Advertisement campaign's for cars.

English Media Assignment

The first advert we viewed was a new advertisement campaign by Jaguar. This advert is difficult to describe due to the lack of narrative and flow. The advert starts with a sensual first image of a woman dancing in a nightmarish surrounding, a bleak wooden backdrop with a winding tree. The advert is littered with these images of women in nightmarish surroundings and is divided by images of the Jaguar driving in vast countryside and some sort of storyline which is hard to decipher. The images are given in the advert in a fast and furious way over the 30 seconds period which the advert lasts. This montage of images is so speedily fed to the viewer that a total of 32 frames are shown making it more than a frame per second. The 32 frames are accompanied by a haunting song called ‘Wicked Game’ by Chris Isaac, in which he sings about falling in love which he doesn’t want to. Some of the lyrics are “And I don’t want to fall in love with you.” The advert attempts to show what the maker’s view of the car’s new image is, a fast, sexy image.

The Skoda advert is a contrasting advert to the Jaguar advert as Skoda is attempting to make a new image for itself in a totally different light and attract new customers whereas Jaguar are simply looking for a different age range for their buyers. Skoda do this by giving the viewer a clear view of its ideas, giving a clear narrative showing an overweight man, a typical ‘old’ Skoda driver wearing non-matching, non-fashionable clothing to further stereotype the image of an old Skoda driver. The advert is not a hard one to understand as the ‘old’ Skoda driver is scared by how far the car has come and he doesn’t like that the cars now have a quality which was lacking in the old image. In the advert the stereotypical Skoda driver is being driven by a salesperson, who is trying to sell the car. The Skoda driver seems uncomfortable with how far the car has come and when asked if he wishes to drive the car agrees but when he gets out of the passenger side to get into the driving seat turns and runs across the field. This is a very funny image of the stereotypically fat man running across a field. I think this is done so that the viewer takes this away with them and is likely to talk about it to friends, increasing the popularity of the advert and hence increasing the chance of someone buying that car.

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I think that the main difference between the Jaguar and the Skoda adverts is the sophisticated nature of the cars. When the Jaguar advert says “The new Jag Generation” it is saying that it is the popular, more sophisticated car and to stand out from the crowd you should buy the car, to be popular and respected. However, the Skoda advert is showing how unfashionable the ‘old’ Skoda cars were by showing the customer as the stereotypical, old fashioned, glasses wearing and generally unkempt image of its drivers. Attempting to show that buying the new Skoda would be to break away from the crowd and old image, that you should buy the car to be an individual. Another difference between the Jaguar and Skoda adverts is the choice of narratives used in the adverts. The Skoda advert uses a clear narrative by using a conversation between the Salesperson and the customers to get the adverts point across that the car has come a long way in terms of quality and performance, “which for some, is still a problem”. It shows that some people still think that Skodas are the same as they have always been, unreliable and unfashionable.

The Jaguar advert, however, is a sharp contrast to the Skoda advert using an abstract narrative to convey the meaning of the piece. The story is told using the lyrics of the song to summarise what the advert portrays when it says “What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way”. This attempts to say that the buyer doesn’t want to love the car, trying to resist temptation to buy the car but eventually temptation gets the better of the buyer and they buy the car.

The overall impression of both adverts leave the viewer with quite different opinions of the cars, this is mainly due to the narratives used by the adverts. With the Skoda advert being plain and simple it leaves the viewer with a clear idea on what the meaning of the piece was. The impression I was left with after watching the Skoda advert was that the cars have come a long way but that the makers accept that some people cannot shake off their preconceptions of the old image. My impression of the Skoda advert was quite easy to develop as the narrative was very clear and it was clear what the makers were trying to tell me. This is unlike the Jaguar advert, however, which I had trouble developing my views on until I looked in depth at it. I feel that it is obvious that the makers are trying to attract a new audience by showing the car as a sexy vehicle which is seen as a status symbol and my impressions of the car are just what the makers intended. It shows its new sexy look buy showing sexily dressed women both on the car and in the car .I feel that the car is a status symbol but now has a sexy, race like look, which would attract all ages if they have the money to buy a Jaguar.

Both adverts are appealing to a certain age range bracket, which is around late 30’s onwards but I am unsure which sex the adverts are trying to appeal to. I think this because most people in their twenties would not be able to afford a Jaguar but that Jaguar are trying to appeal to as younger audience as possible. The Skoda advert shows no women in the advert, which could mean that you would attract men if a woman was to buy the car or that it is designed for men which is why only men are shown. I feel that the advert was designed with men in mind as it shows the car as it is with no flashy images or lighting, I think that the Skoda is designed for 30 – 40’s, no nonsense male drivers who are not fazed by the Skoda’s ‘old’ image and can develop their own ideas and views on the car.

The Jaguar advert could also be interpreted two ways. Women could look like the women on the advert if they buy the car or on the other hand men could attract women like the women on the advert if they buy the car. I feel that it is mainly for men but it is showing that women can drive the car as well, which is why it shows a woman driving the car. The advert attempts to appeal to a wealthy audience as it shows women in expensive, possibly designer clothing and shows parties, suggesting wealth.

My views on both adverts are that they were both successful but that in my opinion that the Jaguar advert was the more successful one as it made me think and therefore was the more memorable piece. I think this is due to the lack of narrative, which made me think about what the piece was about and I had to formulate my own views and opinions on the advert. I feel that the Skoda advert was a good piece but it was a little too simple to understand and therefore didn’t make me think as much after the advert had finished. I also think that the choice of narrative used by the adverts made me remember them more. The Jaguar advert, using a haunting yet memorable song by Chris Isaak made me associate the song with the advert, so every time I hear the song I remember the advert and the Jaguar, which could persuade me to buy one, if I could drive.