Advertising
Advertising often presents an image of things to be desired, people to be envied, and life as it
‘should be.’ As such, it necessarily presents social values and ideologies about what the ‘good
life’ is. It is also a central strategy of advertising to invite viewers/consumers to imagine
themselves within the world of the advertisement. Sturken & Cartwright, Practices of Looking, 189
Looking is a practice much like speaking or writing. Looking involves learning to interpret.
We live in an increasingly visual world. Among the many images we encounter
every day, advertisements are prominent in what has become a consumer
culture. In this section of this project, you will learn some “practices of looking” at
advertisements. Looking, really looking, requires looking again and questioning:
What precisely is this ad trying to sell? What implied assumptions do
viewers/consumers sometimes “buy” unaware? How do ads try to “speak” to
consumers? Through the practice of studying advertising images and texts, you
will begin to learn to interpret. Ads are created with a particular group of
consumers in mind—a target audience. A single print ad, for example, is not
intended to reach all possible viewers or readers; it is designed to communicate
to specific demographic groups. What is the target audience? How does an
advertisement try through text and image to reach this audience? How do ads
“manufacture desire” and try to turn “wants” into “needs”? Has advertising gone
too far? Have ads become so integrated into our culture that the line between
advertising and entertainment has become blurred? These are some of the
questions you will begin to explore.
The Manufacturing of Desire
Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking, NY: Oxford, 2001
It is also a central strategy of advertising to invite viewers/consumers to imagine
themselves within the world of the advertisement. This is a world that works by
abstraction, a potential place or state of being situated not in the present but in an
imagined future with the promise to the consumer of things ‘you’ will have, a lifestyle you
can take part in. Indeed, advertising often speaks the language of the future (189).
[Insert newspaper ad for Home Depot.]
The Eco Options program: our biggest home improvement project ever.
________________________________________________________
The Home Depot cares about the environment and preserving our natural
resources. Which is why we’re expanding our successful Eco Options program
nationwide. Our customers will have easy access to a wide variety of eco-savvy
products. And not only can these products save homeowners money, they make
it easy to curb waste, reduce pollution, save energy, and conserve natural
resources. So, working together, we can all hope to make a difference. For our
people. For our communities. For our planet.
homedepot.com/ecooptions
In this Home Depot ad, a little girl, who appears to be of Asian descent, is leaning over a
large globe, her arms and hands positioned as if she were trying to hold the whole world
in her hands. With her eyes slightly lowered, she looks reflective as if lost in her own
world of thought. The message? Home Depot cares
about the future of our planet, the future we will leave our children. And it will work with
us to make a difference: “For our people. For our communities. For our planet.” Home
Depot is transformed from a corporation (“it”) to “we” in the ad: this is why “we’re
expanding our Eco Options program.” “We” want “our customers” (“you”) to have “easy
access to a wide variety of eco-savvy products.” Not only will our products save you
money, it will save the world, our world, is the implication. We’re in this together: “So,
working together, we can all hope to make a difference.” “We” finally includes all of us.
Ads speak to us through particular modes of address, and ask us to see ourselves within
them. Often this is done with written text that specifically speaks to the viewer as
‘you’….Many ads speak in emphatic tones to viewers/consumers, as if the voice of the
ad knows what ‘you’ need and want….Some ads speak to consumers in folksy tones, as
if the ad and the consumer were having a nice chat (203-204).
In this Home Depot ad, “you” is implied in the second use of “we” and in “working
together.” In between the first use of “we,” which refers to Home Depot, and the second
use of “we,” which refers to consumers or potential consumers, the ad refers to “our
customers” and “homeowners.”
Our desire to shop derives from the biological drive of hunting for food, the modern ideology of
individual choice, and the social drive to get ‘the best.’ Sharon Zukin, Point of Purchase
[Insert an ad (a dramatization) by Merrill Lynch & Co.]
Dan and Patricia are always searching for the best of everything.
Copyright2001Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. New Yorker, June 18 & 25, 2001
This ad, or “dramatization,” as Merrill & Lynch call it, plays on the social drive to
“search for the best.” Here we see Dan and Patricia in their new living room---we
see what they are able to afford, what they think is “best.” If we take a closer
look, we can see that they are standing apart from each other; the living room is
the center of attention. They appear to be showing off their purchases and
presentation. We don’t carefully read the note: “the clients’ names and story are
fictitious.” We assume that if we buy this service, we’ll have the money to go out
and buy a “brand” new living room.
Ad: Porche 2007
Every time you drive it, it puts a smile on your face.
How much is that worth?
[Insert advertisement from newspaper.]
__________________________________________________________________________
You press the accelerator and exhilaration consumes you. As the race-bred engine pushes you
through twisting curves, stress fades away. The thrill of youthful adventure is back in the form of
top-down driving. The authentic roadster experience is yours for the taking. Visit us today for a
test drive. Porsche. There is no substitute.
What needs are being projected that this product can supposedly fill? Who is the
target population? What does it take financially to own a “top-down” Porche
roadster? What are some other questions you could ask as a critical reader of
this ad?
Increasingly, markers of ethnicity and race are used in advertisements to demonstrate
social or racial awareness and to give a product an element of cultural sophistication
“Consumer Culture and the Manufacturing of Desire,” Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, Practices of Looking, NY:
Oxford, 2001: 221-222.
Super Bowl Ad: Toyota and Synergy
Monday, February 6, 2006
ThirdWay Advertising Blog: Straight Talk on Advertising
http://thirdwayblog.com/category/toyota/
Brand: Toyota Camry Hybrid
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here To View
Target: Eco-consumers
Reviewer: David
Rating: *****
Description:
“Papa, why do we have a hybrid?” a child asks as the camera pans around a Toyota Camry,
highlighting the word ‘hybrid’. “For your future,” the Dad answers. “Why?” the boy probes. “It’s
better for the air,” the father says as we see them on the inside of the car. “And we spend less
because it runs on gas and electrical power,” he continues as we get shots of trees and an eagle
cut in with the car. “Mira. Mira qui,” he says, pointing to the color information screen. “It uses
both.” “Like you with English and Spanish,” the boy says. “Si,” the father says. “Why did you learn
English?” the boy asks. “For your future,” the father replies. More shots of the car as we hear a
voiceover saying “Coming Soon - the all-new 2007 Camry. Also available with Hybrid Synergy
Drive,” we see a hybrid synergy drive logo, “Toyota - the power to move forward.”
What Works:
We are covering this spot because it broke new ground in the Super Bowl, speaking directly to
the Hispanic experience in America. And also because Bob Garfield roundly panned it - deriding it
as simplistic and ‘patronizing.’ We are not Hispanic (your reviewer is half-Asian, for the record)
but we disagree on Garfield’s overall comments and will wait to hear from the Hispanic
community for their own reaction.
Marketing on the Super Bowl is about doing the branding basics well while at the same time
delivering something new or entertaining enough to break through the clutter. While this spot was
not in the least entertaining, it was new. Ironically, the focused attention of the Super Bowl (where
people actually stop to watch the ads) gave this spot a better showing than it might get during
normal network TV - where the new ground it broke went unnoticed.
Some of what was missing in many of the spots on the Super Bowl was very evident here namely the brand, the product and a lot of focus on a unique selling proposition.
The pitch for the Hybrid Camry was straightforward and accomplished with a metaphor. Just as
English and Spanish can complement each other and an investment in English is an investment
in the future for a non-native speaker, gasoline and electric power complement each other in the
hybrid Camry and an investment in a hybrid is an investment in the future.
This is the right selling proposition for a hybrid as gas prices alone still don’t justify them on an
economic basis (although economists have neglected to mention that it is easier for consumers to
finance a more expensive vehicle over 5 years and then pay less at the pump for gas in cashflow
terms).
But what about the Hispanic metaphor here? We would argue that while it is an important
acknowledgement of the growing role of this community in American life, the commercial is not
focused on selling Hispanic consumers hybrid cars.
Who does buy hybrid cars? Higher income and environmentally aware people (although the
demographic is widening as gas prices rise). And these people are more likely to be liberal.
So yes, we are suggesting that Toyota produced - in the most innocent, inoffensive way possible
- a spot targeted at liberals who will share the belief in the positive side of immigration. If you
believe that immigration from the Puritans to the Irish and Italians to the present has been a
source of competitive strength for the country and that the process of assimilation is good for the
individual and the society, you are likely to respond to the message in this ad.
We believe this spot works because Toyota has used the newness of a commercial with some
Spanish in it (although less than many Americans hear in their daily life) to communicate to the
core audience for hybrid vehicles.
And let’s not forget - it is big news. A hybrid Camry brings the hybrid drive to one of the world’s
best selling cars. When the sales figures are noted, it might be hard for anyone to argue that this
spot was less than a success.
What Doesn’t:
This spot is super-earnest, and it is possible that it might come off as condescending to the
Hispanic community, although we don’t think so. We also wouldn’t run it much outside of the
Superbowl, because it looks like such an ordinary car commercial with the volume turned off that
it requires focused attention to see what is new.
Toyota shared the new-hybrid spotlight with Kermit and the Ford Escape, who took a very
different route to reach the same audience with the same message. This does point out that
‘Hybrid’ in itself will not remain a unique selling proposition for long.
Branding Bottom Line:
Mira - it’s a Toyota Camry Hybrid. Can you say ’sold out’?
Another Look at Toyota’s 2006 Super Bowl Commercial
Latino marketing goes mainstream
Prime-time ads break new ground by recognizing the rise of Hispanic consumers
Samar Farah, Boston Globe correspondent
Reprinted in Boston Globe from New York Times
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/07/09/latino
July 9, 2006
Think back for a moment to this year's Super Bowl -- to one commercial that wasn't racy or
provocative. In fact, the lack of controversy surrounding this ad is precisely why many advertisers
and marketers are still talking about it.
The spot in question promoted a new Toyota Camry Hybrid and featured a father cruising on sundappled byways, his son strapped in the back seat. Typical car ad, right? Only the father was a
Latino with a discernible accent. Their conversation played on the word hybrid: the son
represented a blend of US and Hispanic cultures, the car represented a blend of fuels.
A touching idea, but five years ago, advertising executives say, it would have been unthinkable to
blatantly target Hispanics in a mainstream, general market venue such as the Super Bowl. In just
30 seconds, Toyota leapt past two sticking points in corporate marketing departments across the
country. The automaker rejected the prevailing wisdom that the only way to connect with
Hispanics is in Spanish and through Spanish TV, radio, or print media. Toyota also discredited
concerns that prime-time advertising aimed at Hispanics would rankle a non-Hispanic audience;
the carmaker says it never heard from any disgruntled viewers.
The Toyota ad ``is a milestone in our industry, to say the least," says Alex Lopez Negrete, former
chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies and chief executive of Lopez
Negrete Communications in Houston.
Toyota is not the only company switching from targeting Hispanics in Spanish to trying to reach
Hispanics in English. Last fall Canton sneaker company Reebok created a website in English -BarrioRBK.com -- devoted to Hispanic youth, while McDonald's Corp. has been running a TV ad
featuring a Latina mother. Shot in both English and Spanish, the fast-food chain's commercial has
appeared on high-profile programming including the Oscars and the Grammys.
``We're starting to see a shift in the marketplace with the arrival of cable networks and other
Hispanic-centric English-language television shows," says Chiqui Cartagena, author of ``¡Latino
Boom! Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Business in the US Hispanic Market."
Most marketers have understood the importance of the Hispanic consumer at least since 2002,
when Census figures showed Hispanics surpassed blacks to become the largest minority in the
United States.
To that end, brands have spent millions translating their English advertising into Spanish and
placing those spots on Spanish-language outlets, from TV to radio. But the majority of Hispanics
in America -- about 60 percent according to the US Census -- are US-born, like the son in the
Camry ad. Marketing gurus describe this subset as young, upwardly mobile, tech-savvy, favoring
mainstream shows like ``American Idol" and ``The Simpsons," and either bilingual or else
preferring to communicate in English. For the most part, brands have been ignoring this group.
Take Evelyn Reyes, 35, producer and host with ``Boston Latino," a local cable program in English
geared toward Hispanics. Reyes, who was born in New York and grew up in Jamaica Plain, rarely
watches Mexican soap operas, or telenovelas, so popular with Hispanics. Aside from visits to her
mother's house, where the television set is often tuned to Spanish-language programs, she's
unlikely to catch any advertising in Spanish, and she says the same is true of her Hispanic
friends.
``We're different from foreign-born Latinos," she says. ``I've felt that difference ever since I was a
kid. We're more acculturated."
``Acculturation" is the newest buzzword among multicultural marketers. According to the
acculturation model, minorities -- from Latinos to Asian-Americans -- will blend certain elements
of American culture with their own background. Rather than grouping minorities according to
language preference and hiring agencies to translate ad copy, marketers who buy into this view
are concerned with cultural differences -- not only between large ethnic categories like Hispanics
and Asians, but also between smaller segments like US-born Hispanics and foreign-born
Hispanics.
Rick Marroquin, director of Hispanic marketing for McDonald's, explains the fast-food giant's
decision to speak to Latinos in English: ``We know that Hispanics, regardless of language
preference, are more attentive to [marketing] that is culturally relevant. It is a concerted effort to
deliver our message to the breadth of Hispanic consumers in the US today."
Toyota has been marketing to Hispanics for about 15 years, but the Super Bowl ad marks its first
effort to reach bilingual Hispanics in English, says Sandi Kayse, National Car Advertising
Manager for Toyota. While developing the campaign, the company feared a backlash.
``Prior to the ad coming out, we received a small amount of negative feedback saying that we
shouldn't use Spanish on English TV stations," Kayse recalls, referring to a bilingual exchange in
the father-son conversation using ``Sí" for ``yes."
Kayse said certain facts overrode their concerns: that among Hispanics Toyota is the number
one-selling car brand, that the Camry is the number one-selling car in the United States , that
Toyota has a firm reputation as a producer of hybrid cars, and that research shows that a
significant number of Hispanic Super Bowl viewers care about the environment.
But a gut feeling about the ad's message is what ultimately carried the campaign through. ``We
wanted to show that [Toyota] is moving forward and that [Hispanics] too are moving forward."
Kayse won't say whether the commercial has translated into more sales among Hispanics but is
confident that it has been effective. ``It's done more than just highlight a car -- it showed that we
respect our Hispanic customers and that we're willing to go to the expense of buying a Super
Bowl ad to reach them," she said.
Will Toyota try a bilingual ad again? ``While we don't have plans to do something similar right
now, we certainly realized there are opportunities to cross over diversity media lines," Kayse said.
Liz Cheng, vice president of programming at WCVB-TV, Boston's ABC affiliate, has tried to
embrace such opportunities. She said she has made it a priority to reach out to Hispanic viewers
-- through bilingual efforts like Spanish-language captioning and Hispanic programs in English.
Cheng sites Census figures that show that Massachusetts's Hispanic population is quickly
expanding. From 1990 to 2000, the state's Latino community grew 49 percent.
Even so, Cheng said her sales teams grouse that it's an uphill battle persuading advertisers to
shift Hispanic advertising dollars into general market outlets.
``You feel like you're constantly in the process of educating," Cheng said.
© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Sports Celebrities as Product Endorsers
Adidas has a history of using sports celebrities as endorsers. Do some research
to see what kinds of ads the marketing campaign described below produced and
the effect on sales in the football cleat market.
Beckham meets Bush
Posted by Helen Jung June 26, 2007 11:16AM
Adidas today launched a new marketing campaign of "Futbol meets football" and its using two of
its most high-profile endorsers -- David Beckham and Reggie Bush -- as the spokesmodels.
The two athletes, Beckham, who will be joining the MLS L.A. Galaxy and Reggie Bush, the star
running back for the New Orleans Saints, met on a field in Madrid where they tried their hand at
each other's sports.
Adidas, already leads the soccer market, globally and in the United States. But American football
is another matter. Adidas has lost share in the football cleat market with newcomers like Under
Armour entering the picture. But expect to see a lot more of Bush, who dominated the college
game as a running back for USC and has lived up to the hype in his first NFL season, in the
months to come. And with Adidas trying to gain market share in North America -- long an Achilles
heel for the company -- chances are Beckham will be doing double duty not just for soccer but for
anything else his celebrity can help sell for Adidas.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/playbooksandprofits/
Post a comment
What is “commodity fetishism”?
Analyses of commodities and how they function come to us primarily through Marxist
theory. Marxist theory is both a general analysis of the role of economics in human
history and an analysis of the ways that capitalism functions. A Marxist critique of
capitalism understands advertising to be a means to create demand for products, which
makes people buy more than they really need….One of the most important concepts in
the Marxist analysis of advertising is the idea of commodity fetishism. This refers to the
process by which mass-produced goods are emptied of the meaning of their production
(the context in which they were produced and the labor that created them) and then filled
with new meanings in ways that both mystify the product and turn it into a fetish
object….Commodity fetishism can be seen as an inevitable outcome of mass production
and distribution of goods to many different consumers. It demands, however, that labor
and working conditions are made invisible to the consumer….
In the early 1990s Nike shoes for women were promoted as signifiers of selfempowerment, athletic women, feminism, and hip social politics. Public outcry later in
the decade about the dire working conditions in Nike’s factories led to an ironic
revelation. These symbols of female empowerment were produced by low-paid women
who labored under terrible conditions in Indonesian factories. As these conditions were
exposed, the process of commodity fetishism was momentarily ruptured. The shoes
could no longer be stripped of the meaning of their conditions of production and “filled”
with the signifiers of feminism. The company had to respond to this criticism and change
some of its practices. “Consumer Culture and the Manufacturing of Desire,” Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright,
Practices of Looking, NY: Oxford, 2001: 199-200.
Feminist concepts of empowerment and strength are translated into the mandate that
working out and producing a tight, lean, muscled female body is equivalent to having
control over one’s life. As a kind of ‘commodity feminism,’…these ads sell concepts of
feminism by attaching them to products such as running shoes. Practices of Looking, 225.
The following article appeared in the New York Times in 1997:
Nike Supports Women in Its Ads but Not Its Factories, Groups Say
New York Times
Steven Greenhouse
October 26, 1997
A coalition of women's groups has attacked Nike as hypocritical for its new television
commercials that feature female athletes, asserting that something is wrong when the company
calls for empowering American women but pays its largely female overseas work force poorly.
The commercials show women saying they will be stronger, healthier and more independent if
they are allowed to play sports.
In a letter to Nike's chairman, Philip Knight, the coalition, which includes the National
Organization for Women and the Ms. Foundation for Women, wrote, ''While the women who wear
Nike shoes in the United States are encouraged to perform their best, the Indonesian,
Vietnamese and Chinese women making the shoes often suffer from inadequate wages, corporal
punishment, forced overtime and/or sexual harassment.''
Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority, a research and advocacy group, said: ''The
message in the empowerment ad is strong, but there's a disconnect between that message and
the way Nike pays and treats its workers, especially its women workers. The sweatshops, which
all of us thought were a thing of the past, are back again. And just like the feminists at the turn of
the century fought them, it's incumbent on us to do the same.''
Nike's factories have become a target for labor rights groups, which have repeatedly said that
they pay too little and force workers to toil in poor conditions. Global Exchange, a human rights
group in San Francisco that has often attacked Nike, seized on the new television commercials to
rally women's groups behind a new effort to criticize the company.
The coalition is calling on Nike to let local independent monitors inspect factories in Asia and to
increase pay, suggesting that its wages in Vietnam be raised to $3 a day from $1.60 a day. Vada
Manager, a Nike spokesman, said the women's groups misunderstood Nike's role in Asia, adding
that its factories in Vietnam, Indonesia and China pay considerably more than do most factories
in those countries.
''Nike has created some 500,000 superior jobs with good wages around the world in developing
economies,'' Mr. Manager said. ''The job opportunities that we have provided to women and men
in developing economies like Vietnam and Indonesia have provided a bridge of opportunity for
these individuals to have a much better quality of life.''
Ms. Smeal said, ''We think it's great they're providing jobs. It's just that the level of the wages
should be increased and the working conditions improved.''
Others who signed the letter to Nike include Alice Walker, the author, Representative Maxine
Waters, Democrat of California, the Black Women's Agenda and the Coalition of Labor Union
Women.
The coalition's letter said many of Nike's workers in Vietnam could ''barely afford three meals a
day let alone transportation, rent, clothing, health care and much more.'' But Nike officials pointed
to a recent study by Dartmouth College researchers that concluded that Nike's daily wages in
Vietnam were four times the cost of obtaining three meals a day there.
The letter also faulted Nike for physically abusing workers, referring to an incident in Vietnam in
which a manager punished workers by making them run laps in the sun.
Mr. Manager acknowledged occasional abuses and said the abusive managers had been
dismissed. He added that the company's factories had passed inspections by Andrew Young, the
civil rights leader.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E2D81F3EF935A15753C1A961958260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The following Nike ad appeared in 2007:
Serena Williams stars in a provocative new Nike ad.
Nike serves up new ads supporting women
USA Today
Theresa Howard
August 26, 2007
NEW YORK — Nike has done it again: created an ad campaign sure to generate buzz.
The sporting-brand giant has put a marketing spin on the offensive comments made by radio
shock jock Don Imus against the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
Serena Williams, Picabo Street and Gabby Reece are part of the campaign that began Saturday.
It includes TV ads, a giant New York City billboard with Williams that goes up Tuesday and a
website with more than a dozen videos and space for women to share their sports stories.
Nike also anted up $425,000 in cash and equipment and launched the Let Me Play Fund, which
will issue grants for equipment and uniforms. The fund is named after an emotional Nike ad that
last aired in 1995 in which girls and women reveal the benefits of organized sports.
"We've been a supporter of female athletes, but we thought it was a good time to come out with a
stronger message," says Nancy Monsarrat, Nike's U.S. brand director. "When the (Imus)
comments were made, we said, 'This is our team. This is our coach.' We had to defend them, but
that was just the start."
This new push comes months after sexist and racist comments by Imus about the Rutgers
players and days after reports last week that Imus could return to radio.
After Imus' comments on April 4, Nike took out a full-page ad in the The New York Times that did
not mention Imus by name but opened with: "Thank you, ignorance" followed with several more
"thank yous" for "moving women's sports forward" and "making us all realize we all have a long
way to go."
It has been 35 years since Congress passed Title IX, the law requiring gender equity for boys and
girls participating in federally funded education programs.
Yet, shortly after the Imus comments, Nike marketers interviewed female high school athletes
who reported they still don't feel as respected as their male counterparts. "We want to make sure
women and girls are respected as athletes, and we wanted to provide a platform for them,"
Monsarrat says.
Williams clearly demands respect in the New York ad. In it, she stands holding a tennis racquet.
The provocative ad asks: "Are you looking at my titles?" Hint: She's got eight Grand Slam titles.
"It's important to hear from women who overcome stereotypes, ignorance and inequality,"
Williams says. It's also important for a woman "to be an athlete, be strong and not feel sorry for
kicking someone's butt," she says.
In TV and Web ads by agency Wieden & Kennedy, the athletes in unscripted monologues share
their achievements and views on being an athlete. Says Heidi O'Neill, global vice president of
women's training for Nike: "We're trying to move away from the negative and move toward the
voice of optimism."
The campaign does just that, says senior Rutgers basketball guard Essence Carson, 21, of
Paterson, N.J. "I'm very happy Nike is taking advantage of the situation to spread awareness."
The campaign, broadcast on MTV, Fuse and ESPN, includes five TV ads: one with the roster of
Nike athletes and four others with Mia Hamm, street baller Alvina Carroll, high school coach Bill
Ressler and skier Street. Digital ads on Facebook.com, Sports Illustrated's SI.com website and
ESPN.com will drive traffic to nike.com and nikewomen.com.
"It's a very tough time transitioning from being a young woman to a woman," says volleyball
player Reece, 37. "Sports is a great influence in balancing that and helping you with self-esteem."
In the ads and videos, the women wear T-shirts bearing the Nike swoosh and "ATHLETE." The
$25 shirts and $9 rubber bracelets with words such as "strength" and "passion" are on sale at
nike.com and select retailers. Nike donates $1 from the sale of each item to the fund. Grant
requests can be made at nike.com and nikewomen.com. Applications by female teams or their
coaches will be reviewed by a panel of 12.
O'Neill acknowledges that part of this effort is branding for Nike, which has 20% of worldwide
sales for women's footwear and apparel. "But the other part is making the right products for
(women) in footwear, apparel and equipment," O'Neill says. "What you're going to see is more
and more of those products for specific sports and performance."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2007-08-26-ad-track-williams_N.htm
“Nike has done it again: created an ad campaign sure to generate buzz. The sporting-brand giant has put a
marketing spin on the offensive comments made by radio shock jock Don Imus against the Rutgers
University women's basketball team…. Says Heidi O'Neill, global vice president of women's training for Nike:
"We're trying to move away from the negative and move toward the voice of optimism."
Question
But are low-paid women still laboring in terrible conditions in factories today to make
Nike shoes and shirts for women? Have conditions improved or has that “buzz” died?
NEW
C A M E L No. 9
Light & Luscious
Susan Carney is working on a book for teens about marketing and consumerism. She is a
member of the Education and Career team at Suite 101, an eclectic online magazine featuring “a heady
blend of fresh opinions, candid recommendations and savvy commentary from more than 300 expert writers
committed to getting, grabbing, and growing a readership of connoisseurs, devotees, enthusiasts as
fascinated by the topic as they are.”
http://youthdevelopment.suite101.com/article.cfm/tobacco_advertising_and_teens
New Cigarette Targets Girls
An Old Camel Gets a Pretty New Face
Susan Carney, Suite 101: Youth Development
Feb 16, 2007
If you don't think tobacco companies target young girls with their marketing, check out the
latest offering from the R.J. Reynolds Company.
A Completely Different Camel. The New York Times announced today that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Company is introducing a new variety of Camel cigarettes designed for female smokers. The new “light and
luscious” Camel No. 9 comes in a pretty black box with pink and teal accents. Camel has traditionally been
thought of as a predominantly “male” cigarette. With this new marketing strategy, Reynolds claims to be
attempting to capture some of the female smokers who usually purchase cigarettes like Virginia Slims and
similar brands. Putting out variations on an already popular brand is nothing new. New names, flavors,
designs, and package styles can provide a boost for slow products. In this case, women are being targeted
with marketing strategies specifically designed for them.
Getting Kids’ Attention. However, these marketing strategies clearly reveal an attempt to attract new,
younger smokers as well. The fact is that very few smokers begin as adults. That means that kids and
teenagers are, by default, prime targets. Ads in adult magazines with large teenage readerships, as well as
promotions tied to concerts and other youth oriented activities, belie claims that tobacco advertising’s sole
purpose is to encourage adult smokers to switch brands. And products with an emphasis on coolness, fun,
and sexiness are certainly going to have appeal for teenage girls.
Pretty In Pink. The packages are very pretty. With a hot pink camel emblazoned in the middle of the slick
black box, and even a hot pink foil cover, they essentially shout “cool and hip” to any young woman walking
by looking for something to match her new pink Razor phone. The ad is equally eye-catching, with the boxes
surrounded by flowers against a watercolor background. Yes, they did a nice job. But don’t let anyone fool
you for one minute. These are not being packaged for thirty and forty year old women. They are clearly for a
much younger crowd.
Just Us Girls. Tobacco advertising has targeted women and girls with special strategies for a long time.
Touting cigarettes as weight loss aids, symbols of sexiness, and even markers of independence, marketers
have tried to focus on themes they thought would appeal to the female mind. The reality is that more women
die of lung cancer than breast cancer. Virginia Slims old motto, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” seems
somehow sad and ironic. Now, marketers seem to be focusing on "girl power" as a way to attract young
women.
How You Can Help. So what about our girls? How do we get them to see this not as another cool new
accessory for their purse, but as the unethical, manipulative bid for their money and their health that it truly
is? The answer is education. Talk with girls about how product packaging, advertising, and promotions can
alter the appearance and impact of almost any product. Discuss the difference between style and
substance. Explain to them how and why they are targeted, and have them search for and point out
examples of this targeting as they encounter them. Make sure girls know about the addiction and health
risks associated with tobacco, and set a positive example.
POP- UP ADS
Each time I log onto the Internet, the screen is covered by pop-up advertisements for retail
websites. Point of Purchase, Sharon Zukin
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Pop-Up Ads: Good? Bad? Ugly?
Tessa Wegert
ClickZ Experts: Advice & Opinions. By & for Marketers http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=991121
March 14, 2002
Tessa Wegert is an interactive media strategist with Enlighten, a digital marketing, Web development, and ebusiness consulting firm ranked as one of the nation's top 50 interactive agencies by Advertising Age.
If domination of newspaper headlines, industry studies, consumer polls, and market reports is any
indication, it's safe to say pop-up ads are the most contentious online advertising format yet. Any
wonder they're getting so much attention? Most reports say consumers downright despise these
"intrusive" and "annoying" messages. We've all seen the articles -- some more melodramatic than
others -- quoting outraged surfers who throw around words such as "violated" and "molested" to
describe their experiences with the scandalous ad format. We're smack in the middle of a mediafueled consumer backlash rivaling the assault against spam. There's no end in sight.
Things are now more complicated than ever. A recent Dynamic Logic study shed new light on the
controversial issue. As it turns out, Internet users are actually more tolerant of pop-ups than
previously thought. Results of the survey showed 72 percent of U.S. Web users accept limited
use of pop-ups, and 47 percent agree as many as two to six ads per hour are "appropriate" to
support free content. This suggests it's not so much pop-up ads that irk consumers, but the sheer
volume of ads they must endure during any single session.
This news has left marketers scratching their heads. One the one hand, we hear consumers
chanting pop-ups are intolerable and should be stopped. Commercial ad-blocking software that
zaps pop-ups indicates there are consumers whose hatred of pop-ups runs so deep they're
willing to pay good money to retaliate. On the other hand, research tells us consumers are OK
with pop-ups -- in moderation. They understand most free sites are supported by ads, and
viewing online ads is the price they pay to skirt subscriber fees.
This uncertainty leaves us with the question: Should we or shouldn't we include pop-ups in our
online campaigns? In the past, opinions divided media buyers into two camps. For those in favor
of pop-ups, the consensus was exposure and increased brand awareness was worth running the
risk of potential collateral damage, such as a tarnished company name or a temporarily boycotted
product. Skeptics, meanwhile, opposed the ads for fear of falling victim to these same
consequences. Overly cautious media buyers considered pop-up advocates foolish and reckless.
Pop-up supporters flooded the online environment with ads.
The conflict peaked in reaction to pop-up and pop-under advertisers X10 and Orbitz, whose
carpet bomb approach took online advertising to a new level. Tireless tactics and devil-may-care
attitudes seemed to offer an opportunity for marketers to finally learn the value and purpose of
pop-up advertising. They became our guinea pigs. Was their hard-line approach to Internet
marketing self-destructive? After dissecting and scrutinizing the campaigns, contradictory results
only spawned more confusion. We regarded them with aversion (for blatant disregard of
consumer irritation) and awe (for managing to elevate their brand awareness to near-mythical
status). But we have no firm conclusions.
As whatever we believe about consumer attitude toward pop-ups continues to be challenged, a
third camp emerges. This one comprises slightly more daring media buyers determined to gain a
better understanding of this baffling format by doing some testing of their own. Should we
embrace or eschew pop-ads when planning campaigns? Do pop-ups work best when combined
with other, less aggressive ad formats? Will frequency caps be our salvation?
Share your stories. By pooling our experiences, we'll unravel the mystery of this format!
Product Integration
On ‘American Idol,’ judges sip from Coca-Cola while contestants await results on a Coca-Cola
couch in the glow of a Coca-Cola machine….We’ve gone from an age of interruption to an age of
engagement. Madison & Vine (14, 19}.
If ‘Friends’ aired today, the gang probably would sip Starbucks Frappuccinos instead of the daily
brew at the fictional Central Perk. “The Newest Characters on TV Shows: Product Plugs,” Gary Levin, USA
Today, www.usatoday.com September 19, 2006
_______________________________________________________________
Product integration is the tactic that advertisers have adopted to combat the ad-zapping
possibilities of new technologies. It essentially involves weaving the brand into the programming.
The logic of many advertisers is that they want to become ‘zap-proof,’ and one of the ways of
accomplishing this is to get out of stand-alone ad insertions and into the program itself.
Product Placement
One of the well-known forms of integration is product placement, which involves having the brand
visible in a scene, such as a Viking range in a kitchen or a character drinking Coca-Cola.
Product Immersion
It is one thing for a brand to appear as a placement in the background of a scene, but quite
another for it to be an integral part of the storyline. Clearly, within certain constraints of realism,
the impact of being an integral part of the story plot would be substantial. Product immersion
refers to this process of weaving a brand into the forefront of a story rather than into its
background.
The common thread underlying different types of product integration is that the advertiser is as
much partner as client in the production process.
This brief overview is from “The Future of Television Advertising,” a book chapter co-authored by Tina M. Lowrey, L.J.
Shrum, and John A. McCarty in Marketing Communication (Ed. Allan J. Kimmel) NY: Oxford UP, 2005: 113-132.
[Insert ad showing product placement.]
This FRONTLINE interview with media critic Mark Crispin Miller was conducted
May 26, 2004 and posted on November 9, 2004. FRONTLINE is a registered
trademark of WGBH educational foundation. In this portion, Miller speaks about
changes in advertising.
Should Advertisers Stop Advertising?
Well, some advertisers actually have, in a sense, begun to stop advertising per se….As
advertising per se has come to encounter more and more sales resistance---which is
understandable, as people become more and more distrustful of these messages and harder and
harder to stimulate, more and more blasé—the advertisers have tried stealthier means to implant
in your mind, in your soul, the urge to drink this or eat that or whatever it is. So you’ve got all
kinds of methods that border on what people [in] spycraft call “black propaganda”; for example,
folks who are paid to go to bars and chat up a new cigarette brand or brand of beer as if they
were real people spontaneously celebrating this thing. You’ve got TV shows that are ostensibly
as-free, but they have logos and buildings and so on worked in to the story so that the whole
thing is really a commercial.
So we’re moving away from advertising per se towards a more fundamental kind of pitch, which is
what propaganda, generally speaking, always wants to do anyway. Advertising is just a
commercial form of propaganda. What propaganda has always wanted to do is not simply to
suffuse the atmosphere, but to become the atmosphere. It wants to become the air we breathe.
It wants us not to be able to find a way outside of the world that it creates for us.
There is this company in [Scott Donaton’s book] Madison & Vine that talks about how [the
movie] Cast Away is this great advertisement for FedEx because it’s not an advertisement
for FedEx, but it advertises it perfectly, and that basically there are people spending a loat
of money and research figuring out how to blur the line between what was content and
what was advertising. Not that we should worry too much, but is our culture at risk of
becoming pure advertising now?
The worry is not so much that the actual ads themselves will become ubiquitous. Rather, it’s that
advertising—all propaganda desires for itself a background that will not contradict it. It desires for
itself a neighborhood that it feels safe in. In fact, people in advertising use the expression “good
environment.” Certain shows are a “good environment” for their messages….
Now it seems we’re moving into a programming universe where the advertisement is part
of the show.
That’s exactly right. If you don’t look very carefully, if you kind of half-close your eyes, you might
think that advertising is disappearing, because the fact is that traditional forms of advertising—the
minute-long spot; the 30-second spot; the split 30s [which are] two 15-second ads, and so on; the
magazine ad; the newspaper ad; the billboard—it might seem that many of them are being
phased out.
But they’re not being phased out in favor of plain old civic space. They’re being phased out in
favor of a kind of advertising, a kind of propaganda, that’s far more profound. It’s far more deeply
rooted. The aim here is not so much to find a show that people like and then get your ads on it.
The aim here is for the advertisers to create a show that is itself an extended ad. In a curious
way, we’re moving back in time to the days when advertisers actually presented radio shows and
TV shows. But this is far more sophisticated than that.
Formerly, when an advertiser would produce, say, a musical show, the music had to be
paramount. The music had to be good; it had to be popular. That would then, presumably, make
a difference to the advertisers. Commercials would benefit from the association with that nice
music. Nowadays, when an advertiser envisions a show that’s just right for his product, you don’t
really have content that’s very easy to tell apart from a commercial for the product itself….
….we move even from advertising-friendly shows like Friends to shows as
advertisements, like, say, The Restaurant, which is basically an American Express Small
Business Card advertisement masquerading as a program; or Sex and the City, with an
entire plot line sponsored by Absolut Vodka. So isn’t that an intrusion on a somewhat
sacred space?
Well, what’s most worrisome about this is that advertising, being a form of propaganda, wants no
contradiction. So that means we have to ask ourselves, what is the kind of content that makes
advertisers feel better? What is the kind of content that makes an ad not seem jarring?
A certain kind of intense experience, an intense dramatic or aesthetic experience, tends to make
advertising look like what it is, which is trivial; which is just a pitch, just trying to sell you
something. What advertising is doing is trying to addict us to products, trying to get us to see
consumption as the only way to live and ourselves as consumers as the only way to be. So the
problem with an advertising-friendly cultural environment is that anything that’s intense in any way
is at risk of being erased, so that the usual smiley face of advertising, with all of its special effects,
can dominate your consciousness.
For a full transcript, see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/miller.html
Analyze
Create an analytical framework for different kinds of ads.
Reflect
How much are you affected by pop-up ads when you use the Internet? Do you
try to ignore them and concentrate on the site you have selected? What are
some advertisers doing to try to get your attention? Do you ever check out one
of the sites? QuickWrite for 5 minutes.
Discuss
Break into small groups and discuss newer directions in advertising. Some
prompts follow to help you get started: (1) Based on your own experience, do
you think pop-up ads are effective? (2) Do you think product immersion is likely
to make viewers cynical and reduce the quality of TV shows or films? Perhaps
talk about some examples of product placement or immersion in something you
have viewed. Can television survive without moving in this direction?
Learn More
Super Bowl commercials draw an incredible number of viewers. Compare several ads
for this event and also look for reviews. Locate and study advertisements of a new
sneaker (or other product). Read some articles about product placement or immersion
and watch a film or TV show that uses this form of advertising. Learn more about
product placement in video games. Browse through ads in newspapers or magazines.
What appeals to you as a consumer? What interests you as a more critical observer
now? Look at Lucky magazine and learn about why a magazine that consists only of
ads is so popular. Do some research on pop-up ads on the Net. At the end of 2007,
Google announced plans to play a bigger role in the Internet’s social networking scene,
which has the potential to become an advertising hotbed. Google also developed an
operating system designed for mobile phones so ads could be distributed to people on
the go. Has this investment paid off? Are these tech-produced ads taking the lead now
(over TV ads, for example)? Browse through some advertising magazines and
journals—what are some topics of discussion? Learn more about the use of celebrities
to endorse products. Find some books that discuss advertising. Read more by media
critic Mark Crispin Miller and other critics.
Write
Analyze an ad. What do you see when you study this ad now that you are a
more educated viewer? What “need” is being projected that the product can
supposedly “fill”? Is the product really going to have the impact that the ad
implies? Will stress really fade away when you press the accelerator of a new
sports car? Juliet Schor: “As the Swoosh swooshes by, consider whether Nike
really stands for women’s power, independence, and hipness, as it wants us to
believe.” Question what you see and consider how the text & image were written
to attract consumers. You can use (print) magazine or newspaper ads or ads on
the Net. Length: 250-300 words.
Options: You can deconstruct more than one ad. Alternatively, you could analyze
a TV show or film that integrates products. You could also do some research
about the problems that product integration poses and address these concerns in
your analysis.