Look at how adverts began, advertising conventions and compare two adverts from different periods

Media Assignment

Adverts are everywhere nowadays. We see them every day of our lives. In this essay I will look at how adverts began, advertising conventions and compare two adverts from different periods, among other things.

First of all, I will look at the history of advertising. Most historians believe that the first adverts were signs hung above shop doors in Babylon, now Iraq. This was as early as 3000 B.C. Many people could not read, so these early adverts were often symbols, for example a boot indicated a shoemakers shop. The first mass advertisement in Britain was in about 1472, after Johannes Gutenburg had invented movable type. It was a poster advertising the sale of a book, and was stuck to church doors. Many early adverts also told little truth. For example adverts for non-prescription drugs often told of cures for many ailments, falsely. With the rise of television and radio, came the rise of advertising. Mass radio advertising was popular before the war, but after the war television boomed, and took all the adverts with it. In 1950, advertising costs were thought to be around $5.7 billion per year. Advertising costs are now around $87 per year it is thought.

Secondly I will look at advertising conventions. Advertising conventions are the techniques advertisers use to sell their products. For example many adverts use comedy. A famous example of this is the recent John Smith’s adverts, where a famous comedian is used in the adverts, to try and make us remember the name. Another technique is changing the spelling, i.e. “Beanz Meanz Heinz!” Thirdly, some advertisers try to use sex to sell their products. Many company’s, particularly clothes and perfume advertisers, use very attractive models in their adverts, to try and make you think you could be like them if you ...

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I am now going to look at and analyse an advert from the 1950’s. It is an advert about renting a car from Hertz. The advert itself is about renting a car, and is American from the 1950’s. It’s purpose is to persuade you to rent a car from their company, and is aimed at businessmen. The advert is mainly text, however there is one large picture at the top of a car with a man by it. There is also a smaller logo in the bottom left of the ad. At the top there is a big head-line which is a slogan saying: ‘Men who are “going places” use Hertz!’ This is quite prominent and is what you notice as soon as you look at the advert. The way this advert persuades us is to impact the thought of Hertz being an easy and efficient company to use. This idea of easiness is used throughout the advert and from the moment we see it its obvious. ‘quick, easy, low-cost…’, ‘as easy as A B C’. These are just some of the slogans used in the advert. There is also a small picture of some building blocks, to give the effect of easiness once more. The picture of a man says something about the period. At that time women were still thought of as housewives and weren’t expected to need a car to travel about far, so in this advert all of the language is about the men. ‘Many men have found Hertz…’, ‘men who are going places…’. The language used in the advert is mainly quite informal, however in the ‘small-print’ part, the language is formal. There is a large use of hyphens and compound words, trying to persuade you about the product.

Since the 1950’s, however, when this advert was released, many changes in society have occurred. Women now have careers whereas very few women in the 50’s did. They were viewed as housewives but now they are viewed equal to men. This means a lot of products advertisements can no longer aim their adverts at just men, they must now make them suitable for both genders. This change has put advertisers under increasing pressure to find new, innovative ways to advertise their products.

I will now look and compare my recent advert with my 1950’s ad. It is an advertisement for contract hiring a Renault Laguna, and is from 2003. It is aimed mainly at businessmen, however there is no actual mention of gender, different to the 1950’s advert. The ad shows a large mauve background with a silver car in the centre. The mauve is quite a feminine colour, and is trying to show you the car is for both genders. The silver is meant to show it as a very stylish car. There is a large slogan at the bottom which reads: ‘Contract hire some serious playtime for just £207 per month.’ This is another theme of the advert, fun. In the small description of the car on the right of the advert, it doesn’t mention any of the engine specifications, just the special features, such as a CD player, sunroof etc. This is to try and convince you it is worth hiring just for these advantages. The language used is quite informal: ‘some serious playtime’, all this in car-entertainment’ etc. It is like this because it is trying to convince you you should buy this car for the fun and if the language was all formal there would be no chance of this happening.

In my opinion, the Hertz advert is more effective, for who it is aimed at. The easiness is un-missable and for the 1950’s businessmen it would do a good job because it is a well arranged advert and uses the right language in the right places.

In conclusion I think advertising is useful, but can get annoying. For example it is useful for everyone when wanting to sell or buy a product, because it raises our awareness. However advertising can become annoying when it is saturated into things, such as during films on the T.V. It reaches the best part, and then there is a advert break. This is not funny. Adverts should be used the right amount at the right times, and in the right places.

By, Liam Farrell.