Tuesday 20 September 2011

Adjudication

One adjudication that has interested me is the Adjudication on Bethesda Softworks, i am interested in this adjudication as i am familiar with the company as i fit in with their target audience. They recieved an adjudication on a poster for a video game that recieved 41 complaints. The poster showed the head and shoulders of a man who's head was painted black and white and he appeared to be shouting or screaming at the viewer. Text, that quoted a review of the game, stated "SICK TWO FINGERS UP AT SHOOTER CONVENTIONS". Forty complainants, challenged whether the ad was likely to cause fear and distress to children, because some posters were placed near schools and nurseries and four complainants, who found the ad offensive, challenged whether it was suitable for public display. The ASA reviewed the advert and decided that the advertisment must not appear again in it's current form.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

BCAP, ASA & Ofcom - Advertising

BCAP (The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice) set out the rules of advertisements on any television channel that has been licensed by Ofcom. The rules are in place to make sure that all advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful and that they do not mislead or cause harm or offence.
As BCAP and CAP govern the rules, ASA enforce them by responding to any consumer complaints, every complaint made matters and a single complaint could be enough to bring down an advert. Ofcom make sure that license holders comply to the broadcasting codes and licensing of broadcasters in the UK.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Identity Analysis

 Menu Screen
The Darkness that takes over the majority of the menu screen sets an unwelcoming and scary scene, as from being a young child many people develop a fear of the dark, it's not the dark itself that people are scared of but the lack of visuals which means anything could be lurking without being seen. This coupled with the eerie sounds and the weather that is displayed (wind, rain, thunder and lightning) creates a grim effect and suggests the film may either be a horror film or a thriller. Many other elements of the menu screen suggest that the film may be of one of these genre's, such elements include the location which is a dark unclean looking motel which seems like the kind of place most people relate with unkind, strange, scummy people and murderers.

Movie

In the opening scene the sounds played are thunder and lightning which sets a grim eerie scene. There is also a voice that is narrating, the narrator at that point cannot be seen which adds a sence of mystery. Then it quickly shows a sequence of close up camera angles that show documents but go by too fast for the viewer to understand whats going on, this builds tension and curiosity. Then it shows a man who is overlooking the documents which causes people to start making assum ptions on who he is, such an assumptions could be that he's a detective. The next few minutes are spent introducing a variety of new characters, it starts off by showing you a clip of a man (who we later learn is called George) running into a Motel carrying a blooded woman telling the person behind the front desk that there has been an accident, then it flashes back to George, the woman (who we learn is his wife) and a boy who looks around the age of 10 (George's stepson and the woman's son) sitting in a car discussing the rout they need to take and their driving shifts, George displays many signs of nervousness with what he says and his body language, this makes the viewer feel that he is not the most confident of people and makes him relatable.

The tyre on their car goes flat so George goes out to try and fix the problem, the woman also gets out of the car but the child remains sitting inside in silence. As George is changing the tire the camera then alternates between the point of view of the mother and the child, they look at each other and put their hands against the glass to reinforce the stong motherly feeling the woman gives off and then this is quickly ripped away as she gets hit by a car. This then plays with time once again and flashes back to inside the car that hit her. We see a woman (who we later learn is called Caroline) on her mobile talking down to the person on the other side, we learn that she is an actress as she mentions termonology only someone in that buisness would use. She gives off a snooty and upper class feeling which creates a feeling of dislike in the viewer.

We then meet the driver of the car who manages to remain calm and authorative during the accident which makes people assume he has had some experience of dealing with panic enducing situation. Then we get introduced to another character, a woman driving a convertible as rock music plays this gives off the feeling that she's somewhat wild, then we see a flashback showing that she's in fact a prostitute, we also see her reverse into a phone line pole, knocking it down and rendering her car useless. After that we return back to the motel and we are back to the current time with George running into the motel with his injured wife in his arms, that is when we are properly introduced to the guy who seems to be running the motel, he tells us that the phone line is down so he cant call for help, the phone line being down because the prostitute knocked it down.

The driver then volunteers to go and look for help, he runs into the prostitute and she tells him that the road is flooded, they continue in the other direction, looking for help and they run into a young couple whose body language and attitude towards each other show they have marital problems, they then tell the driver that the road is flooded so they are all trapped with the only building available to them being the motel. The driver then uses what medical know edge he has to help sow George's wife's neck. These first twenty minutes are all about introducing the characters and bringing them all together. This is because the characters and who they are, are a big factor in the film, even the movie title being identity shows that. 

Banned Adverts

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) are the people who make sure adverts are trustwrorthy for the consumer.

This is an advert i have been told to examine, it isan advert for the Dolce & Gabbana brand.

My inital thoughts on the advert is that it has a lot of connotation in it and it has a lot of sexual prowess. It attempts to play on the attractiveness of one gender to another.
It appears there are some strong sexist vibes coming from this advert such as themen surrounding the woman and one of them pinning her to the ground, this shows male dominence.
This advert was banned because it promotes violence towards women as the woman is being pinned down and it appears asthough she is about to be raped.


This advertisment for Zazoo condoms was also banned, i think the advert was banned because people found it offencive as the child is already grown, children of around that age could see the advert and parents who may have children around the age of the child in the advert may be discustedbecause they love their child and the advert suggests regret and neglection.
I personally enjoyed the advert and found it amusing, the advert in my opinion would have been succesful and may have helped stopunderage pregnancies because it is much better and straight to the point than most other condom adverts and people wouldnt like to be the parent.

Here are 5 BCAP rules i believe the advert is breaching:

5.2 Advertisements must not condone, encourage or unreasonably feature behaviour
that could be dangerous for children to emulate. Advertisements must not implicitly or
explicitly discredit established safety guidelines. Advertisements must not condone,
encourage or feature children going off alone or with strangers.

4.10 Advertisements must not distress the audience without justifiable reason. Advertisements
must not exploit the audience’s fears or superstitions.

11.11.3 Television only – Advertisements for commercial post-conception advice
services offering individual advice on personal problems are not acceptable.

15.10 Advertisements must not denigrate the beliefs of others.

15.12 Advertisements must not exploit the hopes or fears of the vulnerable. The elderly, the sick
and the bereaved should be regarded as especially vulnerable.

Here are 5 Ofcom codes that i believe the advert is breaching:

1.1 Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast.

1.13 Dangerous behaviour, or the portrayal of dangerous behaviour, that is likely to be easily imitable by children in a manner that is harmful

4.2 The religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination must not be subject to abusive treatment.

7.1 Broadcasters must avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations in programmes.

1.12 Violence, whether verbal or physical, that is easily imitable by children in a manner that is harmful or dangerous

Thursday 8 September 2011

Comparing Two Adverts

The two adverts i have chosen to compare are the Lucozade Energy 'Feeder's ''Buck Rogers'' by The James Cleaver Quintet' Advert and the Google Chrome 'Dear Sophie' Advert. These adverts have been chosen because i think they are both good adverts and can make an impact on someone.

Lucozade Advert

The Lucozade advert is in my personal opinion a successful advert and this is all to do with the song they have used. They have used this song in many ways to get lucozade seen, one of these ways involved sending bottles of lucozade and exercise bikes to people in the Youtube community and asking them to cover the song in their own style trying to make it go viral and succeeding as the comments section in the official advert contain comments such as 'I came here because of Brett Domino.' The said 'Brett Domino' being one of the people lucazade sent things to, his cover can be seen below. They have also used a unique idea, for the advert, the idea being the band are traveling around the streets as they play their song.  The USP of Lucazade is the energy the drink gives you so the advert ishigh energy with a lot of loud music and energetic activities going on such as climbing, skateboarding and running. The target audience of Lucozade are teenagers and young adults, i think it appeals to the target audience because everyone in the advert is around the age that it's targeted at and the music aand activities that are being done appeal to the age range targeted. This advert is attempting to make a brand as the advert is high energy and that is what Lucozade are trying to make itself known as. Lucozade also try to appeal to the head, and by making everything in their advert high energy yet everyone seem still so ful of energy and unexhausted it makes people who are low on energy more likely to buy the product. Lucozade's slogan is simply 'Yes', it is short, simple and straight to the point but itfits as saying Yes to something usually means your going to use some enegrgy and it is that which Lucozade are reffering to.


Google Chrome Advert

The Google Chrome advert is a successful advert in my opinion because it plays on peoples emotions and motherly/fatherly instincts. My main problem with this advert is that it doesn't really mention google chrome that much and if you didn't know what it was you wouldn't realise that the browser used in the video is actually what they're advertising and not Youtube or Gmail. Although Youtube and Gmail are both owned by Google so in a subtle way they are also advertising those two websites as well. The USP of Google Chrome is the speed of it so the moving between websites in the advert is almost instantaneous.  The target audience of Google Chrome are people whpo use the internet on a regular basis that need it to be quick and efficiant for their needs. I think this advert has been done so it succesfully shows what the target audience want, which are things such as rendering speeds and loading times, which in the advert are next to nothing. Google Chrome is also creating a brand here, as everything is clean, minimalist, straight to the point and fast. The slogan of Google Chrome is 'The web is what you make of it' the slogan is creative and stays loyal to the product but it is not memorable and is easily forgotten. The logo's of the Google related things shown in the advert are all displayed at the end.

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Memorable Adverts

Memorable Adverts
Malibu: Maliboom boom -


I find this advert memorable because the music is catchy and the dance they perform in the advertisement is memorable. It is also a humorous advert and intends to amuse the viewer.

Lucazade: Feeder's 'Buck Rogers' by The James Cleaver Quintet -

This advert is memorable because the music is catchy and enjoyable, the idea is original and new and it is something that people will discuss with their friends.

Fosters: Good Call! Haircut -

This advert is memorable because it has humorous content that can make people laugh, it is laid back and appeals to the male gender which is whom the product is targeted towards so it is successful in what it does.

Go Compare: Gio Compario, Coffee shop -

This advert is memorable for wrong reasons, the first time you hear it, it's catchy and an okay advert but after the fifth time it begins to annoy people to the point where they will change the channel to avoid it as it does get stuck in the person's head but instead of making them happily hum the tune it simply annoys them. Even though it has annoyed people it has also been successful and has gotten people to remember gocompare.com.

Cadbury: Eyebrows -

This advert is good because it is humorous and entertaining, it also went viral online and got millions of views and people did their versions of it, it became so well known that television shows would do parodies of it, one example being The friday night project. Although no chocolate is actually shown in the advert until the end when the logo is displayed,it has been a successful advert and is recognisable by millions of people.