Great advertisement right here! The first thing that this image does is grab your attention to the man in the full body cast. He looks like a mummy. Then you start wondering what this ad is for. You look down, see the LaZer bike helmet symbol and look back up to the guy and realize that the top of his head is completely fine. You have to kind of smile/laugh at this one, it’s a great ad. The linguistic part of the image is short and to the point: LAZER Bike Helmets. What else needs to be said?
The most important thing about this ad, that you see a connection between the linguistic message and the visual image that the advertisement conveys. It “speaks” to us. Just like Barthes says in his chapter titled Rhetoric of the Image.
“If the image contains signs, we can be sure that in advertising these signs are full, formed with a view to the optimum reading: the advertising image is frank, or at least emphatic” (Barthes pp.33).
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post and just showcases what many ads have chosen to do lately. Advertisements have become more and more ambiguous in recent years making the audience think more about what they are watching or looking at and sometimes even questioning it. Sometimes the ad has nothing to do with the product they are selling and people think it a "dumb" commercial. Other times it is a dumb commercial but funny, which for me cancels out the fact that it had nothing to do with the product but I remember it because of the humor.
ReplyDeleteI came across a tampon ad (sorry guys) that seemed ambiguous to me at first but then seeing it again and listening to it actually made sense. And although nothing was said about the effectiveness of the product it plays to the side of people that buy things based on the image portrayed in the ads.
check out the video just copy and paste it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOM4AMV050A&NR=1
It's ads like this that really impress me; something that you really need to look at a few times to grasp the full concept behind it. I purposely didn't read your post so that I could try to appreciate the ad first, and I went through the same process you did. After looking at the picture and then the bike helmet logo at the bottom I naturally thought "Well, the helmet obviously didn't stop him from crashing his bike, and he's still hurt, so what's the point?" But it was upon a third (and fourth) viewing of the picture that I noticed the cast stopping at his scalp. Ads that force multiple looks benefit the company, in my opinion, because they won't be something that you can look at sort of mindlessly and comprehend with little effort; they force you to think about the ad, thus getting it stuck in your head for a time.
ReplyDeleteMike, Yes! I agree. The DOUBLETAKE is what makes the ad a success.
ReplyDeleteI love this poster, it really helps give you a little giggle, then a ah ha moment, and a serious "that could happen if you don't wear a helmet". It has a range of emotion which helps the person remember what is trying to be said. The only thing I take away from the poster is, you better wear a bike helmet. As a shopper, many ads don't get me to by that specific brand, it does however to buy "a" brand. That is the hard thing with advertising, how do you get someone to think they need to by that specific brand and not another kind.
ReplyDeleteLastly, I often wondered, has anyone ever been in a full body cast like that? Head to toe? It seems inhumane and not very helpful. The doctor needs the ability to see the person's body no matter how messed up they might be.