I've noticed political ads don't follow the same rules as regular ads. But one rule in particular I feel should not be broken is the use of racism in political ads.
Immigration reform has made the issue of Mexican immigration a hot-button topic for vote-hungry politicians. In Tom Tancredo's ads, he uses terrible stereotypical material toward the Mexican immigrants in this country.
This kind of irrational fear and hatred made into an advertisement reaches millions, just like any other ad. Therefore, it has the same power as regular ads, the power of influence.
Those who use their advertising skills to help these messages to be sent out should stop. Its socially irresponsible to work for these campaigns. Politicians should follow the rules of regular advertising and stop using stereotypes in ads to further their careers and further the causes of hatred and fear in the public.
Even if an advertiser doesn't care about the social welfare of Mexican immigrants, they should consider: Advertising on TV is a powerful tool. When politicians use this privilege frivolously, they could draw attention from the FCC to regulate material used in ads, and this could limit creativity in other ads.
The 2011 Honda Odyssey minivan commercials are trying to attract several audiences. Honda is using different songs to show the diversity of the van and its drivers.
In one commercial, aimed at men, a black 2011 Honda Odyssey morphs into a panther and hard rock music is playing while thunder is sounding in the background. The man, who was leaving the grocery store, is awe-struck by the minivan. Inside the van, a heavy metal rock video plays on the small TV in the van, the GPS has the location "Redemption Road" as its coordinates, and a large Marshall amplifier sits in the trunk, blasting the rock music.
Another, appealing to couples, shows a well dressed couple leaving a date presumably. The song "Smoke gets in your eyes" by The Platters plays in the background. As the sliding van door opens, rose petals fall out, a fire place image plays on the small TV, chocolate covered strawberries are in the glove compartment and a large oyster opens int he trunk to reveal many pearls.
The enticing visuals relating to the subjects in these commercials have little to do with the van and the viewer leaves the commercial knowing little about the van. The commercial doesn't tell a story and isn't informative, rather it just gets your attention. I applaud Honda for trying something new with a car commercial, but they missed the mark by trying to be too creative.
Last week, Gap announced it is changing its classic logo, a blue background with all capitalized letters spelling 'G A P.' And the announcement has gotten a lot of negative attention.The new logo, which has a white background and black letters spelling 'Gap'and a blue box in the upper right hand corner, has gotten the company a lot of flack online. The Gap's Twitter and Facebook fans and followers had little good to say about the brand's new image.
The old logo, in my opinion, goes with the preppy and classic look of the store's clothing and accessories. If the store was trying to look as though it has evolved, it missed the mark and gone into devolution. The new logo looks outdated and cold, like a stock exchange logo. Consumers instantly recognize the old Gap logo, so it makes no sense to change the well-branded image.
Some logos don't need to change over time i.e. Coca-Cola and Ford. Sometimes, the brand gets it right on the first try, like in the Gap's case. As a Gap Inc. employee, I think the brand has a great amount of recognition because of its simple and classic logo designs for Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Piperlime. The simplicity resonates with the Gap audience. The change could negatively effect the brand's advertising because of its recognition and notoriety. Consumers wouldn't be able to easily identify the brand's messages, as they do now, and this could adversly effect the company's sales.
Recently, a mere week after declaring the logo change, the public backlash pushed the company to rescind the change and continue to use the old, classic logo.
A new Huggies commercial, which explains the struggles of parenting by using the metaphor of an amusement park, is oddly relaxing. Young people arrive at an amusement park ran by happy babies, all wearing Huggies diapers. The parents, unknowing and afraid, are comforted by the babies, who seem unafraid.
At one point, a mom and her baby are at the top of a steep drop on a rollercoaster, the baby puts his hand over his mother's, as though he's reassuring her. The "kissing booth," a staple of many parks, is filled with a mother kissing her new baby. A young couple plays a game called "Feed the Baby" where they throw bottles into a cutout baby's mouth, mimicking a bean toss game at a carnival.
No dialogue is used in the ad, instead a soft melody plays, adding to the relaxing and calm tone of the commercial. The commercial is called "Enjoy the Ride." The parents eventually lose their fears by the end of the commercial and it closes with a young family entering the tunnel of love together. The message is encouraging parents to enjoy the ride of parenthood, with Huggies.
This ad used the metaphor to calmly and cleverly demonstrate the obstacles a young or new parent faces with a baby. It is a soft-hearted emotional approach to new parent's, a large part of their target audience. I think they effectively used music and imagery to get across a reassuring and heartwarming message, which appeals to moms.
I've recently come across a couple of ad sites that are really interesting and helpful for gaining knowledge about the advertising world.
Advertising Age, or AdAge, is a news site which discusses the new ad campaigns of companies. It is useful because its a one stop shop for all things advertising. It has articles about campaign failures and successes. I find it really interesting because I really didn't know a community like this existed and it will be easy for me to keep up with trends in advertising.
AdForum, which calls itself the "Resource Center for the Global Advertising Community" is a website that chronicles good ads from around the world. Each week it has a top 5 list which displays the most popular ads of the week. Ads are available in video form and print form to be discussed. Members of the website can choose favorite ads and comment on other ads, as well. And the membership is free. It also has job listing for people with advertising experience.
Both of these sites have up to date information about trend in the advertising world. I think they can be a great learning tool for you advertisers, as they are somewhat like creative libraries for integrated communication students.
