Warm Up
The message of an ad is never just ‘buy our product.’ The message is related to how the company wants you to see them and the ideas they want you to associate with them. Why is this a more sophisticated approach to selling a product?
Learning Objectives
- Develop fluency and speed in annotating print ads
- Increase awareness of common errors in writing about print ads
- Clarify revision topics for exam
Annotating Print Ads
Remember that finding the important codes in a print ad should be easy; if you have to think to much about whether something is important, it probably isn’t. Look at the ads below and practice making notes on two or three codes and why they are important.
The person you are trying to reach is unavailable.
Only we study your body so thoroughly before making a running shoe.
One child is holding something that has been banned in America to protect them.
Go Outside Magazine.
Feedback to Improve Your Analysis
- Make the product clear
Too often you described the code, gave excellent explanations of how it works and linked it to the message without mentioning the product. It all comes back down to the product. Make sure you explain how you think by selling their message the advertisers think it will sell the product.
- Mention the company name more often
In the practise piece we just did, the company name was Inghams; however, this wasn’t mentioned by many of you. By mentioning the company name you show and understanding of the difference between the company that is paying for the ad, the company that produced the ad and the product that is being sold.
- Avoid simplistic reasoning
Remember, when it comes to advertising it is more about getting the target audience to by an idea than convincing them that if they buy the product they will be thinner, lighter or more beautiful. Even with beauty products it is more about getting the audience to believe in the superioty of a product because it is ‘scientifically proven’ to do something. For example, saying that young girls will get their mums to buy Ingham’s chicken becuase they think it will make them look like the girl in the ad it too simplistic. How does the representation of this sexy young girl help sell the idea and how does the idea help sell the product.
- Focus on the idea being sold and how this helps to sell the product