Drama: Advertising
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By now you will have realised that an advert on television is like a mini-movie. It has characters, a plot, a genre and a target audience (Drama p 23-24). Adverts contain very specific jargon (language/words that advertisers use to get an emotional response from the viewer) and very emotive images which is aimed at manipulating/persuading the viewer to want to have that product.
Some adverts give information - like the ones about social distancing and hygiene. Here the images and language might be more neutral, so as not to be threatening and cause panic.
Advertisers use popular culture, local history, social events, etc to make their products seem more relevant to the times.
For instance: During the Olympics or World Cup the characters and situations depicted in adverts will be sports fans. Or a popular celebrity who is currently in the news or social media may be used in adverts, because everyone recognises them and wants to be them/like them.
In lockdown non-essential businesses advertised their products with a message of "we can't be together/close/outside now, but just think how wonderful it would be to do those things we miss now (using our product to do it with/in) after lockdown". By reminding us of what it was like before lockdown (appealing to our comfort-zone or roots) and showing us a "better/healthier" way to do things (with their product, after lockdown ends) they might persuade us that this product wil be necessary to make us happy/better/healty, etc.
How an advert makes you feel (or what you remember) might make you buy a new product, instead of the one you always used to get. Brand recognition is real! Some products are sold using jingles you cannot get out of your head, jokes you are reminded of every time you see the logo, a series of adverts that tell a story, so that the characters become like old friends you think of when you see the product, while some adverts are just irritating/whiney and we remember the product exactly because of how we dislike the advert!.
Advertisers pay large amounts of money to make sure their ad is seen by the largest audience, or more times than the competition. In South Africa companies are not allowed to make fun of or compare products with their competitors. That is why a short advert, which is very memorable may be shown many times over (repetition) and longer adverts, usually only show during prime-time when popular programmes are shown which more people watch, regularly.
1. Revise the questions on p 3-4.
Then read the notes and underline keywords on page 9-10.
2. Study adverts in magazines, on radio or on tv, to collect data (information) for the table on p 10. You will need at least 30 adverts for different products. Write down the name of the product, the hook used by the advertiser to get your attention and the Packard Principle on which they sell you the product (which you might not even need).
3. Look at the lesson question on Apollo and make sure you understand what you should do.
Lesson Files
Lesson Questions
You will create the graph on page 10 during your lesson in Term 2.
You are going to use the example given to create your own graph inside the rectangle on page 10. Your graph will be unique and totally different from mine, because our data sets are different. We have not seen exactly the same adverts, SO DO NOT SIMPLY COPY THE EXAMPLE.
1] Create and label 8 bars on your graph, one for each of the principles.
Count the number of adverts in each category (Packard Principle) and indicate that on the graph using the same colour for all the bars.
2] Label the hooks you recorded in a key. Choose a different colour for each one.
3] Now count the number of adverts using the first hook by category and indicate that on the graph in each bar.
4] Repeat this with each of the hooks, until your graph is complete.
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