Techniques in advertising
Irn-Bru
Discuss in your groups:
What do you know about the product
Irn Bru?
What type of people normally drink
it?
What Irn Bru adverts have you seen?
What features do they have in
common? Who do the adverts
target?
Now we’re going to look at an Irn-Bru billboard
advert and learn about:
*how advertisers draw on your
knowledge of their product
*how they use humour.
This advert is called 'sheep'. What does that
tell you about it?
Product knowledge
Why have the advertisers chosen the colour
scheme for the advert? What do they hope this
will do when people see it?
The Irn-Bru can is really small. Why have they
not made it bigger?
Why is the word 'PHENOMENAL' there?
Image and Graphics
The main image is of a sheep. But sheep don’t drink
Irn-Bru. So why choose a sheep?
What do you notice about the outline of the sheep?
What does it suggest?
What type of font has been used? What does that
suggest?
What tone do all these techniques suggest?
Verbal humour
The advertisers use puns in this advert, and also
draw on our knowledge of the vernacular used in
Scotland.
Look up and write down the definitions of these words.
Verbal humour
Try to explain to each other how the advertiser has
played on the double meanings of 'cow' and 'pigs'.
How does this add to the tone of the advert?
Why might this be a risky strategy to use? Why do
you think they use it? How does the use of these
words make you feel?
Verbal humour
Why has the writer put the words in speech marks?
What difference would there be if they were not there?
To test whether you now understand how
the advertiser uses these techniques, we’re
going to look at some other examples.
http://www.irn-bru.co.uk/poster/snog.html
http://www.irn-bru.co.uk/poster/goth.html
Your teacher will give you one of these two
adverts to look at. You’ll have time to prepare,
then you’ll be matched up with a partner, and
you’ll explain to them how the techniques have
been used (colour, graphics and images, and
verbal humour).
Partners - ask questions to clarify the
explanation. Then you’ll feedback on how well
they explained.