Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

Alas I’m back once again to intrigue my readers with some insightful input regarding the world we live in and the deception we are exposed to in our day-to-day lives.

Well, as we may know but not really acknowledge, the main goal of advertisements is to ultimately persuade individuals to purchase the product they are presenting. Not to be a source of information and educate people. Advertisements are displayed in the media, and mass media has allowed them to be ubiquitous. We see them on every billboard, bus, building, we see them interrupting our favorite TV show, before the movie in the cinema… Everywhere. With that being said, it’s easy to say that advertisements have an immense capability to deceive us. Little do we know such images and slogans constantly are being engrained into our train of thought and will ultimately shape the way in which we perceive facets of life. One might live to rue allowing advertisements to impetuously embed false concepts of social groups or instill stereotypes.

What can be concluded from the ramble I just threw at you above is that advertisements weaken or undermine personal autonomy. Thus, I believe that advertisers do in fact have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people to conserve our society. Inaccurate representations of ethnicities, social groups, cultures, races and so on, will lead to corruption and discrimination within our society. I feel that it is imperative to meet the exigency of our society and use persuasive techniques within advertising that do not encourage discrimination. Stereotypes within media may harm culture and cultural values by contradicting traditional values resulting in tawdriness. As a whole, advertisements have a great effect on our culture and society in general, making it a moral duty to avoid stereotyping. I condemn the use of stereotypes in order to sell a product. The negative effects on individuals or groups aren’t worth it!

‘Her Future Begins On Two Wheels’

Child Fund International’s new Dream Bike Program advertisement has dispersed. Let us look into the depths and breadths of this ad and analyze its components. To begin with, the main overarching value or purpose of this ad is to inform affluent individuals of the arduous situation of impoverished children on their journey to arrive to school. This ad sheds light on an important facet of life, that being education. It highlights that children living in less economically developed countries face struggles when on their way to school. Thus, making it difficult for them to complete their education and become successful. They are able to evoke an emotional response by the use of pathos, because as humans we feel the need for nurture, and as a result we sympathize with the child and would want to donate. In addition, an implied value throughout the text is the idea of gender inequality and attempting to eradicate the issue. We can observe that the entirety of the text has the hidden purpose of portraying noticeable emphasis on females and the struggles they undergo in this generation, most predominantly in economically unstable countries. This is displayed through the use of words like “her future begins on two wheels,” rather than saying “his.” This is then further shown as we see an image of a little girl smiling on a bike. The tone of the text itself adds particular stress on the idea of education, and continues to use the female in the context. It portrays gender equality as they attempt to show that woman also deserve an education.

Evidently women are empowered in this commercial. As we see the ad revolves around achieve a girl’s education and reaching her full potential. Instilled stereotypes have allowed us to believe that in countries such as India a woman isn’t prioritized in terms of education. Rather we perceived women stay at home, while the men earn the money. This whole idea is discarded throughout this ad. Subsequently, the text associates a successful future with the provision of bicycles. As they show a girl who bequeathed the daily struggle to receive an education, and dismissed from the dangers of arriving to school by riding a bike. This ad implies that they are reviving dreams through their program. “She’s riding – safely and quickly – toward her dream,” portrays the ‘Simple Solution’ persuasion technique, as they ignored the complexities of reality and blatantly summoned a simple solution by introducing bikes. They claim that these bicycles will be her “ride” to success.

The Pitch Workshop Reflection: ~ Casio Keytar

In my pitch, there was an abundance of appeals incorporated inexplicitly in order to effectively deliver the pitch. The task however, was not fully understood, and thus rather than creating a proper pitch, what was presented was more of a proposed advertisement. But, the appeals we strived to incorporate were ones such as pathos, ethos, logos, the need for affiliation, the need to achieve, bandwagon, the need for attention, and the need for aesthetic sensations. All of these were weaved into the presentation with the hopes of grasping the viewer’s attention and enticing their senses. All of these appeals work together to be able to trigger the audience’s emotions using factual content and credibility to then allure the audience and shed light on the idea of success. Success is a very communal facet of life that every person aims for. Individuals in a band tend to aim for success, fame and publicity. Throughout the presentation these ideas were specifically mentioned to again attract our target audience.

            The three main persuasive techniques utilized were ‘association,’ ‘bandwagon’ and ‘new.’ Association is a persuasive technique that links the product to something desired by the target audience. In this case our target audience were specifically amateur musicians, college geeks, high school students or young adults. Or just simply individuals interested in music. We associated the keytar to fame, “The newest technology which will bring you 100s of fans!!! Millions will want to watch you play the keytar!!!” The enthusiasm of the tone coupled with associating a keytar with publicity and fame will attract bands and musicians to see whether this technology will actually create such a reputation for them. The next persuasive technique was bandwagon. Bandwagon refers to the audience feeling the need to belong or fit in with the “cool” people. Such ads urge us to “jump on the bandwagon.” This technique was demonstrated by displaying images of individuals from the same social group playing the keytar. Then again by using a celebrity to show that if they want to be just as successful as Lady Gaga, they should probably follow the trend and jump on the bandwagon. Also by continuously mentioning that all the successful bands use this product, so you better get it so you can fit in and be like them. Finally, we used the persuasive technique of this product being new. All people like new things, because we tend to think they are better. We highlighted the fact that it is a newer and improved technology combining two instruments bands have. “To all you amateur musicians looking to start a career… Do you like keyboards & guitars? But you can’t make up your mind? We have the perfect option for you… A KEYTAR!!!!” This shows the audience that it is a new technology combining two old things to make it better. We then go on to say that it is “A new way to play!” This again urges the audience to want this new thing to not only fit in but because the idea of success has been purposefully engrained into their minds.

            As mentioned above this product is directed towards amateur musicians, college geeks, high school students or young adults. In other words, musicians. The context was set in the 80s. This influenced the overall approach taken towards this task in terms of the tone and way in which the ad was delivered. An awareness of the audience resulted in an informal diction to be used. The context did not majorly impact the approach taken, however it did influence the images used and the presentation of the information. The images presented were rather old, reflecting the fashion trends of the 80s and the quality of the images.

The second part of my pitch was the PowerPoint that included images in addition to slogans to aid the presentation. The images used had the purpose of enticing the viewers and were used to enhance the use of the persuasion techniques and appeals. The images mainly revolved around success, fame, the idea of the product being new, and the need for aesthetic sensations. This can be seen through the use of hip musicians, alike to the target audience, playing the keytar. This allowed the audience to identify with the individual in the image. Pictures that emphasize the idea of fame and success were incorporated. By placing an image of a musician next to a crowd, we will be able to intrigue the audience by having them subconsciously make links and associate the two ideas. And finally images that case the viewers to move away from the old and regular keyboards and guitars and be attracted to the new and hip product of the keytar.  

As a whole I felt as though I presented confidently and fairly well. But, there are numerous things that could be improved. This presentation will not reflect my performance during my FOA, as not much effort was put into this task, on the other hand I will put my best work forth when the time to present the FOA approaches.  

Coca-Cola

Why hello!

You’re probably wincing at the fact it has been, what… a month since I’ve last posted. But, nonetheless, what a pleasant surprise? I’m back!

Let us dive right into the content I have planned for today. Excuse me for ending so abruptly, but I promise it’s stimulating.

We’ve all seen ads, right? Ha, of course we have, they’re simply omnipresent. Well, I’m sure we are all familiar with Coca-Cola. Also quite ubiquitous… Since the moment I came out of my mother’s womb, Coca-Cola has been a prominent soft drink. It has existed since 1886 (just throwing out a bit of logos) and then suffused throughout the world, with an influx purchasing and consuming it on a daily basis. I don’t know what sort of elixir allowed that to happen. Perhaps it became so widespread due to their ability to construct such alluring and persuasive advertisements.

Here’s a major throwback to 1979, of an advert staring Joe Greene or “Mean” Joe, who was a famous American football player at the time endorsing the Coca-Cola soft drink.

To reiterate, the ad begins as the phenomenon Joe Greene, the doyen of American football, limps down a corridor. As a young innocent child approaches him, offering him help as a kind virtue. Greene displays no sympathy towards the little boy, ignores him and walks on. Despite Greene’s superfluous pessimistic attitude, the boy continues to flatter him and nervously compliments him, asserting he is the “best ever.” “Mean” Joe’s attitude has not debilitated the child, as he then offers Greene his Coke. The child insists he takes the Coke. Eventually, Joe takes it and gracefully chugs the bottle, as music that just screams “hallelujah” at us plays in the background. Greene’s mood flips as a result of the coke, he no longer emits a mean attitude, instead he smiles and gives the kid his towel as a symbol of gratitude in return for the Coke. The advertisement closes with “Have a coke and smile. Coke adds life.”

There are three main factors surrounding the art of rhetoric, proposed by Aristotle, are ethos, pathos and logos. The two most obvious factors are the use ethos and pathos. Ethos is displayed through the use of the authoritative figure of Joe Greene endorsing the product. Greene is an athlete; the fact that the ad is advertising an unhealthy product adds an element of deception. Using Greene as the authoritative figure makes the audience believe that he is creditable and think, “if Joe Greene drinks it, it must be good for us since he is fit.” In addition, the child looked up when speaking to Greene, and spoke with an anxious tone, which further emphasizes his role as a celebrity. Greene’s tone also portrays a sense of superiority.

And finally, pathos is shown through the use of the child. We tend to sympathize with children, which gives us an appeal to the ad through our emotions. The viewer identifies with the child and is most likely awed by his kind gesture… I most certainly was. At the end of the day, kids are just cute, we like to see their innocent faces and their generous actions would please us more than if it were an adult.