Thursday, July 29, 2010
Journal Entry Twenty: Random Story
Journal Entry Nineteen: Myth
This is an advertisement for Old Spice. The connotative value of the advertisement is the product, Old Spice Classic Body Spray and the fact that it is a fragrance that may or may not be appealing. The Denotative value is that if a man wears it, they will be noticed by pretty girls like the one pictured in the advertisement. This is merely a myth because this is the way a good-smelling fragrance is portrayed. Someone who is considered ugly just as well might notice you as someone who is pretty. Although the advertisement is just a myth, it works effectively because the reason that men do wear cologne is to smell "good" and get the attention of women, regardless of the myth factor. They specifically target the want of the consumer.
Journal Entry Eighteen: Advertisments & Jefkins
Frank Jefkin has three basic principles for effective advertisement writing:
-The advertisement should be of value and interest to the reader.
-The advertisement should be precise, that is, get to the point as quickly as possible.
-The advertisement should be concise.
The advertisement I have chose is for Revlon’s new PHOTOREADY Makeup. The advertisement is making effective use of the commonly known problem of having bad lighting in a photo which may reveal unwanted blemishes on your face. By doing this, the advertisement is fulfilling the first basic principal by identifying the need of the consumer and centering their advertisement on that specific need. This is seen in the first line after the name of the product. It is in all caps and bolded and says; “NOW THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS BAD LIGHTING.” By doing this, the advertisement is also fulfilling the second principle of effective advertisement writing that the advertisement should be precise and get right to the point. The key target problem is not having makeup that is versatile in different lighting, specifically for photographs. Revlon is advertising that they have created a product that has solved this problem and they are quick and direct about it. The advertisement goes on to explain their product. They inform the reader that, “Photochromatic pigments bend and reflect light, for airbrushed skin in any light.” By telling the reader why their product is worthy in only twenty words, they effectively fulfill the third principle of being concise. They say what they have to say in the fewest necessary words. It is not so vague that the reader does not know anything about the product but is explicit enough that the reader gets a good idea of the product. They achieved this in only twenty words in the description! The writing in this advertisement is effective because it achieves the three basic principles.
Journal Entry Seventeen: Advertisements & Color
The color gold consumes this advertisement. It is known to evoke the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth and it often symbolizes high quality. These are all characteristics that I believe Secret intentionally wants to associate their product with. The color is seen everywhere including the background, the woman’s dress, and even on the packaging of the product. They want to show that their product has been well formulated by people with knowledge and wisdom of what they are doing. The advertisement is trying to illuminate or shine light upon their product. They want to make it the center of attention and inspire hope among their readers. They also want to emphasize that their product is high quality and will be worth buying. The color white is also used but, I do not think it is to evoke a specific message. It is used just because it is a good contrast to the overpowering gold in the advertisement. Gold is found somewhere in the range of the three analogous colors: orange, yellow-orange, and yellow. White is a result of the three additive colors: red, green, and blue. When these colors are overlapped a white light is produced. The colors used in this advertisement work very well to evoke a certain feeling with the deodorant.
The primary color of this advertisement is red. The color red has multiple meanings. It has a very high visibility so it works effectively here to quickly grab the reader’s attention. It is also known to stimulate a person to make quick decisions which is very useful in the sense that they want people to buy their all purpose cleaner immediately. Orange is the color chosen for the text in the advertisement. Orange is associated with traits such as enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. These are all characteristics that any company would want to associate their product with. They want to show enthusiasm and happiness with the quality of their product. They are also encouraging and stimulating the reader to want to purchase the product. Red and orange are analogous colors meaning they are right next to each other on the color wheel. The colors used within this advertisement definitely work.
Journal Entry Sixteen: Logos & Color Meaning
McDonald’s logo is red, yellow, and white. Red is thought to be the most emotionally intense color so it is probably used in the McDonald’s logo to help grab people’s attention. Red is also an appetite stimulant so it is being used as a scheme to make people hungry. Yellow is an optimistic color so McDonald’s probably uses it to inspire their customers about the service they have to offer. Red and yellow are part of the triadic color scheme, red, yellow, and blue.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Journal Entry Fourteen: Advertisement - Verizon
The last advertisement was found in the magazine, Maxim, a magazine targeted primarily towards men. It is an advertisement for one of the services that Verizon offers called V CAST where you can watch television on your phone. In this specific advertisement, Verizon uses the NHL to promote their product. The advertisement has a photograph of some hockey player getting rough over the edge of the arena and a fan in the middle who looks extremely scared. There is big white text on the ad that says, “You wouldn’t make it in the NHL.” It is supposed to be funny and at the same time promote the “toughness” of the sport and remind hockey fans why they watch it. At the same time, it may make them want to watch the sport at that very moment. This is where Verizon comes in. They say, “But you can get inside with V CAST. Download exclusive videos, watch highlights, get scores, stats and all the NHL action you can handle. Only on V CAST.” Verizon uses the NHL to promote their product because now fans of the NHL will link it to Verizon and hopefully use their services. The hockey payers within the ad function as signs. The signifier is the hockey players getting all roughed up in the ice rink and the signified is the competition and action of the NHL. The advertisement is very effective because it gives readers a reason to subscribe to V CAST.
Journal Entry Thirteen: Advertisement - Thor
The second ad found was in Dirt Rider magazine, a magazine targeted towards people who ride dirt bikes. It is a very simple advertisement with an image of a boot repeated across the page and the text “fit, style, function.” It also has the Thor logo in the bottom left-hand corner. It is very simple but, catchy and effective. The denotation in this advertisement is the boot and the raw materials used to make it and the connotation is that you will be as good as all of the pro-riders featured within the magazine if you wear them. They would only advertise what the pros use in this magazine right? The cultural myth used within this magazine is seen a lot in today’s society. It is if you wear a certain brand name product that you will be as good as the famous who wear Thor or that you will look cool. However, the functionality of the boot is probably about the same as a cheaper boot that is not a brand name boot. This is why the advertisement is so simple. They don’t need to make it too complex because as soon as they put their name on it, Thor, in the bottom-left hand corner, it becomes completely credible. The advertisement is making a play on the established identity of the company. Repetition is also a very effective technique in making advertisements memorable. Overall, the advertisement is very effective in its simplicity and successfully reminds viewers of Thor products.
Journal Entry Twelve: Advertisement - L'Oreal
The first ad was found in Allure magazine which typically targets women audience. The advertisement is for L’Oreal’s Color Smokes Shadows. It is a part of their professional Studio Secrets line. The advertisement has a beautiful lady on the left who is modeling the smoky eye shadow and some brief text on the right with a picture of what the packaged product looks like. The text advertises, “Smoky Eyes in Shades That Enhance Your Eye Color.” At the very bottom of the page they include instructions to “dramatize your eyes in 4 easy steps.” The denotation of the woman on the left is that she is a model wearing eye shadow and the connotation to the readers is fame, glamor, and to be sexy. The way readers interpret the model makes them want to purchase the product so that they can look “pretty” like the model in the photograph. The cultural myth used within this advertisement consists of the properties and meanings that we attach to makeup, specifically eye shadow. Because of the way makeup has been used in the media and by the famous for years and years, we attach attributes such as “sexiness,” fame, and gorgeousness to it. The character in the ad, the model, functions as a sign because she is a symbol for beauty. The signifier is the eye shadow on the model and the signified is beauty. The instructions for achieving the smoky eye effect are also included. This works very effectively because now being beautiful is within the readers grasp. All they have to do is follow those four easy steps. All of the elements within this advertisement work very effectively for L’Oreal to try and sell their product.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Journal Entry Eleven: Situational Decisions
The next symbol represents a decision that I make at night. The image on the left is a night scene but the sun is still slightly visible as it sets. The image on the right is also a night scene however, it is in the middle of the night. These two opposites show whether or not I decide to go to bed early or late.
The next symbol shows whether or not I choose to do homework or entertain myself. The image on the left is a textbook and the one on the right is a television. The use of color choice in this drawing is significant. The green on the textbook is supposed to invoke "go" just like a green traffic light. The purple on the TV is supposed to be a more "lively" color but also soothing like lavender.
Journal Entry Fifteen: Connotation and Denotation
PEACE
Denotation
This is the standard symbol for peace and is widely known almost everywhere. Peace is defined as serenity and harmony.
Connotation
Although peace can be a variety of different things, I tend to think of tree-huggers when I think of this term. The majority of the people that are die-hard advocates are typically tree-huggers.
GOD
Denotation
God is defined as the supreme being and creator of the universe. The best imagae I could come up with to denote this term is a pair of hands holding Earth with the ability to do anything they want with it.
Connotation
When I think of God, I think of heaven and the absolute beauty of it. Many times, when I see the sun shining through parting clouds I think of it as heaven.
HISTORY
Denotation
History is broadly defined as past events. There is an immeasurable number of pictures that could be taken show a past event so, the picture I chose is of clocks showing time. These clocks represent past events that occured at past times.
Connotation
When I think of history, I think of school and textbooks. I think of how boring it was to memorize dates and names of people. History was definately not my favorite subject in school.
PAIN
Denotation
The definition of pain is physical suffering and distress. This is the best image I could fine to show what physical suffering is.
Connotation
The first thing that came to mind when I thought of pain was a band aid which is the adhesive strip used to heal wounds, etc.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Journal Entry Ten: Metaphor Advertisement
The metaphor in this ad is the phrase, "Just like magic." I, personally, do not think that this ad works. I think that just the phrase in itself is really overused. I feel like I have heard "It's like magic" so many other times. I just don't think it's very original. It is kind of related to the product but, not that much because you could use this metaphor for many other products as well.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Journal Entry Nine: Inventions and Necessary Items
I could NOT live without sweets! I think that most can agree that a little "sugar tooth" will drive you crazy.
I literally could not LIVE without water and neither could anyone else. Its so good for you too because it hydrates and energizes you and helps get rid of all of the toxins in your body.
PIZZA!!! I could not live without pizza. It is probably one of my favorite foods.
I could not live without my phone. For one, none of my family lives in Flagstaff and I need it so that I can keep in touch with them. I also need it for a number of other communication reasons as well.
The TV is important to me. I live a stressful life and even though I do not have cable it is so nice to be able to relax and "wind down" with a movie. It helps take my mind off of the millions of things that are going on in my life.
I absolutely love candles. I love the way it makes my house smell and I believe it helps calm and soothe me.
Music is another vital part of my life. There are so many songs that I can relate to and music is the one good thing at "setting the mood" that you are looking for.
I NEED coffee. With such a hectic life and all the late nights between work, school, and homework I don't think I would be able to wake up in the mornings and begin my day without it.
I have been a cheese lover my whole life and anyone who knows me knows that I always have about five packages of cheese in my fridge.
I need showers to help me relax from a hard day and, also for the main purpose of cleaning myself.