Relay For Life Classroom Campaign PSA

          For my final project in advertising & imagery, the class was divided into four groups that would serve on an advertising campaign for Relay For Life. These groups are PR, video, audio, and print. I am involved in the print group. My team is responsible for creating eye-catching print advertisements encouraging and urging people to participate in Shepherd University’s annual Relay For Life Walk next year that is held every spring semester. There are three theme ideas that my classmates/ “coworkers” are developing for a cleverly executed finished project on each group topic, the themes are as follows: Pirate, Super Heroes/Comic Book, and “Rockin’ Relay” (a fifties rock and roll vibe). Work that has been produced for the pirate themed relay have been focusing on pirate like objects such as treasure maps leading to a trail for gold, representing the “cure.” The “Rockin’ Relay” 50s theme, which seems to be enormously well liked over the other two themes yields images emulating “blue suede sneakers” on pavement, records, jukeboxes, and slick greased hair. The theme that is my main focus is the Super Heroes/Comic Book. I used drawn images of comic book custom designed super heroes that represented a different type of cancer, and put them on a background that is a picture of a track that is used for running and walking. Each character is giving information about when Relay is happening by way of speech bubbles accompanied by comic book phrases such as “boom!” or “pow!.” I am very pleased with all of my print team’s fine efforts. Our local Relay campaign seems to be including all of the types of advertising that I haven’t seen in the past year that I have been at Shepherd University. For example I have not seen video footage or have heard announcements on the radio. Although, there is always room for improvement.    

            After reading an interesting publication from the Advertising Educational Foundation passage entitled “Public Service Advertising,” by William M. O’Barr, our advertising campaign is not as sophisticated as the information posed, which is understandable because we are amateur students. For example, the Ad Council agency for PSAs includes their messages in multiple languages like Spanish. They also carry a bigger budget than Shepherd. But they both are trying to send out a persuasive message that will make you want to listen or partake in events. Also, the amount of creativity that is put into PSAs are being utilized at the Ad Council and our local University.

                I believe that the strength of our work could be a little stronger, but overall it is beginner level success. If I could change some of the courses of action for this campaign, I think that we should have investigated more information about relay for life itself, and have a little more input from other advertising teams for better communication. Overall, I think that Relay for Life will be a triumphant cakewalk with many people involved, enjoying and appreciating the well thought out creations of its theme created by comm. 406!    

Dove For Real Beauty Campaign

In comm. class today we talked about the Dove for Real Beauty campaign. I like this campaign because its main goal is to bring about high self-esteem to young girls and women of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The Dove for Real Beauty campaign wants to make women feel comfortable in their own skin, and not feel like they have to look like skinny, mutant supermodels, as seen in so many types of media, to feel like they are pretty. Their campaign includes TV commercials, print ads, and PR workshops that all stress that women should have confidence in themselves and know that they are beautiful and special in their own way. This print ad shown below is great because many ad campaigns do not choose models that are older. I like this because it shows that at any age a women can be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. The woman's smile in the ad is a signifier that signifies she is happy, confident, and feels good!   I believe that more companies should promote more positive, feel-good campaigns like Dove!

Semiotics Signifier/Signified

Today in my Advertising & Imagery class we discussed semiotics. Semiotics simply put, is the study of signs and the production of meanings from those signs. The actual sign itself makes up the signifier, and the signified is the concept it represents. In order to obtain a better understanding of signs and what their signified represents, a classmate and I choose an ad and explained one sign and what is signified from that ad. We also explained our findings to the class. From there, we had to come up with five additional signs and their signifieds on our own.

The ad that my partner and I choose was for the alcoholic beverage Absolut Vodka shown here:

This ad is placed on the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. My partner and I chose the pyramid as a sign. The signified for the pyramids shows ancient culture, power, skill, and eternity.  The Luxor sign itself resembles and signifies the Washington monument located in Washington, D.C. It also represents political power, and control, like that of the President living in D.C. It is taking this powerful American monument and placing it next to another great civilization's monument, comparing it to Ancient Egypt. Which brings us to another sign, the  Great Egyptian Sphinx, one of the most monumental sculptures in the ancient world. Its signified represents royal power, with a head of a pharaoh, and a body of a strong lion. The texts in the ad that read, "VEGAS", and "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" are signs. The signified for  "VEGAS" represents that being in Vegas could potentially make you rich or more wealthy because of the opportunities for gambling and the chances to "win big." "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" signifies that Vegas in a way could make "your" world as "absolute"; just as fantastic  as  the world of the Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians had an advanced society that was prosperous and strong! The Absolut Vodka bottle is a sign. Its location at the top of the pyramid signifies that it is of such great importance that many people can view it and look up to it. This ad overall has signifiers that show that Absolut Vodka is powerful, and everlasting.     

Tween Phone Advertising Campaign.. Fixes! Comm. 406

Today in class, we looked  over and talked about our ads for the Gotcha! Cell Phone Campaign for tweens. My professor and students gave my partner (Ashley Laspina) and me critiques about how our ads could be improved to have a campaign that flows a bit better. Here are the ads that we produced using pictures from CreativeCommons and Photoshop.

 Girl's Ad

Boy's Ad

                     Ad for Boys and Girls

Keeping the ads consistent and cohesive is part of the formula for creating a catchy ad campaign. My partner and I kept the same placing of items and words. Although it was brought to our attention that the ad aimed to boys didn't have a the wow factor as the other ads in our campaign reguarding the background. It's not as bright and eye-catching as the others. Also, the colorings of the photos are not the same. The girl's ad has a black and white photo, while the other two are in color. Also, the girl's picture could be less "squary" looking and cropped more naturally. The boy's ad picture could also have better bright colors reguarding the font. All in all it was quite a learning experience working with the ever-so-complicated Photoshop for the first time, and spending time looking for photos.  

Female Roles in Music Videos Comm. 406

A lot of women portrayed in music videos these days are highly sexuallized for the young male's, or possibly female's, fantasy. I'm not just talking about one particular genre of music. Pop, rock, country, and rap display women as helpless, horney, sexual objects, often dressed in almost nothing, catering to the male artist's every desire. An excellent example of this is R&B artist, Sisqo. Almost everyone, I'm sure, has heard the song and seen the music video for Sisqo's "Thong Song."In the video there are women in thong bikinis sunning themselves and dancing provocativly for the men featured in the video who are portrayed as powerful and wealthly. I think it is disapointing that some musicians have to use not so creative ways to sell a record. Also, women shouldn't always be looked at in such a inhumane way. Many young impressionable minds may be influenced by these women in these videos.

Today's Comm. 406 discussion made me think of the music video "Stupid Girls" by the pop artist Pink.

This really eye-opening music video completely captures the oversexualized role of women in music videos.  It also parodies the ridiculousness of the behavior of certain celebrities, and shows regular women who are damaged by the influence of these celebrities.  This video begins with a young, impressionable girl sitting in front of the television viewing a music video; an act that many young, impressionable girls are doing all around the world. In the video Pink portrays herself as a strong, well-dressed, woman who is meant to look like a female president.  She also dresses as the various "stupid girls" in the video.  She makes fun of Paris Hilton with her sex tape incident, she calls out the overly sexual Jessica Simpson in her "These Boots Were Made For Walking" music video.  She shows how women's body image issues force them into getting plastic surgery, overexercising, and purging to be thin. While she acts out these negative behaviors she asks where all of the girls with ambition and goals have gone.  The narrative encourages girls to have respect for themselves and accept their natural beauty. At the end of the video, the little girl turns off the televison and chooses to go outside to play football, rejecting her "princessy," girly toys and choosing not to be a stupid girl.  While there is definitely some show of skin and sexuality in this video, it is in the form of parody and is necessary to the main premise of the narrative.

Entertaining, Interactive, Advertisements; Thoughts on Forbe's "The Best-Ever Social Media Campaigns" Comm. 406

      Many people are using new online technologies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networking sites, to connect and socialize on the web. People who are employed in advertising are taking advantage of these popular resources to make advertising a part of our cyberculture. Many advertising campaign's ads aren't just appearing on the side of your computer screen as passive persuasive images; they are becoming more involved in these social avenues. The recent article on Forbes.com entitled, "The Best-Ever Social Media Campaigns," explains that advertising corporations are becoming increasingly interactive to get the potential consumer involed via the internet. According to the article, it is the advertising company's goal to include interactive videos, gimmicks, games, etc. to social mediums on the internet, like Twitter, to make people interested in their product or idea and to further make those people share the ad(s) with thier network of friends. A panel of expert judges from social marketing agencies ranked twenty of the best-ever social media campaigns that included this interactivness.   


  Going viral has been a pretty brilliant strategy for various ad campaigns. For example, the article discusses the ever so popular commercials for Proctor and Gamble's Old Spice products that came in as number three on the best-ever social media campaigns list. Not only did the company have hilarious TV advertisements, but the actor in them,  Issiah Mustafa, answered questions of viewers on Web Videos, giving people who paid attention to the campaign recognition, as well as, giving loads of attention to Old Spice. I am a fan of Old Spice commercials because they are so entertaining and humorous. I am not a man, and would never in my life use Old Spice body wash or deodorent, but I do love a good laugh. The people behind this campaign are creative comedic geniuses. The actor gained enough popularity to appear on heavily watched talk shows like Ellen. Here Issiah Mustafa chats with Ellen Degeneres giving the inside scoop about the famous, hilarious commericial that made him shine!

      
Some other advertising campaigns that made it on the top charts, and that I'm a personal subscriber and viewer of, is Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" Blentec is a powerful professional blender that can supposedly blend everything from glow sticks to iPads.Tom Dickson is the founder of Blendtec and "destroyer" of objects.I can see why this campaign is so popular. He downloads his videos on YouTube, which anyone can join or not join to view his cutting edge videos!


What this article stressed the most was why these viral ad campaigns became so well recognized by the masses. They all have convincing and intriguing elements that appeal to many people, like humor, creativity, and shock value.  People, like me, view these ads and can't help but share their intrigue and humor with friends and family, thus making them go viral. 
       

“I’ll Have A Coke, Please!”

      The Coca-Cola Company makes and sells one of the most popular products in the world, Coca-Cola, more popularly known as Coke. It is a refreshing, cold, fizzy beverage that is well known in over two hundred countries! Its massive appeal has been gulped up since 1886. John Pemberton created it for the use of medicine to aid ailments such as headaches and morphine addiction, but today Coca-Cola serves as a sugary beverage consumed for its delicious taste. Since Coke is so universal, so are many of its campaign advertisements, which I am very fond of. I am particularly fond of Coca-Cola’s advertising campaign because they use a wide variety of mediums.  The messages and visual images that they bring about are universal. All people can relate to them or understand the ad’s concepts. There are many different advertisements for Coca-Cola, but all of them remain consistent with creativity and universality. 

        Here’s a recent commercial from Coca-Cola entitled, “Hard Times” which includes the cast of the well-known, animated show, The Simpsons.  The executives at Coca-Cola cleverly use The Simpsons as part of their advertisement.  This long-running show is a part of Americana, and its characters are widely recognized by even those who aren’t avid viewers of the show.  The advertisement’s humor sends a positive message with its current slogan, “Open Happiness.” In this commercial, character Montgomery Burns, looses his entire fortune and belongings. Dismayed, he walks through Springfield’s Park where everyone is enjoying themselves, and enjoying bottles of Coca-Cola. Once Apu, a resident of Springfield, offers him a Coke, he forgets his troubles and joins in on the fun. In one view, the commercial’s message is memorable.

  According to Coca-Cola’s website, its mission is to “strive to refresh the world, inspire moments of optimism and happiness, create value and make a difference.”   This well-known Coke advertisement from 1971 clearly captures their statement.  As the ad below illustrates, people from all nations stand together singing and holding a Coke. Using the song, “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” shows the interconnectedness that people have. It illustrates togetherness in that as humans, we are one family.  It rings the message that people of all nationalities should embrace life and each other’s differences. It is emotional and touches the heart. 

      

        This particular, recent, advertisement shows how clever and entertaining Coca-Cola campaigns can be. This commercial uses crisp, clear computer graphics making the viewer appreciate the art put into it. The concept of togetherness arises once again, but this time insects are working together to share an invigorating bottle of coke that they swipe from a nearby picnicker!

Coca-Cola is my favorite advertisement campaign because their ads use a wide variety of mediums.  They are entertaining, send a positive message, and everyone can understand them or relate to them in some way. I think all of these elements make Coca-Cola sell so well, besides the fact that it tastes so wonderful!

Personal Thoughts On Advertising and Imagery 406

      I am very intrigued and interested in learning new and fascinating information in Advertising and Imagery 406. This class will teach me to think critically by analyzing ads in media, and a lot more according to my instructor’s zealous explanation of the course! I think that this class is especially significant as a part of the mass communications curriculum because learning about the influence of advertisements in the world around us has a great impact on the future ideas and cultural values of today’s society in terms of political and social issues. I am looking forward to learning more about how our culture has shaped advertising, as well as how advertising has impacted our culture.            

I was enrolled in Communications and New Media 203 last fall semester.  There I learned a great deal about Herbert Zettl’s model for media aesthetics, in terms of analyzing advertising using his model.  I’m hoping we will continue to analyze advertising, as well as, experiment with creating advertising of our own in this course. I am also eager to learn more about computer software, such as Photoshop and film editing programs, like Final Cut. I hope to gain a useful understanding of these valuable tools and apply them to not only the projects that my classmates and I will utilize in this course, but also use for my future career.

Working in groups should be particularly helpful in that it will give me the practice to create and collaborate ideas with other people as in a real business setting.  

 As a photography minor, taking this class is especially interesting to me.  Most advertising contains photographic imagery.  I look forward to exploring ways to mingle my major and minor.  I’m still not sure of the exact career path that I want to pursue in life, but snapping shots for advertising campaigns sounds amazingly fun and exciting to me, and could be a potential career option!

Overall, I think this will be an extremely interesting area of communications to study, and I’m certain that I will expand my knowledge base and my creativity while in this course.