The location then changes back to the kitchen window. The sky is still bright blue. There is a bottle of Robinson’s Original on the window sill. It is glistening in the sun and the concentrated reflections are oscillating. The voice-over reads: “Robinson’s Original, now with vitamins. Feed their imagination”. The advertisement lasts for thirty seconds.
The Norwich Union advert begins with a shot of a large, old, intricately decorated building which is reflecting light from the sun on its walls. The reflection shrinks suddenly. The camera is near to the ground, looking up at the building. The sky is blue. The scene then changes to a close up of a middle aged man’s face. He looks up slightly, and his whole face changes. There are lots of indistinguishable voices. The camera shot changes to the man, standing, looking around at the buildings. He looks lost and out of his depth. The sun peeks from behind the grand building. The man’s voice says: “To be a doctor”. The camera angle continuously changes, and then stops at the camera looking up at the buildings again.
The location then changes to a field with a little girl standing, looking upward and shielding her eyes from the sun. The camera zooms out and fades to a brief view of a bustling library bathed in blue light. The location then changes again to see a shot of the man from behind, walking along and empty corridor, again looking lost. His shoes make a metallic sound on the floor which echoes. There are large windows which give lots of light, and the corridor looks either like a hospital or university. The man’s voice then whispers “to become a doctor”.
The location then returns to the field. The man and a woman are lying on their fronts facing each other, there arms intertwined. Their noses are touching and they look very in love. We presume that the woman is his wife.
The scene then changes back to the man peering into a lecture in what we now know is a university. The camera is quite far away. You then see a close up of the man’s face and what the man is seeing through the lecture theatre’s window. The lecture is full and the lecturer is using a projector. The man says, “I was wondering how long it takes to become a doctor?”, as the camera switches to a shot of the projector. It is flashing and it has anatomical drawings on it. The lecturer replies to the man saying, “Five years undergraduate, one year clinical”, as you see the man sitting on the lecturer’s desk and the lecturer standing next to him in the lecture theatre. The camera is at the back of the room behind the seats.
The scene then changes to the staircase in the university. The lecturer finishes his answer as they are walking down it. The area looks busy. The picture then fades to a camera angled above a desk with someone working on it. The person runs their fingers through their hair, deep in thought, pen in hand.
The location changes to the man walking down a busy corridor, seemingly in the opposite direction to everybody else. His shoulders nudge the people going the other way. He still looks lost and a bit depressed. The camera then changes angle to the man’s view. You can hear his voice saying “Six years”.
You then see the man walking down a cobbled street. He is on a mobile phone saying “Five years undergraduate, one year clinical”. At the bottom of the screen from this point it says in small writing: “regulation by the Personal and Investment Authority. Norwich Union can only advise on its own products. www.norwich-union.co.uk”. The man is walking at normal speed but the ‘traffic’ of people alongside him is so fast it is blurred.
The location then changes to a kitchen - a woman is sitting at a table. She looks deep in thought and she is leaning on her arm. The camera moves down to see what she is doing. “Six years” she says. She is doing a sum, obviously adding up how much it would cost. You can see a number multiplied by six. She underlines it and a blue light dances across the paper.
The location changes again to outside in the field. The man and girl from earlier are leaning against a tree branch. The girl in looking into the distance (perhaps dreaming) and the man is looking at her. He looks proud and loving. A voice over is saying: “Sometimes a dream is worth investing in. Norwich Union helps millions of customers invest”.
The scene then changes to the field at dusk. The girl is doing cartwheels and handstands in the distance. You then see the man walking along the cobbled street. A close up of his face shows him smiling. The writing at the bottom of the screen fades.
The location changes again to the fields. The family are walking through them towards the back of the shot. They fade and appear walking toward the front of the shot. The scene changes to the girl laying on a tree branch. The camera is close to her face. She starts to say: “Mum, Dad? You know I said I wanted to be a doctor?” The camera changes angle to behind the girl. She is sitting astride the branch. You can see her parents laying on a red check blanket next to the tree. The light fades slightly. A close up is seen of her hand resting on the branch. She lifts her finger slightly and puts it down again. “Yeah?”, her parents say in unison. There is a close up of the girl leaning against the ‘V’ shape of the tree. She looks content. There is a shot further back of the tree on its own, in a dim light. The camera returns to the girl leaning as she says: “I really do”. The shot changes to the parents laying on the blanket. The mother is holding a piece of paper and the father is holding a book. They look at each other and smile. The father says “Great” with a smile. The screen then fades to a yellow background and the Norwich Union logo appears. The slogan: ‘Together we’re stronger’ appears at the bottom. Its texture makes it appear as though it is written in chalk A female voice says “Together we’re stronger. Norwich Union.” The voice sounds motherly and caring. The advert lasts for 37 seconds.
I think the two advertisers shared their angle from where they were coming from in their promotion. They both relied heavily on the effect that the image of children have on the general public. The reflex reaction that most people have when children are involved is the desire to protect them, and to urge and encourage them to go as far as they possibly can. The two promoters made great use of this in both the adverts.
In the Robinson’s advert, the general message is that if you give your child this orange drink you will allow them to explore knowledge, and nourish their minds. This is shown throughout the advert in the way the children are always asking questions. I think that this is trying to touch the viewer, especially those who have children. This commercial is almost exclusively aimed at parents of young children, this is its target audience, and makes use of the fact that all parents want what is best for their children. It shows inoffensive, tidy, seemingly perfect children who have all ‘adorably’ misunderstood a minor detail that they have been told.
The first child’s scene is all linked to patriotism. The great majority of the viewers will be zealous about their country, and the advert hints at the fact that the little girl is too. In the background of the scene, you can see English landmarks: Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. The little girl (after taking a sip of the drink, which they happen to have in the middle of the street), thinks of the capital letter of the word ‘England’ instead of the capital city. She has misconstrued something that makes the viewer supposedly think she is charming. In the child’s mind, she is wearing a cap and gown, showing the reader that she is intelligent and willing to learn, both desirable traits for your children. The reaction to this would be, the promoter hopes, laughter and a universal ‘ahhh’. Because the child took a sip of the drink before her answer, it is seen as a trigger for what she just said.
The next little girl shows this again. Her reaction to the man and woman who both have large stomachs, is that they are both pregnant. This is what you would automatically think if you didn’t know better, and this then makes you want to inform the child as this shows she needs instructing and nurturing.
The continual perfect images of the children throughout the advert aim to endear them to you, and encourage the feeling of paternal or maternal benevolence.
The little boy with red hair is also shown in this way. His question shows a slight misunderstanding which encourages a humorous image. The way the hamster is shown as an angel on his way to Devon tries to provoke laughter, and in this attempts to leave the viewer with a pleasant memory of the product.
I think that the publicist used children’s drawings in the ‘Antenatal’ child and the hamster child’s thoughts in order to promote the idea of innocence and adolescence further. The image of these clean-cut children is perhaps refreshing to a parent. They will want to protect their family from things that are happening in the world, and in this advert, they can see inculpable, safe children in everyday occurrences. This will be reassuring for them, and project a good image for the product. This idea is also shown in the choice of music. Throughout the advert, a simple, child-like piano tune is playing, promoting innocence and freedom from artificiality.
The actual product only appears twice in the advert: once approximately two thirds of the way through, and once at the end. The first time you see the product, it is shown to be eye-catching and attractive. The bottle is placed on a window sill, next to a vase full of sunflowers, in a clean, old fashioned kitchen. It is bright and puts across a wholesome image, which is in tune with the theme of the advert as a whole. As the drink is poured you are aware of the blue sky outside and the sun’s reflection on the bottle glistening. This is accompanied with a voice-over telling us about the vitamin content. The woman’s motherly voice saying this helps elevate the product’s credibility, because a parent’s main concern is whether their child is consuming things that are doing them good, and this ‘mother’ is telling us that the product contains things that are good for them. This will therefore encourage the viewing parent to buy Robinson’s Original.
You don’t then see the bottle again until the end of the advert, when you are briefly shown again. It is still glistening, promoting a clean, fresh semblance. You hear the voice-over again, reminding us of the vitamins, and adding on the slogan: “Feed their imagination”. This is a key point in the advert because it is using guilt and the feeling of obligation to sell the product. It is basically proclaiming that in order for a child to fulfill their capabilities they will need to drink Robinson’s Original. The parent will feel compelled to buy the product because they want what is best for their child.
Many of the ideas and techniques that I have just mentioned are present in the Norwich Union advert. Some things are different though, for example the overall theme of dreams and ambitions that exists in the Norwich Union advert. This is first shown when the father is looking up at the university building. His facial expressions indicate that he is in awe of the place and he is looking up in wonder. The camera is positioned close to the ground looking up which gives the impression of triviality and insignificance, because the man is seen as small.
The whole image of the university is that it is daunting and something that the man (or child) is not part of. This is also seen in the way that the man is looking into the lecture from outside, being apart from the university lifestyle.
The way the university is seen as bustling and busy also contributes to this idea of intimidation. Throughout the advert, there are many incomprehensible voices, all talking at once, which leads to a confusing portrayal of the place. This unpleasant feeling is seen to subside when the man is walking along the street and the throng of people are traveling in slow motion. This is after the man has collected the information he needs, the solutions to his problems are being planned out and going to the university is becoming more feasible.
Another way that this is shown is in the camera techniques. The scenes change very fast between each other, and this leads to a confusing effect. In addition to contributing to the daunting feeling, this engages the viewers attention. The first time you see the advert, the scenes change so quickly, that you don’t see everything and have to be very vigilant to understand the advert at all. I think that the advertiser did this so that the viewer would want to see the advert again so that they could digest it fully. This is good for the promoter because then the television audience will be more observant and the service will be advertised better.
The camera techniques also show you the happenings as if you were there. Sometimes they show you as the man, sometimes as a bystander. This aims to bring you closer to the situation.
The first similarity that you see in the two adverts is the use of children and the effect that they have on the viewer. The reaction to want to nurture that child is used to this promoter’s benefit too. At the beginning of the Norwich Union advert, you are firstly led to believe that perhaps the man wants to go to the university, but the short view of the little girl tells you that it is her. The image is short but stays with you throughout the advert. The girl is looking into the distance, and this is symbolic of her looking to the future. The girl looking into the distance is also shown alter in the advertisement.
This is where the ‘guilt’ technique is used: the parent will want to provide their child with the best chances for their future. As the voice-over says later “Sometimes a dream is worth investing in”, they are basically saying, ‘is your child worth it?’. Obviously any parents answer would be yes.
The man shows the realisation that he has of the hard work needed in: “To be a doctor. To become a doctor.” He gets across that there needs to be time and effort (and evidently money) put in for dreams to be realised. This is reminding the audience of that fact, so that the rest of the advert can be appreciated. He also shows that things can get in the way of that dream in the scene where he is walking along the corridor. He is walking in the opposite way to everyone else, and they are in his way. This is symbolic of the obstacles that they will face. He eventually gets by however, and this is also metaphorical of life’s struggles. Or that is what they want you to think anyway.
These sacrifices are also shown in the way that the mother is working out the cost of the studies. “Six years”, she says with doubt. It is obviously a problem and it is beginning to be solved as there is a blue light dancing on the paper. This is the point where the actual advertisement of Norwich Union begins, and they proceed to tell you their aims. the man’s face is shown after this, and instead of looking bewildered as he has done before, he is smiling. Apparently all of his problems have been solved.
The family shown in the advert are depicted as ‘perfect’. There is obviously a lot of love within their relationships and the parents show signs of adoration towards their daughter at certain points, for example when the father and daughter are leaning on the tree branch. This is a similarity to the other advert. As the family is seen as perfect, the viewer will of course want this for their family. This would make you feel terribly guilty if you were forced to say no to your child, if they wanted to accomplish their goals, because of financial problems, thus encouraging the viewer to get financial aid from the company.
There is also a similarity in the fact that scenes of learning and discovery are shown in both adverts. In the Robinson’s advert it is with the first little girl in the cap and gown, and with this advert it is with the university, and the person working at the desk. These images both aim to show the characters as people worthy of your emotion, and they do this by gaining your respect in their pursuit for knowledge. The child in the Norwich Union advert is also seen as lively. Her cartwheels in the latter part of the advert are images of vitality.
The ending of the advert is very important. It shows the girl to be determined, and shows the viewer that the parents have invested in the child’s dream. It makes you think that she has changed her mind, but in the end shows her to be more decided that ever. The parents also seem very happy about her decision because they have been helped by Norwich Union.
In my opinion, neither of the adverts are very effective. The Robinson’s advert is very condescending and actually expects you to think that giving your child this orange drink will make them more intelligent and make them say all those ‘delightful’ things that the children said in the advert. I’m not sure that anybody would respond to this type of advertising, simply because the idea is so absurd, but perhaps the inclusion of the fact that there are vitamins in the drink would boost sales.
The Norwich Union advert wouldn’t work for a different reason. I don’t think the director’s technique of using confusing camera angles accomplishes what it was intended to. Instead of holding the viewers attention it encourages them to look away, because it is much too puzzling for a thirty second advert. For this assignment I spent many hours watching it over and over again, and only towards the end did I pick up every little detail. The way it is made is very inventive, but perhaps is too arty for a prime-time commercial break
