Advertising and Race

It comes as no surprise when concluding that minorities have had either little or negative representation in advertising. The biased portrayal of racial minorities by the media is partly due to the class-based nature of the media. Companies that reach a wide market targeting the middle and lower class will have a tendency to include minorities in their advertisements. Take this Target commercial for example :

The two racially different girls are having fun dancing and decorating their rooms. The message: Target is the place to go for all of your dorm room needs, no matter what your race. Targeted at young girls going to college about the ages 

of 17-25. Now I want to show a contrasting advertisement of a high-end product like Armani to make the difference in ethnic diversity apparent. These are only a few of their ads but I've included a link to a site with all of their other ads, but believe me when I say that there is not racial diversity at Armani. 

Children and Advertising

Children are a part of three distinct consumer markets. First, they have their own money and buy things that are targeted to them. Second, children influence their parents’ spending. Parents give in to influence from kids on many choices. This is known as parental yielding. Lastly, kids grow up and become adults, but they may stay loyal to the brands they loved when they were young. This McDonalds ad addresses two of the three parts of the child’s influence on the market. With the offer of the toy and the general happiness that apparently comes from the McDonalds experience, children prompt their parents to take them to McDonalds and get them a happy meal. Just as important as parental yielding is the focus on the future market by giving children a positive experience at the restaurant resulting in brand loyalty that lasts into adulthood and will hopefully create a cycle in which the adult then brings their children to McDonalds.

            The targeted audience of this commercial is obviously young girls around the ages of 4 to 7, ideally any nationality but honestly, the Barbie is Caucasian and the non Caucasian is barely visible; almost outcast honestly. So with this ad, the audiences most attracted will more then likely be young Caucasian girls.

La Nuit De L'Homme: The First Commercial On This Blog That Made Me Want To Buy

“Now you, too, can woo women with just a sultry look, if you just dab on some La Nuit De L'Homme cologne by Yves Saint Laurent.” This is what the article read following the release of this commercial. This ad is very unique, and significant be it that it stars famous actor Vincent Cassel and is directed by the renowned Darren Aronofsky. The effectiveness of this advertisement resides in its presentation. It isn’t cheap, or vulgar, or aggressive. It’s smooth and entertaining. I loved watching this ad, not because it has a guy getting hit in the balls or hot women with beer, but because it was beautifully made in a way that borders art. This “ad” has a broad audience. Though it looks as though it was made for an upper class society, it’s really for anyone that wants too feel a little fancy and woo the ladies. Also, women will see this beautifully made commercial, and like the Old Spice guy, want their man to smell/be like the man they see in the commercial. Thus this commercial targets both male and female of ages 21-40.

Facebook Ads

Facebook advertisements are interesting to analyze, because it isn’t a matter of asking the typical questions like who is the intended audience. Facebook ads are customized to fit the things that you like. Literally. Every time you click that little thumbs up icon and tell your Facebook community what you like, Facebook records that and makes sure to use that information against you. Take a look at these ads for example:

 

Keyword targeting is perhaps one of the most powerful ways to reach your target audience on Facebook. Say you wanted to promote a new sci-fi movie on Facebook – you could easily target your ad against all users who had placed “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” as interests in their profile. With the ad on the right, this consumer probably "liked" aviator sunglasses on Facebook (since he obviously likes them in reality as well) and because of this he is now subtly plagued with advertisements promoting sunglasses. Will this result in a culture that instead of putting everything out there for all to see(what we have now), becomes introverted because of this invasion of privacy on behalf of advertising agencies. Or will the exact opposite occur. The surrendering of our likes and dislikes to producers giving them all the necessary information to start producing what consumers really want?

Print Ad That Caught My Attention

I really like this print ad primarily for its universal appeal. People of all ages use pencils and chew gum. Granted, this ad is nothing game changing but I wanted to add some variety to the types of ads I use; this being one of the first print ads I’ve talked about. Because it is a print ad I see large change in the dynamic and method of advertising. Its not flashy, but very eye catching, primarily because of the contrast in focus. The most interesting part of this ad is that the product is secondary and placed inconspicuously in the corner. That to me was brilliant. The image in the ad is so cool and captivating yet obscure enough to make a consumer take a second and ask the question, “what is this advertisement trying to sell?”. It makes the consumer seek out the product then take the time to put together the ad and the product to determine the message. It is a was creative way to engage the audience in a way that commercials do, all with a single image.            

Does the ad have any real significant impact on our popular culture? No, but it’s a neat ad with some impressive graphic design that give me this unexplained feeling of expected fun to go with the consumption of this gum.

Women in Sports

In class we discussed how advertising is often skewed in regards to sports and gender. We discussed advertisers tendencies to sexualize women athletes and admire them for their attractiveness rather then their abilities. But this isn’t always true. I believe its all in how the athlete is wiling to portray themselves. Take this ad for example. This is a commercial with Maria Sharapova that acknowledges her beauty but also her amazing athletic abilities.

            This is a very nice commercial. It speaks to a young female demographic, but the universal Nike message speaks to young men as well. This commercial is the direction that advertisers need to take to promote positivity towards female athletes and lessen the objectification that is associated with them. This advertisement’s influence on pop culture is quite positive. It tells girls that there is a healthy balance between outer beauty and athletic success.

Hope: The Obama Ad

I know this is old and almost irrelevant at this point in time, however, I believe this ad is significant enough to be revisited. I wasn’t old enough to vote at the time, but I was old enough to truly grasp the political process unlike years past. For, I saw a message break barriers and make history. It was an entire campaign that revolved around one powerful word, hope. The Obama campaign strategists played it by the book when coming up with this campaign. The image/word was simple, relevant, and competitive. The red, white, and blue tied into the image of a gentle face looking off into the distance with the powerful word hope emanating creates the most important part of political marketing; the trust. It’s an amazing image that warms the heart and pushes “consumers” to believe. These consumers obviously being 18+ Americans, both male and female of all ages and backgrounds (he was running for presidency, he can’t afford not to be completely inclusive).