Compare and contrast the two advertisements for "Mastercard" and "Halifax One"
Compare and contrast the two advertisements for "Mastercard" and "Halifax One". State which you prefer and say why.
The advertisements that I looked at were both broadcast on Sunday 13th March 2005, on Sky One at the primetime of 8pm. The first advertisement, which lasted for the duration of 30 seconds, was for Mastercard and took the genre of a romantic comedy and the theme of revenge. The second advertisement, which lasted the same duration, was for Halifax One and took the genre of Bollywood and the theme of a playboy lifestyle. The genres of the two ads were quite different, but they both used similar advertising methods in order for their advert to sell the product, both promoting credit card banking.
Advertisement 1 opened with a salacious shot of an attractive woman trying on a dress in a changing room. The opening scene is prurient; the woman will appeal to men in general. The implication of her getting changed shows a stereotypical heterosexual appeal to men. The scene of the woman in the changing room is carefully shot so we just miss seeing her naked. The background lighting is low key; film noir lighting is used, enabling the viewers to focus only on the woman being shown through two curtains. We get the feeling we are looking into an intimate view of her world. The start of the ad shows sex appeal, a theme that continues throughout the advert. Lettering appears in the top right hand corner saying: New dress £130
There is a voice over the theme music reading what the writing says. The voice pauses in places for impact, is deep and resonant appealing to women's actions and behaviour. Non diagetic sound is being cleverly used here.
To start off the advert successfully, a clever opening scene is needed in order to gain prospective new client's attention. This is evident in the Mastercard opening scene, and also in the Halifax One advert.
The opening shot for the Halifax One advert, shows a palatial bedroom. Your eyes are drawn to the large bed, in the centre of the predominant cream and gold furnished room, with a real tiger at the foot of it. There is a low angle framing, which moves into a high angle, from the tiger up to the man. The image of the bedroom represents wealth and social status. Amongst this impressive room, a man sits up in the bed. He is wearing pyjamas showing a Halifax motif, cleverly put on them to show a synoptic connection between this advert and a previous one. He says: " I want you baby, more than those other banks"
The theme tune then starts and the advert begins, the catchy, up beat temp popular culture song " You're my last, my first, my everything" by Barry White. By using a successful song, the advert will be well recognised and easy to identify as the Halifax One advert. The words however have been changed; the first line is relevant to the theme of the advert: " I know, you only want me for my debit card."
This shows humour. The man, Mr. Brown who is actually a Halifax employer, knows that his looks or personality don't earn ...
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The theme tune then starts and the advert begins, the catchy, up beat temp popular culture song " You're my last, my first, my everything" by Barry White. By using a successful song, the advert will be well recognised and easy to identify as the Halifax One advert. The words however have been changed; the first line is relevant to the theme of the advert: " I know, you only want me for my debit card."
This shows humour. The man, Mr. Brown who is actually a Halifax employer, knows that his looks or personality don't earn him the love, it is in fact the debit card!
The second scene in the Mastercard advert shows the same woman sat at a make up counter in an exclusive department store. The use of a department store shows the woman using money, using the Mastercard. Again the music is continuing in the background, and the same voice is used: Favourite lipstick £11
We wonder whose favourite lipstick this is. Hers or her ex boyfriend as the final scene brings in this character? The shot is sensual, her mouth is open and the lipstick is of a red colour resembling lust and passion. There is a change of shot from a long shot of the woman sitting down at the make up counter to a close up of her lips and the lipstick being applied. The long shot sets the scene and should ultimately lead the viewer into a close up.
The next scene of the Halifax One advert shows an open air swimming pool set in a "playboy mansion" location. The climate is hot and reminds viewers of summer holidays and good times. There are exotic trees in the foreground, pretty model girls in bikinis surrounding Mr. Brown in the pool and lounging around on deck chairs. Diagetic sound is being used, the women are moving in time to the music, giving it a feel good factor. Again, the advert appeals to men by using salacious and prurient images such as a medium shot of a woman's legs walking past the camera. Shots of half naked women and two women in the pool are used to lure the attention of men as it shows Mr. Brown in control with the credit card, giving the conclusion that any man could be the same with if they had the Halifax One debit card. However, it appears ironic that with all the model girls surrounding him, he seems to be having a love affair with the debit card, and not them! The control power Mr. Brown has in this ad is opposite to the other ad where the woman is in control.
The third shot of the Mastercard advert shows the woman in the bath. This again is a very sexual image; it gives the implication of her being naked. The mise en scene of the bathroom is highly realistic and depicts a very luxuriant bathroom; can every Mastercard holder's bathroom be this way too? The lettering, being read by the same deep voice, which appears now in the centre of the screen, says: Relaxing bath oils £9
The scene shows the woman enjoying what she has bought in the comfort of her own home. She sits in the bath reading a book, looking intelligent. It shows Mastercard users to be beautiful and affluent.
As the Halifax One advert continues the theme of the ad comes across to the viewers more. There is a Hollywood theme, showing Halifax has connections with international popular culture figures. A long shot of a Rolls Royce moving past, with a substitute emblem to the naked lady on the alloy wheels to the Halifax emblem, is being driven by Mr. Brown down what appears to be a replica of Rodeo Drive. This particular scene is an exaggerated parody of Hollywood musicals, poking fun at the film "Pretty Woman" for entertainment value. It certainly gives the entertainment value with its colourful scenes and experimental shots throughout. However, compared to the Mastercard advertisement, it didn't appear as classy and came across as tacky with too many shots.
The final shot of the Mastercard advert is very successful. There is a long shot of a very extravagant, prestigious stately home; a shot that looked like it was taken from a Hugh Grant film. It shows a wedding taking place; wealth and status in society are reflected by the choice of location. The woman we have followed throughout the whole advert is now wearing the expensive dress, the favourite lipstick and is looking gorgeous after getting ready for the brides big day. We see her talking to the bride, although no jealousy is shown towards her. There is a sound bridge as the music changes dramatically to emphasise the impact of when the man notices his ex girlfriend. The words of the song reflect exactly what the ex boyfriend is thinking and show significance to the point of the ad: " The more I see you, the more I want you"
There is then the voice again, giving the final statement for the Mastercard advert: The look on your ex boyfriends face.......Priceless
Indeed the look on his face is utter disbelief. His point of view is expressed by his reaction to her; he's astounded that he terminated his relationship with this attractive woman standing a few yards away from him. He was enjoying the wedding, a glass of champagne in his hand, and then he sees her stood next to the bride and starts thinking that it could have been them. This final scene empowers women; it shows the woman with all the power, she has the power with the money and the power of revenge by making her ex boyfriend jealous. The use of shots is cleverly demonstrated. As the woman is stood on some steps, whereas the man isn't, it shows her to look higher than him by using a low angle shot. A high angle shot is then used, showing the ex boyfriend looking up to her showing, showing her to be superior to him. There is a straight cut from the wedding scene and changes to a black frame with animated golden wedding bells. The use of the wedding bells shows significance to the advertisement and reminds potential clients or clients that if you have a big expenditure then you have the Mastercard. It shows the card to appeals to everyone and to be versatile. The final shot is a graphic matching style of editing. The image of the ringing bells dissolves into the Mastercard international symbol and the well known phrase is heard: " Accepted everyday for everyday things."
Halifax One aims the advertisement at a more stereotypical male genre who have a different lifestyle of spending power and pleasure seeking. The location was very different to the Mastercard advert, and the characters included an over confident male and several attractive women. I felt the Halifax One advertisement had too many shots and the overall advertisement was too fussy and tacky. The pace wasn't as relaxed as the Mastercard advert, glimpses of shots in the Halifax One advert were more frequent. There were close up shots of the Halifax One debit card which were successful as they caught the attention of the viewers by becoming the main focus of the screen, but I thought the shots of Mr. Brown in the Rolls Royce pulled up at a petrol station didn't work. The model girls dressed in bikinis attending his car while Mr. Brown sat there with a " cheesy grin" didn't appear to me as comical. Instead it came across as more annoying; the costumes of the girls didn't appear sexy and the "bling" jewellery Mr. Brown was wearing wasn't flattering, even the song started to become annoying towards the end of the advert.
Although Mr. Brown could be described as a " popular cool cult guy/ stud", (although I wouldn't personally call him that!), is he really worth his own waxwork model at Madame Tussaud's, London? The wax figure being produced shows how people have caught onto the Halifax adverts and how well recognised they are. However this particular Halifax advert I looked at I thought it had too many images. In total there were 19 shots, compared to the 9 shots in the Mastercard advert.
Looking carefully at both advertisements, I prefer the Mastercard advert. I feel it has been put together better than the Halifax advert, and will be very successful in influencing their target audience. The whole advert is very successful. Aimed at professional, affluent, well-educated single women in their early 20's, it gives an independent and powerful message. The locations used are realistic, as are the characters. Flattering lighting is used throughout and the shots are carefully put together to give an all round well-directed advertisement. Evidence to support my preference of ads would be the wide variety in shots and camera angles throughout the advert making it interesting to watch. The pace throughout is relaxed; the message of the advert is clear from the acting of the characters. Overall, it fully satisfies the criteria for a good advertisement, and successfully promotes Mastercard credit card banking.