Ad Critique

For our section on advertising I have analyzed three different television and magazine ads, each with their own distinct audience and goal in mind. The first ad I examined was the new “green” Macbook computer. The entire commercial was just of the new macbook laptop and it was spinning in the center of the screen with a man voice in the background along with green tinted light. There are many different things that I noticed about this commercial which why I chose to analyze. The first thing I noticed about this commercial was that the computer was the center of everything, in other words there was no other action throughout the commercial just the computer going around in circles.
The variety of technical aspects of this commercial relate back to chapter three. The producer of this commercial used a medium shot of the computer but used the circles to create different angles to keep attention. Also the lightening was plain white but the macbook laptop reflected a minor green shadow but it was not overwhelming to take away from the message of the commercial. The man speaking over the commercial had a regular friendly man voice and there was also music playing in the background. There were also mini graphics above the computer that corresponded with what the man was talking about in relation to the computer. For instance, the man is describing how this new computer is completely recyclable and above the computer is the three green arrows in a triangle, which is the recycle sign.
I think the intended audience of middle to upper class young people who are “in style.” Apple is the new “it” brand in technological advances in popular culture and within the last few years and the movement towards a healthier, earthly lifestyle; this computer is directly aimed at the young, hip people who are interested in bettering the earth. Most of what the commercial was saying dealt with how “green” this new macbook laptop is, this commercial can also be directed towards a younger generation of students who are environmentally aware and want to be with the newest technology, apple, and to help the earth.
The next commercial I looked at was commercial for build-a-bear workshop. The commercial’s targeted audience was for young kids but also for parents and older adults. The commercial was relatively short in comparison with the macbook commercial. This commercial also had much more movement and more energy. The first thing I noticed about this commercial was that the screen was always moving, the shot never focused on one thing for more than about two seconds. The first scene is designed to attract children because it is of a little girl smiling and holding a teddy bear, the shot then goes by to a group of teddy bears and then a lady coming grabbing a teddy bear appears. The next and last scene shows a mom and daughter walking out of the store with a new teddy bear.
In this commercial there is also a woman doing a voice over. Her voice is very friendly and is appealing to young children. I think that this commercial is designed to attract young children. I also think the commercial was designed for parents and adults too because of the content of the commercial. Besides the advertising of just the basic build-a-bear workshop it also showed a discount on the bears during the holiday season, indicating that it would be a great gift for family and friends who have young children. One of the most popular and studied topic is consumerization, as it says in Beach on page 35, “audiences are socialized by the media to think of consumption as a route to status or popularity.” This time of year commercials push it enhance their product and have higher outcomes of customers.
The last ad I examined came from a magazine called First, which is a women’s health magazine. The target audience would be middle-age women. The background of the ad is bright Christmas red and the woman is modeling signature Levi Strauss jeans. The context and function of this ad is to help women feel good about themselves in a certain brand of jean. One of the interesting things about this ad was that, although it was a women’s ad for jeans the woman in the ad was not super skinny or glamorized. The magazine is targeted at older women who may be a little heavier than 20 year old girls who read Cosmo. Even though some magazines that target older women do show extremely attractive and slim women, the female gender images vary from the different age groups. Young girls who read seventeen and Cosmo, the women on the covers are very pretty and skinny, while the older women on the cover of other magazines may look the same but the captions next to the picture are different.
Magazines for older women usually have attracted women on the cover with captions such as “ you can look this good in 5 days” or “you too can loose 10lbs. in ten days” while magazines targeted for young girls do not usually have such captions by the supermodel that’s on the front cover. This particular ad shows that women can wear tight fitting jeans and look good without being young and thin.