'Good' and 'Bad' Adverts - Paper Example

Introduction

Adverts tend to create a sense of excitement or stir anger within a certain population. The various reactions elicited by the adverts determine the image of the advertised product or advertising medium. In newspaper adverts, the biases may lead to poor sales due to poorly filtered or biased information. The essay below seeks to analyze good and bad adverts done by newspapers, periodicals and outdoor mediums in Europe and the United Kingdom. In the essay, newspapers such as the Guardian and outdoor posts done by companies such as Smirnoff have been analyzed in a bid to understand 'good' and 'bad' adverts.

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Newspapers

A ‘Good’ Advert Done by the Sun Newspaper

During the 2015 solar eclipse celebrations, the Oreo Company put up a creative advert in The Sun newspaper. The Sun published this advert since it was aimed at showing that the cookie company was part of the national celebration. The target audience of this advert was the untapped market in the United Kingdom since the brand was not as huge in London as it was in the United States. Using the biggest newspaper company, therefore, was a strategy that the company chose to display its Oreo Eclipse. The key benefit of this strategy was that the company was able to ensure that it was felt in most households since the eclipse story had been running on social media platforms, and not on the mainstream platforms. The Oreo Eclipse was meant to enhance sales in the United Kingdom as well as make the potential consumers feel that Oreo was with them in every step which would, in turn, increase their sales.

The fact that the company had chosen to spend money on ensuring that their ad appeared on The Sun, which has a wide readership drew my attention to the advert. While other companies focused on appearing on social media during the eclipse, Oreo chose to appear in every copy of The Sun in an attempt to have direct interaction with all the households in the United Kingdom. The support also strengthened the advert it got from the 20 million people who came across the newspaper, and this increased the company's chances of succeeding in the r

A ‘Bad’ Advert Covered by the Business Insider

One of the bad adverts that the London based business newspaper covered was the one with Ford India Company in 2013 done by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. Three gagged women in a hatch characterized the advert backed vehicle made in India. The ad was bad since it had scantily dressed women who are scantily dressed, tied up, and the man who had been on the driver's seat was a man who resembled Silvio Berlusconi, who was facing charges on counts of sexual assault. The ad was targeting the buyers who carried heavy luggage in their vehicles, but the advert was done in the wrong way due to its association with a man who faced charges of sexual assault. The women in the ad represented the "heavy luggage" and all the ad showed was that it was in support of Berlusconi's (Former Italian Prime Minister) charges being dropped. WPP Group was seen to have exhibited unprofessionalism and indecency due to such an advert which went against professionalism standards since it was running an advert that was supporting the deeds of a man who was being charged with sexual assault. Also, the fact that the ad had been done during a time when the country was dealing with gang rapes and women protests showed that the advertising agency, as well as the Ford Company, had acted negligently.

Periodicals

A ‘Good’ Advert as Illustrated by the Guardian

Racism is an issue that has been associated with the most brand across Europe. However, Ikea, in 2017, did an advert that was free of racism by depicting a black family in a way that most brands have been unable to. The reason why this advert was captivating is that it portrayed a black family that was happy as opposed to many brands that have continued to associate the black people with misery and in stereotypical ways. The key message in the advert is that companies should always consider the minority populations since they are also part of the consumer market. I believe that the main target of the advert was every woman who felt that they could not live in pride, with their color without being depicted in a racially offensive manner. The good thing about the advert is that it makes the black population in Europe feel good about themselves and their natural hair without feeling the need of using other beauty products to improve their looks. One of the strongest elements of the advert was that it ensured that the black people were proud of themselves since a huge company was making an effort in ensuring that they were appreciated for their natural appearance.

A ‘Bad’ Advert as Illustrated by the Huffington Post

In 2013, the Dunkin' Donuts advert was viewed as racist and bizarre by many human rights groups. The advert was characterized by a woman who had black make up on her face in a bid to show that people of all races could enjoy the doughnut. To many Americans, this was seen as racist since the company had used a racial stereotype in their graphical representation of their advert. Despite causing an uproar, the company did not see any wrongdoing in their advert, and they termed it as "paranoid thinking from Americans." The woman on the advert who has black make up all over her face except for her lips is a conspicuous feature on the ad that made me focus on it since the omission of makeup from her lips seemed to carry a message. The advert is bad since the company chooses to color the woman to show diversity while the same could have been achieved without offending some of their potential customers. However, there were mixed reactions on the advert since part of the world, especially Thailand, felt that there was nothing racist about the post while Europeans felt that the ad was meant to mock diversity since the company CEO declined to offer an apology. The advert could have been improved by omitting the coloring of the person in the advert since putting color on the advert depicted racism.

Outdoor Posts

A ‘Good’ Outdoor Post by Smirnoff

The vodka maker, in 2017, did an outdoor advert that was meant to mock the Trump administration. The advert was bent on showing how the Trump administration has been entertaining President Putin's regime in American affairs. In their advert, Smirnoff states that despite being made in America, they would entertain talks with Russia even when under oath, which was a mockery to the current administration. The target audience in this advert is the American people, and it was aimed at showing the disgust that the Americans felt with the Russian-American alleged ties. The ad was beneficial to the company since it showed that they were focusing on topical issues affecting the Americans and that was a call for the government to be responsible when handling their administrative affairs. The reason I chose this advert was that of its focus on a controversial issue but in a comical, as well as educative way. The advert qualifies as a good advert since it focuses on the need to be objective when addressing certain issues to avoid public backlash. The advert is further strengthened by the fact that the company has its history in Russia before it became an American based company. The advert was strong since it scored over 75% in its ratings due to the risk that they had taken in making an effort to have a voice in issues of public interest.

A ‘Bad’ Outdoor Post by Hennes and Mauritz Clothing Company

The Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) clothing company have also faced criticism over a racist outdoor post. In their advert in January 2018, the company featured a black child to express racial diversity in their clothing business. However, their caption on the post rubbed most people wrongly since it referred to the boy as 'the coolest monkey in the jungle.' This was not the first time that the company had placed a racist outdoor post since the same had been done in 2013. The act showed racial insensitivity to the people of black people living in Canada and Sweden since the company had failed to apologize in both occasions. The target audience in this advert, however, was the black population who were not doing much of their shopping with the company. The company's expectations, therefore, was that it could portray diversity in their advert using the black child in a green hooded sweatshirt. The thing that drew me to this advert was the fact that it elicited reactions from musicians such as The Weekend who felt that the black population had been insulted. In my opinion, however, the ad was racist since it focused on referring to the kid on the post as a monkey instead of "the coolest kid" .Using the terms jungle was farfetched, and this showed racial discrimination.