Walters 1 Sydney Walters Ms. Danielson English 131 September 6, 2019 Paper One: Commercial Analysis The advertisement that I chose for my analysis is Know Where You Stand , Normandy (Normandy). In the commercial, there looks to be a mother and her daughter on a beach. They are playing in the water with buckets and shovels. They look as though they are searching for seashells. They are wearing raincoats and rainboots. The weather is cloudy and cold (Normandy). While the mother and daughter are playing, you can see soldiers running from the water to the beach. They are World War Two soldiers on the Allied side (Normandy). The beach that the mother and daughter are on is Normandy Beach in Normandy, France. This beach is one of the most historically significant beaches in the world. On June 6th, 1944, also known as D-Day, Normandy Beach was invaded during World War Two. The Battle of Normandy occurred between the months of June and August in 1944. On D-Day, over 150,000 Allied soldiers stormed five beaches off the coast of France. By the end of The Battle of Normandy, the Allies liberated the entirety of Northern France. By spring of 1945, Nazi Germany had been defeated (D-Day Invasion of Normandy). Walters 2 The background of the actual commercial and the phrase “Know Where You Stand” is that a photographer by the name of Seth Taras did a campaign with History. The campaign was called Know Where You Stand. He took photos all around the world to showcase the history of the locations. Among these are: D-Day, the Hindenburg Disaster and the Berlin Wall. The campaign took place in 2004 (Taras). The commercial is directly connected to the product that is being sold. The product being sold is History (formally known as The History Channel). It is a channel you can only watch if you have cable. Meaning, you must purchase the channel. History is a network that is owned by the company A&E Networks. This company also owns Lifetime, among others. The soldiers that are running on the beach all around the mother and daughter in the commercial are WWII soldiers. You can tell that the soldiers and the mother and daughter are not on the beach during the same time periods. The soldiers are on the beach in the year of 1944, while the mother and her daughter are on the beach during the early to middle 2000s. All the soldiers are in uniform. One of the uniforms that would have been worn on D-Day would be a helmet, a shirt and pants both made from wool, a tank top or a t-shirt, a herringbone twill uniform, a jacket and boots with leggings. The clothing that the mother and her daughter are wearing are thing that you could still find people wearing today. This commercial was created by History and is meant to be powerful and moving to the viewer. It is supposed to make you think of the historical events that took place. To know that where you stand may have lots of history behind it and we should all take Walters 3 a second to remember that. A beach may be more than just a beach, it may be the location of where soldiers fought to defeat the Nazis. Walters 4 Works Cited “D-Day Invasion of Normandy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 30 May 2012, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day-invasion-of-normandy-video Accessed 4 Sept. 2019. “D-Day: The Allies Invade Europe: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, The National World War II Museum, 22 June 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/d-day-allies-invade-europe Accessed 4 Sept. 2019. History. “Know Where You Stand, Normandy.” YouTube, 2007, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D_Y70qq8gc Accessed 4 Sept. 2019. Tara, Seth. “‘Know Where You Stand’ Worldwide Campaign - Seth Taras.” Seth Taras Pictures, 2004, www.sethtaras.com/KNOW-WHERE-YOU-STAND/ Accessed 4 Sept. 2019.
