Blog #10 - What advertising means

Advertising is...

Blog #9 - Is Advertising Ethical (under 140 characters)

Advertising as a whole tends to not be ethical in our modern society, because people are very gullible, and advertisers take advantage.

Blog #8 - Too Much Advertising?

People have short attention spans, due to the internet and social media sites, that constantly feed you with new information, every few seconds. People have been accustomed to becoming bored very quickly, and want just short bursts of information instead of long explanations to things. For example, on Facebook, depending on the number of friends you have, there will be new news to refresh every few seconds about your Facebook friends and acquaintances. There are copious amounts of advertisements being flashed at us daily, and most of them fly right over our heads, especially if they have the same format as millions of other ads, and so they lose their luster. For example, I will always have ads at the side of my Facebook news feed, and 98% of the time, they will not catch my attention
Like the ad above; it does not interest me in the slightest, and it's because I see these kinds of ads all the time. I think over all, companies could reduce the amount of ads that they put out, as long as the ads that they do have, stand out, and impact their target audience. Putting time, research, and creativity into ads will go a long way.  If companies are putting out basic ads, that follow the same formula as so many other ads, people will not care, especially since modern day society's attention span is so short.

Blog #7 - Profanity

Generally, when swear words are used in an ad, it isn't directly displayed, since that would lead to the ad be banned entirely.  I think that when an ad decides to use a play on words to get a swear word to form in the mind of the consumer without directly displaying it actually makes it have more impact and linger in the mind of the consumer for a longer period of time. Having said that, I do not think that there needs to be an increased amount of profanity in advertising, because it will just desensitize our society with the increased exposure, and in the end, the ads using this profane language will lose the impact they are trying to get across to the consumers. I do think, however, there are instances where using a bit of profanity actually ends up being a useful tool in advertising, because it can act like a hook, and people will end up repeating the ad to their friends if it has good humour. One great example of this would be the campaign that Franks Red Hot sauce used.

The fact that they used an old lady to swear; without actually cussing on t.v., was funny, and I even found myself saying this line to people I know, because the campaign was funny, and was memorable because of its profane nature.  So to conclude, I think that profanity, if used in a clever and funny way, can be a useful tool in advertising, as long as it's not being overdone, and distastefully.

Blog #6 Meme

Blog #5 - Infidelity in advertising

Advertisements that endorse the idea of infidelity are wrong in my opinion.  I think that a big issue in our modern-day society is the fact that divorce has become a very common occurrence. According to Feldstein Family Law Group; the rate of divorce in Canada as of 2013 is 48%, which is almost 50% percent of marriages are ending in divorce. This demonstrates the lack of effort being put into the vows "Until death do us part", and actually working on the problems at hand, instead of giving up on the commitment because it isn't fully satisfying you. The stability of marriage and the monogamy of it has a lot of benefits.

"Being in love has tons of benefits, from elevated self-esteem and renewed energy to a rush of mood-boosting brain chemicals"
-Jessica Padykula

I think that advertisers should not endorse the cheating culture, but rather, target the single audience, and advertise trying new things, or attracting other males or females, with their product. When I see an advertisement that demonstrates that cheating is okay, the ad loses some credibility. To conclude, companies will actually narrow down the audience they are trying to reach by endorsing infidelity, because people will become turned off from the ads as a result. 

Blog #4 - Humour in Ads

This is an example of an ad that was attempting to reach audience by using humorous imagery to go along with the theme of the headline, but the vulgarity of the image ended up getting the ad banned. 

Here's an example of ad that uses funny imagery to promote their products as a brand. A broad audience of people can appreciate this because it's funny, cute, and also communicates the key benefit of the product to its consumers. 

I think humour is a great way to communicate with a diverse and broad demographic, so it can be a useful tool when creating an ad campaign. I think that humour should be used tastefully if used in an ad, since vulgarity and violence can turn people off from an ad very quickly, and so the company will lose potential buyers and even worse is that your ad could be banned for it's offending nature. Personally, I get turned off from ads, when they are over sexual or violent, even if they are carried with humour. I think that being clever with wording, and making people laugh by being clever with advertising is the most successful way to reach a broad audience. The mass majority of people in the world like to be entertained and laugh, so humorous ads can be successful as long as the ads don't get off track about the product they are selling.

Blog #3 - Advertising and Obesity

The average person will see hundreds of advertisements per day. Through the hundreds, many of these ads will be food related. The fast food and candy industry put billions of dollars into the advertising of their products. Food ads make the food look much more appetizing then the food actually looks when it is in front of you.  The advertising industry also spends a lot of money on research about the human mind, and what triggers hunger or desire, for example.  I think that people are very influenced by media, and so when the media tells you, for example, "It's okay to treat yourself and indulge", then people quickly rationalize their decision to buy unhealthy foods as an okay thing to do.

The advertising companies that promote the unhealthy foods of the world, know how to grab the attention of the consumers, and make unhealthy food exciting. There is not many advertisers making healthy food seem exciting, and so consumers are less aware of their options for healthy choices. I really do believe media and advertising plays a big role in the growing number of obese people in the world; but having said that, everyone has the choice to live either a healthy or not so healthy life style. People need to be more aware of what they are throwing into their mouths, and how many chemicals are used in processed foods.

Here is a link to an article talking about the psychology of advertising, and it's influence on people.

Blog #2

I think that Photoshop is a great tool to be able to create an image that is polished and professional and it also gives people an outlet be creative in the digital world with interesting special effects. In the advertising world, I do believe that photoshop is a necessary tool to make images in ad look professional and stand out. One thing that I don't agree with is completely changing the appearance of a person in an ad, such as models and actresses. Modern society is so image focussed, and I think that people need a cleansing from the fake images constantly being put out there in advertisement. It is not only distructive to the people looking at the ads, but also for the people who are in the ads, because they feel inferior to that image, and they're self esteem becomes greatly affected if they don't have good support from the people they are close with. Personally, I avoid looking through magazines that are filled with celebrity gossip, because I know the images are very Photoshopped, and I don't find the content interesting.

Blog #1

I do think that ads that are offensive should be banned, because it's not only adults who are seeing these ads, but there are also children who will see this, and be exposed to matters that they should be sheltered from until they are older.  I think that the network who streams these ads are the ones who decide and filter which ads should be allowed, and which should be banned.  I think that brands and agencies do feel the need to shock consumers viewing ads, because people see a large number of ads per day, and they tend to just fly over the heads of the average person; and so agencies want to portray something memorable. I think that ads should make people think, whether it be negative or positive thoughts, but ads should be tastefully executed, so that the ad is not coming across as trashy material.  Even though an ad may not be directed at those who may be offended, the companies should still be tasteful, but still use strong imagery to grasp and hold the attention of many. Modern society has become over sexualized, and so, as a consumer, I would like to see ads that have high impact imagery and are clever, but do not use sexual images to shock and get their point across.