Postmodernism

Post modernism is that stretching of boundaries. It cannot tell you whether you are right or wrong because post modernism does not distinguish right from wrong but it deals with being ultra- creative and avoids the traditional route. yes, it does question the existence of ideals such as rationality or objectivity and allows us to consider new thing. All great ideas or theories were brought about be first questioning the existing one. Who knows where this trend of post-modernism will lead us.

It takes the traditional, modernism, and classical and extends it to a whole new level. It is applies to architecture, literature, art, and most interestingly to me advertising. The latest ad campaigns of most designer brands have adopted this "idea" into their current ads and are very interesting and creative. They attract attention without instilling ideals in them that most traditional ads have bombarded us with over the decades. They stand out and make an impact.

It is not just a fun word we use because somebody somewhere came up with it but because it is a part of our culture. The trend has been noted and has been given a name just like the classical era, the renaissance and so on.

Resource

http://www.transparencynow.com/advertise.htm

Mass Media & Advertising

We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.

We buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on Tv, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trust and also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also base don the media.

These are the effects of mass media in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what their favorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young people.

Here is a positive influence example, if there is a sport that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to practice the sport and be cool with all your friends. The result is that you will have fun with your friends and be more healthy because of the exercise your are doing.

However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands of junk food ads.

Young people are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of a beautiful men and women and tells you what are the characteristics of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. Its a subliminal way to tell you that if you are not like them you are not cool yet so its time to buy the stuff they buy and look like they look.

Another negative influence in teenagers that has grown over the last years are anorexia and obesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is told to be thin and wealthy.

Also more women are obsessive with losing weight even when they are not obese, there are many thin women that want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they engage in eating disorders which leads to severe health issues and even death.

However these negative issues that are caused by mass media have become in recent years the concept of ad campaign. For example Benetton they took the image of the young man dying from AIDS and used at the fore front of there advertising campaign. Issues like this that have come the new face of advertising have all derived from the negative outcome of advertising via mass media. In affect it has created a new kind of advertising


Resources


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

Advertising & New Media

The advertising industry has capitalized on the explosion of new media with large agencies running multi-million dollar interactive advertising additions. Interactive websites and kiosks have become popular. In a number of cases advertising agencies have also set up new divisions to study new media. Public relations firms are also taking advantage of the opportunities in new media through interactive PR practices.

Advertising is starting to rely on the introduction of new technology and interactive media

For example

Right after the successful Heathrow Airport welcome back flashmob, they've put another 'feelgood at the airport' video online. This time T-Mobile hooked up with Merton, better known as the chatroulette piano guy. He plays improvised personalised songs for people leaving the airport. Would have been nice to see more, but 

I like it.

H&M use 3D projections to open store in Amsterdam

On Monday 22nd the Swedish fashion brand H&M opened its flagship store in a monumental building in Amsterdam. As Ralph Lauren did with their stores in London and New York, H&M used 3D projections together with music in the opening ceremony.

I particularly Like this one as I think it captures Advertising and New media 

Resources

Youtube 
wikipedia - New media 

The Document

Essentially, photographs are documents, they are records. Even in our digital times in which we know less and less what to take for certain, our belief in the power of photographs to serve as evidence has not faltered. When, for instance, the death of Saddam Hussein's sons needed to be proven, it was done with photographs.

Photography is still about the eye behind the lens. It is about being a filter, and it is about recording. It is about leaving one's home and seeing what is out there, it is about taking a look at the world that surrounds us. It is about reminding us of how things once have looked.

This concept does apply to advertising In many lights , in my opinion a good example of this in 20^th century advertising is the “Benetton” adverts.  The advertising strategy of a brand that has aimed, for over 20 years, to create “value” by capitalizing on an image.

A trademark that became the driving force behind the “United Colors” message, which formed the basis of the advertising visuals designed to create a growing network of “United People.” These images showed youth of both sexes and every skin tone who exuded integration, energy and joie de vivre. They suggested a somewhat abstract universe ruled by the easy straightforwardness of relationships and feelings.

The photo of the newborn baby girl, Giusy, was intended as an anthem to life, but was one of the most censured visuals in the history of Benetton ads. In the realm of advertising, traditionally occupied by pretense, the eruption of real life caused a scandal.

In conclusion “Benetton” found a way of combining culture and industry, through experimentation with new languages: in design, in graphics, on the web, in videos and the cinema, in music, in publishing and in photography. In this way, they pursue their strategy of creating value and they contribute towards the uniqueness of the brand that has never stopped believing in research and experimentation.

Resources

http://press.benettongroup.com/ben_en/about/campaigns/history/?t=print

Graphic design & Advertising

My understanding of the relationship between Advertising and Graphic Designers 

Graphic Design - the art of graphic representation. The design of elements. The composition. The style. The artistic craft.
Advertising - Concepts. A message to the consumer positioned as a BENEFIT of the service or product. The concept is derived from marketing objectives and communication strategies. It is an idea conceived between an art director and copywriter who brainstorm clever ways in which to make us feel a certain way. Once the idea is approved it is handed over to a graphic designer to execute the design. Unless the graphic designer can develop message driven CONCEPTS, then no amount of experience or pretty designs will make him/her an art director.

Example : The ads are for SunSmart.
An art director has an idea of shaping moles on human skin into leisure equipment (fishing hook, airplane).
The copywriter puts lines to this visual idea - (Going Fishing? Taking a trip?) The tagline - Be Sunsmart.
The concepts are roughly drawn to communicate the idea to the account service team, client and finally the graphic designer.
The graphic designer's job is to turn the sketched concept into a graphic masterpiece.

Resource:

http://www.sunsmart.com.au/news_and_media/media_campaigns

Modernity & Modernism

The concept has developed over time , it has been portrayed through different methods , artist using different techniques and the use of photography and sequence of images. Does advertising have the same development of techniques and technology. As modernism has developed so have new techniques and technology. Advertising as developed in the same place, initially basic drawings and copy was called an advert , now technology has improved and with the use of photography and image manipulation adverts have taken on a new form. 

Then and now - technology has changed and become more Modern 

Image source - 

http://mag.cmhmag.com/wp-content/gallery/issue_one_ads/1678%20CMH%20-%20Jaguar%20AD%20Final.jpg

Philosophical Aesthetics

ROMANTISISM & ADVERTISING

Ask anyone on the street: "what is Romanticism?" and you will certainly receive some kind of reply. Everyone claims to know the meaning of the word romantic. The word conveys notions of sentiment and sentimentality, a visionary or idealistic lack of reality. It connotes fantasy and fiction. It has been associated with different times and with distant places: the island of Bali, the world of the Arabian Nights, the age of the troubadours and even Manhattan. Advertising links it with the effects of lipstick, perfume and soap. If we could ask the advertising genius who, fifty years ago, came up with the brilliant cigarette campaign, "blow some my way," he may have responded with "it's romantic."

TONY KAYE & ADVERTISING

Kaye entered the British advertising business, discovering that commercials could become an avenue to filmmaking as well. Honing his craft for ten years, Kaye became a highly paid, award-winning creator of public service announcements and TV spots for Nike and Mercedes-Benz. Kaye also gained notoriety as a conceptual artist whose "hype art" included ads anointing himself "the most important British director since Hithcock."

POST MODERNISM & ADVERTISING

Post modernism does not distinguish right from wrong

but it deals with being ultra- creative and avoids the traditional route. It does question the existence of ideals such as rationality or objectivity and allows us to consider new things. All great ideas or theories were brought about by first questioning the existing one. Who knows where this trend of post-modernism will lead us.


Resources - Book "art & advertising" Joan Gibbons 
http://www.cigarettesreviews.com/brands-listing/chesterfield
http://www.transparencynow.com/advertise.htm

Semiotic analysis of an ad

VW Beetle Advert 

Everyone has seen the cover of The Beatles' final album, Abbey Road, with its iconic photograph of the four band members crossing the street by their recording studio in August, 1969. The Beetle car which is being advertised here was only introduced in to the advertising world in the UK by the name ‘Beetle” in 1967  they both are from the same period. This form of Cognitive imagery allows the audience to relate the product directly to this period of time giving the viewer some history of where it all began without actually stating the date in history.

This advert is excellent for it's sheer simplicity and strength of concept. With little copy allowing the image to solely convey the message.The length of detail is also impressive - they've parked an old Beetle in exactly the same place as it is in the original photo, and an old van on the other side of the street. The association that comes with this parody is worthwhile; the Beatles have always been seen as cool and laid back; the icons of a generation, and Volkswagen Beetle has a similar image, tending to be driven by elderly hippies and students.The hippie ethos influenced The Beatles and others in the UK.

Hippies often chose brightly coloured clothing and wore unusual styles. These four colours are selected to demonstrate that they were the first 4 colours introduced at this time to the VW model. Each member of the Band in the Beatles expressed a different personality and style when walking across the street some wore shoes and some didn’t some wore suits and other didn’t. The same concept appeals to the Beetle Cars , each colour highlights an individual, a different personality and conveys that they are all people belonging to a society just like the Beatles belonged to the hippies. It was, and will be, forever associated as a hippie car complete with painted flowers and an unusual colour scheme. These bright colours are not the commonly used in car ads, another reason why it stands out.

At the time the Beatles album was released it was lead to believe that Paul McCartney was dead. Hundreds of supposed clues to McCartney's death were reported by fans and followers of the legend . McCartney on the album cover is dressed in a blue suit without shoes, and is walking out of step with the other Beatles as, supposedly, a corpse would. The Beetle car advert contradicts this myth by using bright colours. The juxtaposition of the cars and the colours illustrates to me the audience that the Beetle car has come BACK from the Dead. The car has been re-launched with a new shape and new technology. The colours are vibrant and bold, all positioned identically in the foreground with equivalent spacing, showing consistency in build and finish.

Beetle Album cover photograph 

Resources

http://www.vwgeek.com/?attachment_id=1284

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU_bAv82FW_d16q6iS4VUeXPJZ_9aCcMVyni_ofeQKD8RNHoB6mjwoC52K6VYk90rsSNqV267e80RpPeQ9WEMPF1rn_8jgG8CfAxIZSmMH9CojRnsgwdB3PZkdPKmLIKg-In_IxqtNWU/s1600/VW.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road

Semiotics

Summary of Workshop 2 

Linguistic and Cultural Semiotics is a branch of communication theory that investigates sign systems and the modes of representation that humans use to convey feelings, thoughts, ideas, and ideologies.Whether used as a tool for representing phenomena or for interpreting it, the value of semiotic analysis becomes most pronounced in highly mediated, postmodern environments where encounters with manufactured reality shift our grounding senses of normalcy.

Semioticians drag the unconscious messages being transmitted into consciousness by isolating and identifying the signs to constitute the message. 

Persuasive advertisements can (and should be) translated in terms of semiotic guidelines, if cultural codes are at work and as such evident. Some advertisements strive towards a state of no-cultural categorization: in other words the advertisement focuses on emotions rather than objects or ideas


Resource -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics

M&S 125 YEARS

The advert opens with the script line “it all started here” giving the audience an immediate background into were the M&S brand began. An established brand which customers can trust since “1884”. In the midst of a recession, the campaign reassures the customers that M&S is a brand they can trust to deliver quality and value.

Immediately there is a contrast in the colour, Twiggy in here bright Pink coat and pashmina and the background, a dull like period tone. This in effect shows an immediate contrast between the beginning of the M&S brand and where it stands now 125 years later. The advances in innovation, colour design and style have improved. If your brand wants to portray a sense of fun or celebration like M&S in this campaign then this is not easily achieved without colour. M&S responds to the challenge with strategic use of rich colour, both on Twiggy and in some of the backgrounds.

A young lad from the market says “you alright twiggs” an informal line of script that is direct and personal to Twiggy. Knowing your customers and providing them with good quality service is important to the M&S brand, by addressing Twiggy personally evokes this quality service. Twiggy herself is an iconic image that has progressed just like M&S as a Brand and an Image. Twiggy has worked with M&S through the years and by being the face and front of this advert illustrates her trust to the companies values and service provided. The camera is then zoned into to the sign “Don’t ask the price it’s a penny” this communicates to the audience that what you see is what you get in terms of quality. The quality portrayed via this advert is reflected in the quality in store.

 “They brought us a taste of exotic” exemplified by an avocado. This word exotic stands alone as a striking word, it represents how M&S improved and advanced the British publics taste by introducing quality products for value. M&S has “liberated housewives” by creative concept development like “ Curry in a Hurry “, “Drip dry”, “Suits you could tumble dry”. Twiggy refers to having “one a bit like that” if names like Twiggy by the M&S brand then the British audience will certainly buy, if the quality is good enough for her then it is definitely good enough for the public.

All these innovative concepts have provided new services to the British audience. They have all been derived from the M&S brand. M&S also introduced “sell by dates on perishables” this is accompanied by the image of the British food trade stamp. M&S has the stamp of approval from the food sector which implies that there products are of high quality and standard, if a governing body approves then the public should trust in the M&S food brand too. 

“No one goes further to bring you the best possible food for the fairest possible price” Fair is the main word in this part of the script. With images portraying workers in fair conditions and being treated fairly. It is important to convey a happy and healthy working environment to insure that the workers are treated fairly this is reflected in M&S Fair-trade clothing line which aims to give a fair deal back to the workers. From this frame of the ad M&S are insuring that the audience know that this has always been there policy and that it has always been key to them achieving good service.

The next couple of frames from the ad follow on from the lines “they’ve changed the way we eat, They’ve changed the way we dress, there changing the way we treat our planet” these three powerful statements about how M&S have CHANGED us the British public. The public trusts the brand, for the brand has changed the way they shop. These few lines from the ad are the most powerful they show triumph and service. The change that Twiggy portrays so powerfully in her voice is reflected in the Images – flicking through the clothes in my mind is a good visual reflection of the timeline in which M&S has stepped through to create this advert. And create a quick story of the 125 years in the business while illustrating the entire core principals that have continued with the brand over the years.

"Not bad for a penny bazaar," says Twiggy at the end of her voiceover, while the ad closes with the strap line "Quality worth every penny". It pays to spend a bit more money to get good quality that will last. 


Resource - http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/?intid=gft_company
You tube - video 

Marks in Time

Mark in Time Visiting the exhibition showing how Marks & Spencer has played in peoples lives for 125 years.It tracks the journey from market stall to penny bazaar to international retailer

Resource - Marks in Time exhibition at Leeds University