Unit 30 - Assignment 1

The ASA (ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY) these are the people that make sure adverts are suitable which means they watch them and act upon any complaints, they make sure that advertisers are playing by the rules, these are called the advertising codes, and they check the adverts for the following things:

Children: Adverts that are age suitable for slightly older children but could cause discomfort for younger children have to be censored or scheduled for certain times.

Privacy: With some limited exceptions such as public crowds, interviews or people being tested for a product, No member of the public should be reffered too without the persons permission.

Misleading: Advertisers must not mislead viewers by omitting material information. Material information is information that viewers need to decide if they want to buy a product and if the information given is likely to mislead the consumer that's breaking this rule code.

This Ann summers advert didnt have any visual offenses in it, its just the catch line which is "Flick your bean" which is a sexual innuendo and was seen as with too much risky content involved.

Launched in 2001, the advert was made to give ikea a hip young fresh look whilst giving people reasons to tidy up with ease. However, it gets slightly sexual and immoral when a toddler encounters a sex toy.

Lovehoney's 'Live A Sexier Life' commercial got banned because it was deemed as TOO sexual, its only kissing but the way its expressed was looked down upon by the british viewers and reported to the extent it was taken off air.

Homework: 

Who are thinkbox?

Thinkbox is a marketing company for commercial TV in the UK, in all its genres such as Broadcast, on demand and interactive. They have shareholders that receive 90% of the earnings. it involves with Channel 4, Sky, ITV, Turner media and UKTV. The Think box research tells us about.

What did the thinkbox research tell us about audiences and tv?
We discovered that TV is a big and main part of our day to day lives and TV is watched for many reasons such as to pass time, for general entertainment and some people may just watch it as a form of company and fulfillment. It also tells us that there is a difference between engaging and attention, this means basically that some people engage into the program AND the adverts. They carried out the research by putting cameras in 22 random households . They also surveyed 3000 people on what they watch. Also they did lab research where people were invited in to watch certain programs.

Advantages of collecting their information this way is its on the spot genuine responses. Its easy to view.

Disadvantages include it only being 22 households being used out of the millions of tv viewers. It could also be inacurate possibly depending on the circumstances. Its also very generalised data, not specific enough. Disadvantages of having people come in to you they could be biased to try satisfy the interviewer. Also people join little groups, so if the majority of people like something the minority of people might just go with the flow because they're the minority? 

Advantages of getting a company like thinbox to do your research are, its easier, less time consuming, they're going to get the most out of their advert, Thinkbox have a vast knowledge of timings etc.

What are advertising rate cards and what examples of television advertising rate cards can you get?
Rate cards reveal the cost of adverts and they also show us when they are being broadcasted. They help decide what times certain adverts should be shown and what spots are available in different time slots.



5 Different Adverts with different Characteristics and Techniques

Advert One -

This advert is in the form of narrative, we can tell this by the story of the advert, the advert consists of flashbacks of the guys granddad in his youth enjoying coke and alongside it the guy in the present time drinking coke. The advert is following the life of the the two men and showing them doing the same things as they grow up. The Style of the advert is just fairly simplistic. Its hard to categorise because its not got any surreal features or comedy aspects etc and its just a simple straight forward narrative. The Characteristics the advert uses are basically just Lifestyle. Techniques of the advert are that false hope enticing feeling to the advert, it shows both men leading an average happy life and growing up with no real issues. This is subliminal to some viewers and plays a mind trick and makes people believe if they drink Coca-Cola then they will lead the same life as the people in the advert. The People used in this are middle aged and Older. The Guy aged around 30 is used in this advert is trying to target the audience who are maybe middle aged and Coca cola would of used him because people in their mid 20s-30s have more chance to buy coke when shopping or driving everywhere etc. So if the advert had a 7 year old in it, it wouldn't really make any sense or target anyone in particular 

Advert Two -

This Advert is the famous Cadbury's gorilla advert this advert isn't really narrative or anything like that, its just purely surreal. Its a Gorilla drumming to a well very known song which isn't something that you see in day to day life. The Characteristic used in this advert is Product branding and I suppose its fairly comedic, we know this because the opening scene to the advert is the Product tagline (A Glass and a half productions) which most British people know is the tagline for Cadbury's. How ever at the end of the advert we see the Dairy milk chocolate bar which makes it clear what the advert is for. The Camera Angles used and the way the camera is being used build suspense, The close up shots and slow moving camera actions make us think something is about to come out of surprise, which it does, the music slightly gives away what is coming but the suspense and build up is still there. 

Advert Three -

The origina advert uses the form of narrative & series. We know this because it followed the story of the prop of the satellite. The Style of the advert is humorous, surreal. We know this because of the bear costume. It was funny because of the man getting hit by the prop of the satellite. The characteristics used in the advert are lifestyle and branding, we know this because, the humorous costume, settings and narrative make the brand seem fun, therefore shows us a lifestyle we can buy into. The Techniques used in the advert are hidden, overt, emotional responses. we know this because the first setting is an interior of a Russian satellite which is not normally shown in a drink advert, overt because of the prop of the product & humorous responses because of he high angle of satellite prop crashing into the character

Advert 4 -

The compare the meerkat advert uses the form of Narrative and series. We know this because it follows the life of a family of animated meerkats, The style is humorous and id say slightly surreal. We know this because of the things the meerkats say and how they act, id say its slightly surreal because Talking meerkats living like humans aren't a regular thing in every day existence. The Characteristics are USP, we know this because there isnt any other companies that do talking meerkat animations in their adverts.

Advert 5 -





The Bear and the Hare advert is a narrative. Its obviously a narrative as it tells the story of the bear and the hare who have never had a Christmas before coming across a colony of animals and having their first Christmas with them. The Characteristics used in the advert are life benefits in a subliminal way. By this i mean the advert is saying Christmas is the time to get together etc and John Lewis can do that for you. Its all a hidden message but when you look at it carefully. The shots of the bear and hare walking through a open forest kind of represents John lewis' "Openness" and to say that theyre open to opinions and are easy for the public, maybe im just looking at things to deeply.