


5) What was the Dove Real Beauty campaign?


The dove real beauty campaign was a viral campaign that revolved around real women showing what real female bodies look like by showcasing different women of different ages and backgrounds.

6) How has social media changed the way audiences can interact with advertising campaigns? 


Due to the social aspect of social media, audiences have more power due to the ability to share and react to adverts rapidly. Gives audiences the ability to protest or promote content quickly.

7) How can we apply van Zoonen's feminist theory and Stuart Hall's reception theory to these case studies?


I think that a combination of zoonen's negotiated gender and stuart halls reception theory can be used together to understand and explain the difference of opinion and how audiences react to media texts.

8) Through studying the social and historical context of women in advertising, do you think representations of women in advertising have changed in the last 60 years?


I believe that there has been a combination of both changed and retained stereotypes. While independence and power for women have become mainstream in advertisements, sexualisation of women is still a selling point for many adverts made today. 

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Advertising: Narrative in advertising

1) How does the advert use narrative? Apply at least three narrative theories to the text, making specific reference to specific shots or key scenes in the advert.

Todorov theory of equilibrium:


Disequilibrium - daily London specific issues that they have to deal with 
Equilibrium - through Nikes products, the individuals manage to over come their issues 

Barthes Enigma and Action codes:


The action code is when the girl is being recorded which leads to her getting viral and furthering the plot.

2) Read this BBC feature on some of the people in the advert. How does the advert use celebrities and less well-known people to create stories in the advert?

The celebrities are used to help give the advert more traction and attracting audiences who like those celeb's, the lesser known actors are used to not only make the advert seem more relatable; but to also help remove stereotypes of London. 

3) Read this AdWeek feature and interview on the Nike London advert. How did the advert use technical codes (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing etc.) to help create narratives that could connect with the audience?

mentioned in the interview, the ad "is from London for London", this is made quite apparent with the costume, location, props and subject matter within the advertisement. Through the technical codes within the advert, Nike successfully managed to make the video seem like it was aimed at Londoners 

4) What representation of London does the advert offer?

The advert represents the London population as both culturally diverse, but also depicts Londoners as hard working individuals that get what they want.

5) Why might this advert appeal to an audience?

This advert would especially appeal to London audiences as it shows the London population in a good light. The advert also does a good job of being relatable to a specific target audience.