The Impact of Advertising

Starter

• Think of an advert either print or broadcast that you have seen which has made an impact upon you.

• On the whiteboard write down what it was advertising, what message it communicated and why it had an impact upon you; what was it that makes you remember it?

• Discuss your chosen advert with a partner, be prepared to share with the rest of the group.

Learning objectives

To develop an understanding of the purpose of advertising

To understand some of the ways in which images and motifs are used in advertising

Success criteria

To be able to identify how images are used in advertising campaigns and the reasons why they have an impact upon the audience

To understand what a logo is and how it works

The purpose of advertising?Advertising is the promotion of a company’s products and/ or services to drive

sales and also to build a brand identity.

Advertising is an essential element of the corporate world hence companies allot a considerable revenue to their advertising budget.

The primary purpose of advertising is to persuade or sell

There are several reasons for advertising including: • Increasing the sales of the product/service • Creating and maintaining a brand identity or brand image. • Communicating a change in the existing product line. • Introduction of a new product or service. • Increasing the buzz-value of the brand or the company.

The major player in the advertising world is the media used by advertisers. The media are the channels of communication that carry the messages from the advertiser to the audience. Media organizations are organized to sell space (in print media) and time (in broadcast media).

The impact of advertising images

• Look at the following print based adverts and answer these questions on your sheet

1. What exactly are they advertising?

2. Describe exactly what you see in the advert.

3. Explain what the suggested meaning of the advert is.

4. How does the advert have an impact upon the audience? What makes it memorable?

For example1. Advertising Apple products

2. Two men, one dressed very conservatively in a boring brown/ beige outfit, stood quite rigidly holding a placardstating that he is a PC. The other man is dressed quite cool and seems more relaxed and laid back, he is holdingA placard saying he is a Mac.

3. suggestion seems to be that if you were to considerwhat a PC and a Mac computer would look like if they were human. The PC would be quite dull, boring and lacking in creativity or individuality whereas the Mac would be more cool, contemporary and funky- therefore more Desirable.

4. The impact is that it makes you draw an analogy betweena PC and a Mac and consider the users of both types of machine. It’s message is one that suggests it is much cooler to own a Mac rather than a PC. This is memorable becauseit is simple, clever and humorous in it’s message, using wellknown comic actors Mitchell and Webb.

Benetton Campaigns• Infamous use of imagery• Provocative, shocking and graphic• Based upon real-life images• Deliver a message that is not always

about the product• A message founded in a philosophy or

belief• Raising awareness of issues such as

racism, poverty, AIDS, famine

Advertising strategies

• What strategies are at play in these adverts?

• How do the advertisers attract the attention of the audience?

• Are they successful in advertising the product/ cause? Why?

Logos & corporate identity

• A motif that is the visual embodiment of a brand identity

• Shapes, images and colours that reflect the ethos of a brand

• Recognisable to target audience • Usually accompanied with slogan/ text• Once brand recognition is established they

are often presented without their text/ slogan• How many can you recognise?

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9 10

11 12

Answers

1. Nike

2. BT

3. Toyota

4. Facebook

5. HSBC

6. BP

7. Apple

8. Mercedes

9. Motorola

10.Twitter

11.Bluetooth

12.LG

What is it that makes you remember some and not others?

Review

• The purpose of advertising is to sell or persuade • Images used in advertising are provocative,

sometimes shocking and used very much to communicate a message instantaneously.

• They are often constructed to be shocking and to create meaning for the viewer/ audience.

• They can sometimes be intentionally offensive and designed to cause public objection so as to attract more attention and publicity.

• Logos are used to represent a brand and combine shapes, motifs and colours to provide a visual representation of the brand’s values and it’s identity.