The picture in the NHS advert looks like a healthy heart (of a non-smoker?) wrapped in other people’s smoke not necessarily wanting to be but it shows you the smokers influence on someone else’s healthy heart. This relates to the writing because the writing is about second hand smoke. But also in the advert it says “Avoid other people’s smoke like your life depends on it…Because it does”, this is saying that you could die from second hand smoke and the picture is of a healthy heart of a non-smoker who has died. The whole advert is saying that not just smokers die.
At the top of the page on the Sony advert the very first piece of writing says “The Soundtrack to you Life”, notice how the words ‘soundtrack’ and ‘life’ have capital letters on them, this is to draw and focus your attention on these two words and make you think of them when reading the entire advert. In addition, “The Soundtrack to your Life” relates to the phone having music on it, but without even reading the description of the phone you know that with this new phone you can listen to music, which is what they set out to do as they know read are more inclined to read the bigger writing rather than the small print. “The Soundtrack to your Life” also implies that all you need in your life is one of these phones and finally the person (made from wires) is playing a guitar and is wired up to the phone, this shows that the phone produces music and he also looks like he is enjoying himself(as you could do with the phone).
In the Seeds Of Change advert, the majority of the writing on the page is green, green is also a colour you would associate with basil and with organic products (they are ‘green’, good for the environment and for you). In the advert it also says “100% organic” which refers to the product but there are people naked lying on basil, this makes you think that everything is 100% pure and natural; the people also look like angels which suggests to you that the food is very angelic and good for you, as well as maybe making you feel like an angel for buying/eating it because it is good to buy it and because it is good for you. The picture of the clock (set at 3am) also relates the writing where it says “picking basil at 3am” and “a really good alarm clock”.
All of my adverts have quite a lot of words in them; the Sony and the Witch advert have around 70 words in them whereas the seeds of change and the NHS advert have approximately 50 words. But just because an advert has more words in it, it doesn’t mean it is more or less effective in my opinion. And the adverts with more words tend to not have as many big words in them and of course I feel the big words are more effective because it is what you look at first.
In the Sony advert I don’t think you have to look at any of the words to work out what it is selling but as soon as the read the words at the top of the page “The Soundtrack to your Life…THE W800i WALKMAN PHONE” you know that it is a phone that can hold music so I do not think you need to read on.
From the picture in the NHS advert you know that it is maybe telling you about heart disease and when you look even closer and see the smoke you think that it’s telling you something about the links between smoking and heart disease. But it’s not until you read the text on the left hand side that you find out that it is actually about second hand smoke, and even then you need to read on to the smaller text to see that it is telling you about how second hand smoke can cause heart attacks. So yes I think you definitely have to read on in this advert.
In the Witch advert, as soon as you see the product in the top left corner and the woman in the bottom right corner I don’t think you need to read on as you know what the page is advertising unless you would like to read the text and find out how invigorating and refreshing the product is.
When you look at the jar of pasta sauce in the seeds Of Change advert you know what it is selling, but only if you read on do you find out how fresh the basil and that the product you may be purchasing is 100% organic. So I don’t think you need to read on to find out the basics of the advert but then again I think you do to find out what the whole advert and product is really about.
In the NHS advert, the text is hard hitting and straight to the point where it says “Avoid other people’s smoke like you life depends on it. Because it does.” The last sentence is very short and sharp which I think is good because it is dramatic which makes you stop and think about the advert as well as thinking about stopping smoking, this shows it a very effective advert.
The final sentence of the smaller text in the Sony advert where it says “So you can take breathtaking shots and store them alongside your prized music collection” is good because of the use of the words ‘breathtaking’ and ‘prized’. These are strong adjectives to use which make the product sound even better than it actually is.
Again it is the use of adjectives which really bring the advert to life in the Witch advert. They say “‘Tingler’ than a snowball in the face from a ‘dashing’ ski instructor”, the two words I have underlined because I think they liven up the sentence, without these two words it would sound very boring and people wouldn’t want to read the rest of the advert.
And also many words which are in the smaller text make you think that the product is great and better than others, e.g. “pleasurable tingle…soothing natural witch hazel…sensationally clear and refreshed”. B y putting a good adjective in front of each word it makes them sound so much better and overall makes the sentence sound a lot more interesting. And also by them saying “There isn’t a single tingle like a Witch tingle”, they are saying that their product is the best and no other ‘tingles’ even match theirs! And it is also affective because of the use of rhyme as it makes that part of the sentence easy to remember and so it stays in your head better.
In the Seeds of Change advert, they use alliteration by saying “Picking basil at 3am requires perseverance, passion and a really good alarm clock”, and also the ‘really good alarm clock’ part is slightly unexpected as you expect them to say another word along the lines of passion and perseverance and that begins with a ‘p’. And it also brings the whole aspect of it ‘down to earth’. Also, it says ‘the only thing far out is the taste’ by this I think they mean that the taste is out of this world.
The NHS advert succeeds overall by being hard-hitting and shocking; it is set out to shock you and to tell you something you maybe did not know before reading. It is also successful because it draws your attention in straight away by putting a nasty and unusual picture as the main part of the page. The whole advert is basically telling you not to go around other people’s smoke and it is warning you off smoke altogether.
Whereas the Seeds Of Change advert succeeds not by using a big picture of the product but by putting a very colourful and eye-catching background on the page. The background is there to draw you into the page so that you will go on and read the entire advert. It is set out to make you buy the product but also to know about how they make the product as good as it is (fresh ingredients i.e. basil) and to tell you that it is 100% and good for you.
The Sony advert is obviously set out to make you want to buy the phone but also to let you know about all the great features it has (mainly the music) and how your life wouldn’t be complete without one of these phones. It succeeds overall by saying that it is all you need to get on with your life; the advert also succeeds by using good words and clever pictures.
The Witch advert succeeds overall by giving you the impression you are going to have great skin and also the big, bold white writing is good to draw your attention to the product. It is set out to make you want to buy the product but also to believe that you want an experience like the woman is having just by washing your face.
All of my adverts are from magazines such as ‘heat’, a Sunday magazine and ‘the good food magazine’. They are all very different even though they are all from magazines, although the advert for Seeds Of Change is from the ‘good food magazine’ and the ‘witch foaming face wash’ is from a girls magazines so it does make some sense.
The target audience for the Sony advert is obviously mobile phone user who maybe wants a better phone and basically all younger generations. I think they do succeed in targeting them by using quite technical phrases at the bottom of the page which only young people/phone fanatics would understand. And also by using the ‘cool’ image of a person playing the guitar.
In the NHS advert the target audience is people who smoke who may want to reconsider smoking around other people or people who stand around whilst other people smoke around them. It succeeds in targeting them by using graphic pictures and by putting the NHS logo there as they may have already seen this before when trying to give up/to make a friend give up.
The target audience for the Witch advert is obviously women, and maybe women who would like to improve their skin.
And finally, the Seeds Of Change doesn’t really have a target audience, its maybe for people who like to eat healthily and who are interested in organic produce.
In the NHS advert I think the advertisers could be selling freedom, they are doing this by saying if you don’t breath in second hand smoke then you are less likely to have a heart attack.
The Witch advert is selling beauty as well as the product by saying if you buy this product you can look like the woman advertising it and look beautiful by having great skin. I also feel this advert is intriguing as you wonder why the woman looks so surprised.
The Sony advert is just basically saying that you will lead a better life by having one of the phones and without this phone your life will not be complete. I would say that this advert was clever because of the way the wires are set up to look like a man who is playing the guitar.
And finally, I feel The Seeds Of Change advert is selling healthiness, because their produce is freshly picked and organic they are saying you will have better pasta sauce and be healthier. I also think that this advert is rather mysterious, I feel this way because of the background.
