UNIT 30 - Advertising Standards Authority Rulings

Advert: CO2 "bedtime story's" - Act on CO2/ 2010

UPHELD

In the advert of for the Act on CO2 the ASA had banned this from being aired on television. The reason for this was that it had received a total of 840 complaints mainly from parents. The reason being was that the advert was classed under "misleading and scaremongering...exaggerating the likelihood and impact of extreme weather conditions". The advert consisted of a father telling his daughter a bedtime story of what would happen if we keep wasting energy and CO2. The story showed children drowning with their toys and misery amongst the city. This advert was shown before the hours of 6:00 on national television which meant that most children would see it too. This was a main reason why the advert was banned and complained about as children and adults too found the advert too dark and harsh on the audiences watching. The ASA upheld the complaints and banned the advert immediately. 

My opinion and view on the advert being banned by the ASA is that they do have a point on where the advert may come across as scaremongering to viewers. The message of the advert aimed to snake sure that people understand the effect CO2 has on the world. It did exaggerate the effects to make sure people understand the worst that could happen but this also caused fear in many who viewed it. Hence why it was banned. On the other hand I could argue that the ASA and complaints were a bit harsh as the advert was trying to get a serious message out to the viewers. Even though the message was over exaggerated the it did make people think about what they were doing in terms of saving energy and being wary of saving energy for the best. 

Advert: "Engineer" Volkswagen 2008 

UPHELD

This advert was upheld due to "viewers complaining that the advert was too violent and shown before 9pm". The advert consisted of an engineer who'd been working in an office. As the advert had been going on it involved another engineer fighting with the one shown before. The two go through various events wth other people involved fighting and getting involved in various violent actions. The ASA had shortly been made aware of this advert as it was shown on national to quite a few times. The advert got a massive 1,070 complaints from viewers who were mainly parents. Even though the advert was not targeted at children it was televised before 9pm and thus was a problem as most children would be able to view the advert as any time before 9pm would not be suitable for children. 

My opinion on the advert being banned is that I strongly agree that it was upheld. This was due to high amount of violence demonstrated and that it was too innapropriate for the ages that were viewing it. Furthermore the time it was televised on national television didn't help the advert itself as many complained that their children were seeing this advert. This may cause an influence or even traumatise some viewers. The main reason or the key reason why the advert was upheld was because of the violence involved and the innapropriate broadcasting time.

Advert: "Hooked" Department Of Health-2007.

UPHELD

The Department of health had another adver of theirs upheld by the ASA when viewers had complained about their "Hooked" advert. This was because bowers complained the ad was "offensive, frightening and distressing - particularly to children". The advert itself featured a man who was in office work going about his day when out of nowhere a hooked had been attached to his cheek and had gone through his skin dragging him through the office to an outlet outside to have a quick cigarette. The aim of the advert was to show a message of getting "un-hooked" mind upon the addiction of getting "hooked" on cigarettes. The message was seen as too innapropriate for viewers who not just under age but also anyone who sees it and cannot handle brutality. This could be a big problem amongst audiences hence forth the ASA had upheld the ad.

In my opinion I agree with the ASA's decision as to why they banned the advert. I too found and believed that it was too frightening for children to watch and it was very distressing to be put on national television for viewers of all ages to be able to see. However the advert did convey a message which got people who do smoke to think about what they're doing. By making the advert very distressing it may make smokers to re-think what they are doing. This message can be seen in many ways all depending on who is viewing it therefore you can say the ASA were a bit harsh with their decision. The DONH were trying to get smokers to stop smoking through this advert and didn't intend for anything else, therefore the reason you could argue for the ASA being harsh.

UNIT 30 - Advertisement TECHNIQUES

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE:  Overt

PRODUCT: Go Compare

AUDIENCE: Both genders, All races, ages: 20+

SC: B2-C

In this overt advertisement the product / service being shown to the viewers very clearly. This can be done in many ways and within this advert is done via a fat opera man singing and yelling “GO COMPARE”. It is getting to the audiences head and makes them remember the service when they hear the song. This is an effective way of making people remember the name of your company and this will bring more attention to it.

This is aimed at mainly adults as car insurance is highly important as well as highly priced so customers need to know where they can fins the bets deal. This advert ensured people know what website to go to and what to do as the iconic face of Go compare is the fat man singing. When people see him they will immediately think of the service.

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE: Emotional Respone

PRODUCT: Holvis

AUDIENCE: All races (mainly white), both genders, age: 22-50

SC: B2-C

Holvis has been an essential brand of bread, which has been used for many years in Britain. By showing young boy go through various events which Britain had gone through for example the War and the Suffragette movement. It  creates memories of what the country has gone through and how life has changed. This will get the audience thinking and feeling emotion as these times were not only memorable but also life changing for many of us today.

The brand is setting the image that Holvis bread has been with us for so long showing that it is extremely reliable and is better than all other brands of bread as it has helped feed families etc. Furthermore the advert has a quick sort of montage as it is fast-forwarding time as the boy is running showing the different famous events. This advert depicts its 122 year anniversary of being made. This will get people buying it as the company are celebrating their success.

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE: Celebrity endorsement

PRODUCT: Neo ramge of adidas (Justin Bieber)

AUDIENCE: Both genders, all races, age: 15-19

SC: B2-C1

By using a celebrity of a high caliber such as Justin Bieber fans will see the talented and attractive icon wearing this specific brand of item of clothing therefore they’ll want to buy the same clothing this icon is wearing. So using celebrities to model for clothing will lead and bring other audiences to the product.

UNIT 30 - Advertisement STYLES

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE : Humor

PRODUCT: Extra Chewing Gum ad

AUDIENCE: Primarily men, then women, any race, age: 19-25

SC: A1-E (all)

In this advert, which is advertising the chewing gum ‘Extra’, it starts off with an attractive man who has brought an attractive woman home, most likely from a date. The advert then shows an animation of a talking pizza that is trying to seduce the man into eating it. The man is resisting from the pizza indicating that he doesn’t want bad breath in front of his “date”. He takes a pack of Extra gum out and has one. The pizza box closes shutting the seducing pizza in, the man then goes to sit with his date and Is smiling. This is a very funny way of getting the message across that by having this brand of chewing gum you can kick out all the smells of food such as (in this advert) pizza etc. hence why it is a humorous advert.

The man is seen and represented trying to impress the woman, as he does not want to have bad breath. It has a very stereotypical effect, as usually men are usually the ones who try to impress women. This reaches out to men as most men (not all) would want to be seen as attractive to their partner. This advert brings a stereotypical image as it relates to the idea of men wanting the figure that is a woman.

The advert is effective however as seeing a pizza trying to seduce a man and the man having to tell the pizza to stop and go away is not something the usual advert has so this would make the advert in effect very unique and very memorable. By making the advert humorous it engages the audience and also makes them want to buy the chewing gum as two attractive people were used within it. People would see the gum advert and realise that having bad breath is a really negative thing henceforth they will most likely or probably go and start buying more of it.

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE:  Surreal

PRODUCT: Oasis (rubberduckzilla)

AUDIENCE:  Both genders, any race, age: 13-19

SC: C1-E

In this surreal advert we see two Korean girls who are friends who are drinking the drink Oasis and smiling showing that Oasis makes them happy. They are also reading a comic about a rubber duck who hates water. One of the girls dad then walks in angry saying “the only thing we drink in this house is water” as he takes the drink and says “there are no such thing as giant rubber ducks who hate water” as he says that giant rubber duck is seen at the window of the girls house and the girls shout “rubberduckzilla!”. The giant duck then causes destruction everywhere and helps out the two girls who are drinking Oasis and they are away from the angered father. This advert was very unique and memorable when first released onto TV’s as it was seen as weird but interesting.

By having a Korean styled advert in the UK it isn’t going to be like any other adverts which are showed therefore it will be remembered and anyone who sees a bottle of Oasis will remember the advert and it will make them more likely to buy it. By using a range of colors within this advert it makes it attractive to its target audience who are mostly teenagers. If the advert has used dull colors to represent its drink then it wouldn’t look very attractive and then wouldn’t get lot of attention. Also the people used in the advert have a variety of emotions and whenever they drink the Oasis drink they are smiling and full of energy, showing that by buying this drink it will make you a much happier person.

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE: Parody

PRODUCT:  iPhone 6 parody (taller version)

AUDIENCE:  Primarily male, then female any race, age: 16-22

In this parody advert of the iPhone 6 we see some men replicating Apples advert design of having a white background with soft gentle dialogue talking about new software being introduced just like Apple do. However these people have added their own touch and have mocked apple for their well known factor of increasing sizes of their phone every year and have over exaggerated that and introduced a new phone which stands at 4ft tall.  In the advert it shows different people utilising the product in a sarcastic manner where the dialogue in the background is explaining the uses of the phone.

People who use apple will be able to recognise the effect of this advert, as they will be able to tell that the advert is a parody of the original. Other factors such as the fade editing, lighting, sound and music has been copied from the apple producers and have been put into this, so the parody advert does not want to be too different from the original as they want people to identify what they have cleverly done. It also adds humor to it as most parodies have this effect.

ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE:  Dramatic

MESSAGE: It can wait, don’t text and drive

AUDIENCE: Both genders, any race, any age

SC: All

In this dramatic advert we see a variety of people going through their day-to-day business and what they are doing. The camera shows two drivers in separate cars also going about their day-to-day business. The advert switches camera to show that all these people are living their lives simultaneously with each other. To me this shows the resemblance of life and that it is forever moving on. I can back this up by saying that the advert has a variety of people differing from race to age and sex. This again shows that it appeals to every single individual. The advert then goes back to the mother with her daughter talking to her about a picture she took earlier on. It then shows a man who is focusing on the road and the road only. The mother loses focus of the road and collides with the oncoming vehicle, which has the man inside. The car crash is very detailed and dramatic as well as realistic.

The crash has everyone’s reaction as his or her lives have been affected due to this crash. The crash is then reversed backwards in slow motion which shows the little girl inside about to scream as she realises what’s about to happen/ happened already. At first the crash came out of nowhere so the audience had no idea what had caused it, however as the crash is reversed backwards it shows the cause of it as the mother was looking down at a photo she took earlier of her daughter. The advert ends saying, “no post is worth a life, no glance is worth a life, no email is worth a life, no search is worth a life, and no text is worth a life".

The message and aim of the dramatic advert is to make viewers aware of their surroundings and not get distracted by things such as texts, emails or anything that will make us lose focus of the road. They give us an example of what could happen which people would see and be moved by as the images shows were quite disturbing.