The narratives of both advertisements are relatively simple and straight forward. In the Skoda advertisement, a team of bakers make the car being promoted out of cake in great detail, although it is not apparent what is being created until the end of the advertisement. This technique of keeping people in suspense of what is being created keeps the audience interested.
Taking a different, more common, approach, the Citroen advertisement shows the car at the beginning of the advertisement, at the edge of an extremely remote frozen lake in barren, mountainous terrain. The car then transforms into a robot and skates around the lake, past a savage looking man wielding an axe. The robot then stops abruptly in front of a group of people and turns back into a car.
Only the non-digetic sounds, the music and singing of Julie Andrews, can be heard during the making of the cake car in the Skoda advert as opposed to the likely reality of clanging pot and pans, people shouting and equipment being moved. If you could hear these digetic sounds, the impact of the advertisement would be far lessened as the loud, inappropriate noises would spoil the un-naturalistic, feel good mood the director was portraying.
The Citroen advertisement includes both the non-digetic technological trance music, but also digetic sounds, such as the transformer robot car skating past, the wind and the slamming of car doors etc. I think that the digetic sounds used help to give the impression of speed the robot is travelling at. The funky music really gets adrenaline flowing and puts across the feeling and image of the car that the director of the advertisement believes will sell.
Neither of the advertisement have any dialogue in them, which is a deliberate technique used. I think that this is a really good advertising technique because instead of telling the audience to buy the product, the advertisement subtly has hints embedded into it telling the viewer that the product should be bought. When the viewer picks up on these hints, either consciously or subconsciously, it potentially makes them feel clever because they worked out the message of the advert, even though it was obvious, without physically being told through speech.
These subtle, or in some cases obvious hints in adverts are called content signs. When I watched the videos for the first time, signs were not obvious, although I did notice them. It took two to three times of viewing the videos to be able to clearly pick out these signs. Examples of content signs in the Skoda advertisement include when the bakers are using brick shaped cakes and cementing them together with icing and a trowel. This image is almost identical to the process of building a brick wall, which is strong and sturdy. This implies that the car is built on strong foundations and is built to last, not unlike mortar and cement.
In the Skoda advert, you see a lot of attention being given to the inside of the car, even though these details such as the engine and it’s syrup ‘oil’ and the seats will not be seen in the final cake product. This says a vast amount about the message that Skoda are trying to put across; that they spend a lot of time and attention making sure that the car not only looks good, but has had just as much focus on the interior and mechanics, it’s not just design that is great.
One of the other content signs from the Skoda is when the bakers are applying icing sugar, used for making things white, onto an already white roof of the car. This puts across the image and idea that Skoda constantly improves things even though it may be considered unnecessary. This trait would be considered very desirable especially in a car company.
The actors playing the roles of the bakers in the Skoda advertisement are constantly smiling, selling the idea that if you buy the car, you will be happy. This is a desirable trait, although it is more of an opinion. It is still, however, a nice idea.
All of these content signs and ‘lovely stuff’ in the Skoda advertisement are leading to the slogan at end ‘full of lovely stuff’. This slogan is not literal or directly related to the features or technical specification of the car however, in my opinion it is a good marketing campaign. It is selling a feeling rather than a car.
The content signs in the Citroen advertisement make the viewer see two sides or ‘personalities’ of the car; the small and compact little car, that would be easy to park and control, and then the never-ending space, like that of a huge car, that can fit many occupants and their vast amounts of luggage and equipment. This is appealing to customers who want a car that is small but still has the room and space to fit everything they need.
When the Citroen car drives barbaric looking man with an axe, this shows stark contrast between the new, exciting and fast technology in the car between the old fashioned, low technology axe man. The robot car speeds up when this happens, giving the impression that if you are in the car, you are safe and can just drive away.
The ‘gamer’ screen shown when the car is navigating its way around the lake could be another way of showing the cars high technology, or because we find video games fun and enjoyable, that this feeling is similar to driving this vehicle. Looking at what I think the target audience is, younger males, this may appeal to them even more as this market are more likely to play video games.
The transformed car/robot is skating around on a lake, without the expected difficulties that this would usually indicate, such as skidding, and not being able to brake, especially when travelling at very high speeds. This transformer however, has no problems, and indicates greater control, in swerving and braking both dramatically and gracefully in these conditions. This is a desirable feature for safety and driving in a car and a content sign that will be picked up on either consciously or subconsciously, fulfilling the intention of the director and car company.
When people gather round a landmark or piece of art, they often film and photograph it, showing that it is either attractive or unique. When this is done in the Citroen advertisement, it shows that this will be peoples approach if you purchase this car. This is a something that we, as human beings desire, as we often strive to better our peers in technology, fashion and cars among other things. I think that this is the message that the director is trying to influence by and get across to people during this section of the advertisement.
In the last frame of the advertisement, the car is surrounded by scientific equipment such as tripods and machinery. We know or assume that scientists are very clever, and would always make the right choices and are ahead of us in technology. By showing this equipment at the end, it implies that the car is owned by scientists, making us think that if scientists have it, then it must be good. This is using our knowledge of professions and stereotypes in a subtle way, without saying it in a blunt fashion.
The camera shots and angles used in both the advertisements are very different. The director from Skoda uses very close up shots, which are very personal. This makes the audience feel involved in the scene, and may influence their views of the product being advertised. The light used is bright, white light; giving a clean, happy mood to the scene and uplifting the audiences spirits.
Conversely, the director from Citroen portrays long, panoramic camera shots to show the car from a long distance, a tiny spec in a deserted, barren, desolate atmosphere. In comparison, when the car transforms into a robot, low angle shots are used looking up at it, giving the impression of size, along with over the shoulder shots which show the height of the robot.
The low angle pan shots that follow the robot round help add to the illusion of speed, a trait that a car should have when it is targeted at younger people, especially males.
The lighting in the Citroen advert is darker, making the car look bright, startling and a haven in deserted surroundings. It makes you think that if you were in that situation, you would want that car to be there!
Both adverts use very similar advertising techniques, using well known songs that induce mood enhancements on their chosen target audiences. The un-literal slogans that the adverts are based on are selling happiness or lifestyle choices. This should make us think carefully about the person we are, or want to be and how easily irrelevant fantasies and unrelated advertising campaigns influence our decisions to buy products.
Neither of the advertisements uses dialogue and they are both very subtle about the content signs and techniques they employ. If we are switched on to the way that advertisements and their motives work, we may pick up on these and choose the way we react. However, if we only pick up on these devices subconsciously then we may make the decision to react without giving appropriate thought to the matter. This means that in the wrong hands adverts could be exceptionally dangerous!
In conclusion, I think that both adverts work well and are equally as effective against their separate target audiences.