The usage of the Internet and other international online computer networks has also expanded advertising possibilities by opening a new medium, which is used increasingly in modern society.
The Cornflakes advert dates from 1956, and is typical of an advert in this era. It is very ‘proper’, showing the man as a person everyone strived to be, but to a different audience from the Dockers advert. It targeted young families, and working men who wanted a life with a job of their own in which they were central and successful, thinking themselves in control but with a wife always ready to help at home, and a secretary constantly on hand at work. This man is busy, and has ‘no time in the morning’. He has a hectic life, the exact opposite to the situation the Dockers man is in.
In both adverts the narrator has the main part of the script, although there is some other speech as well. The voiceover in the Cornflakes advert is with an upper class English accent. Today accents are used to put across an image of the product or to appeal to certain audiences, and not only one accent is spoken in as this can make the advert appeal to a smaller number of people. During the 1950s accents promoted status and respect for a person, but today as social barriers have broken down accents have changed, and many viewers see ‘BBC English’ as comical.
IN the Cornflakes advert the narrator tells a story spanning two days in a couple’s life. The advert mainly centres on the man and his day at work, which portrays the man as the centre of the family. He goes out to work leaving his wife at home to ‘worry about him’. He is looked up to by her, and is perceived as the centre of her universe. He seems to hold the power, although the reality actually implies the opposite. He cannot do even the simplest things, and even needs his wife to make his breakfast. This is shown when the narrator changes focus from the audience to the wife (or wives in general), saying ‘give him a nice big plate of Cornflakes’, as though the man doesn’t have the capabilities to make breakfast every morning. Even when the man gets to work he is supported by a woman telling him what to do. His secretary guides him through the day and organises his working life, as his wife does at home.
The Cornflakes advert has a small scene n the middle showing Kellogg’s corn flakes being placed on the table with a holder of toast. This is a basic device used from the beginning of advertising, showing the brand name ‘Kellogg’s’, which most people would already be familiar with, centred in the advert in large font.
A feature that is different in both adverts if the camera movement. In the Cornflakes advert, the camera is basically static, always giving a front on view. The Cornflakes advert has no music in the background, as this was not expected in adverts in this era.
The Dockers advert was obviously intended for viewing overseas and not to other American people as it talks from the American point of view offering something to the rest of the world.
The accent in this advert is American, an accent that most people are familiar with, which also shows the origins of the company Dockers. The language is slangy and informal, the small amount that the narrator actually speaks. It is in a more conversational tone, talking to someone instead of at someone.
The man in the Dockers advert is shown as completely capable by himself to sort out his own life, even if in an unorthodox manner, for example ironing his sandwiches. This is also used as a device in the advert to increase his popularity. Throughout the advert this man is shown as superior and capable. His position on the balcony is above the world as he surveys the people in flats below him. The woman in the advert appears to be there to stop it from being unrealistic, as a flat full of men only would be, and to increase the man’s already established superiority. She obviously finds him attractive and is mesmerised by him standing on a balcony in his underwear. She stops what she is doing to wave at him, and instantly causes an accident. This superiority can be seen as suave and appealing, but it also makes the man almost too perfect. The fact that he irons his sandwiches at the end brings him back down to a more human level. He becomes laughable, and even childish in his approach to life – instantly making him even more likeable.
Superiority is shown in a number of ways in this advert, using this successful man in contrast with more ‘lowly’ less capable people. The central man is high up in the blue sky at the top of his block of flats on a sunny day. He looks tanned and athletic. He is watching over the other inhabitants of his block of flats as though he pities them. Dockers are introduced as a ‘convenience product’ because of the fact that they are non-iron cotton. Dockers puts itself one above other ‘convenience products’. It shows the only person who is really having an easier, stress free lifestyle because of this product is the man wearing Dockers. The other ‘convenience products’ such as the rotating spaghetti fork, the hair dryer that gets out of hand and the exercise machine that breaks down are made unattractive and ridiculous by the inept people using them. Dockers are there to replace them, as an apology for these things on behalf of America.
Adverts have become more specialised as they have developed, and more companies have taken to television advertising. The fact that for the bulk of the advert the man is not wearing the trousers at all, but simply his underwear, brings in sex appeal. A close up shot is shown of the man doing up his zip. Originally this would never have even been thought of, but adverts have begun to cover more ‘taboo’ areas in order to appeal to a consumer for example sex appeal is used to make a company stand out from others. Adverts now need to have more to them than just showing a product looking good. There has to be an element of surprise or humour in an advert, something that will attract people to the name. The man in the Dockers advert is self assured and good looking; he is independent and has a nice apartment showing him as successful. This would attract men to the advert because they aspire to be like this man, whereas the sex appeal would attract women to buy Dockers for their partners.
The music in the background of the Dockers advert sets the scene very well. The words to the song, ‘I’m sitting on top of the world, just rolling along’, immediately gives a laid back impression of the scene. It is the tune that helps keep the advert in your mind, and in this advert it worked after only a few viewings, so therefore fulfilled it’s marketing purpose. Songs in adverts are usually catchy, and often well known. As advertising has developed sound tracking in an advert is now expected to keep the viewer entertained, although in the 1950s this type of sound tracking was not expected.
Devices are used in the Dockers advert to enhance the successful, happy image. The advert uses colour to attract the viewer, for example a bright blue sky is more appealing than a dull grey sky, therefore making the advert, and consequently the product, more attractive. Modern adverts, such as the Dockers advert, also use sweeping camera movements, which contrast greatly to the static position of the camera in the Cornflakes advert. In the Dockers advert the main scene is not always shown from front on, giving a different viewpoint than a static camera angle would.
The style of the cornflakes advert is to give two possible outcomes to a day. Before eating the Cornflakes an unsuccessful, bad day in which the central character is bullied by others and unorganised in his work. Secondly after eating the cornflakes to show a successful businessman, conducting his way at work in an authoritative, ordered manner. Before eating the Cornflakes the man is shown as incompetent, but they seem to stimulate a miraculous change in him, changing his life completely. This is unlike the Dockers advert, in which the man is shown throughout the advert as capable and accomplished, making Dockers the ‘choice of a successful person’, instead of a remedy to the state of your life. To me this consequently makes the Dockers advert much more attractive, and the Cornflakes advert unrealistic.
Each advert offers a complete change of life as soon as the product it used. Is this what people have come to expect from the actual product now, or is it just what is expected from the advert and not to be taken seriously? Many adverts offer instant stress relief or change in lifestyle because of the products advertised, but these are not necessarily to be taken seriously. People don’t expect that the moment they buy Dockers they will have an infinite amount of time to watch the world go by, but the convenience of not having to iron your trousers is played on so much they seem to be actually worth buying because of this. The aim of the advert is to try and make you buy the Dockers, but not to make you believe literally that you can be the man in the advert.
The Cornflakes advert is similar in the way that it presents something completely unrealistic, but you are not expected to believe it, but it is used as a device to attract people. Cornflakes just want people to buy the product. Other companies don’t advertise for a specific product, but just to make the brand name better known.
Companies today are prepared to spend large amounts of money on an interesting advert that will make people familiar with the name. The fact that they do obviously means that advertising is successful and influential, and many people are prepared to accept what the advert offers.
