Television Advertisements

Structures: Form and Style

Form

Different forms are used in advertising in different ways. Depending on the audience and product or service, the form of an advert will vary.

Form

Animation

The term animation encompasses a wide range of techniques from 2D images all the way to CGI. Animated images are often used in television advertising so that more fantastic or impossible scenes can be used.

Examples:• Guinness - Evolution• Milky Way - Red Car, Blue Car

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Form

Mini Fictions

Many ads present mini fictional narratives, including a main character with whom we are asked to identify, and a little scenario/situation within which they successfully operate to overcome some problem or issue.

Examples:• Yellow Pages• Lynx – End of the World

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Form

Documentary

Documentary style adverts are used to suggest ‘real people’ who are using the product. They borrow from the trust we have in documentaries to ‘tell the truth’. They may also involve celebrity or ‘expert’ endorsement.

Examples:• Bob Monkhouse- Prostate cancer• The Salvation Army – £19 Christmas appeal Come up with 1 of you own examples

Form

Talking Heads

Following on from documentary, the celebrity or expert may be presented as a ‘talking head’, usually addressing an implied interviewer. A talking head may also be a satisfied customer saying how much they love the product.

Examples:• Yasmin – Oral B • Pampers – Baby Dry

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Form

Stand Alone ads Versus Series Ads Most ads are stand alone ads, which advertise a product or service and do not link with any existing advertisements for that brand, product or service. Examples (stand alone): • Think! - Slow Down• Cravendale - ‘Cats with thumbs’

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Form

Series Ads

Some ad campaigns use a series of adverts to promote a single brand, product or service. Sometimes the adverts differ slightly in the content but it can also result in a progressive narrative over a long period of time and over a number of singular commercials. Occasionally these series last for many years. Examples:• Nescafe Gold Blend - Antony Head• Daz - Cleaner close• BT - Infinity

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Style

We have now explored the different forms of existing advertisements, now we will be focussing on style.

Style

Humorous• Can be tongue in cheek, silly or cute

• Usually harmless and stick in our minds

• Frequently used in alcohol ads Examples• Have you got a WKD side? - WKD• Nanas knit Shreddies - Shreddies

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Style

Surreal• Audience are not too sure what the product is

• Plays on being different and away from the ‘norm’ Examples• David Lynch - PS2• Belly’s gonna get ya - Reebok• Kevin the hamster - Levi’s (banned)

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Style

Shocking/Dramatic• Gets our attention and makes us feel bad/sad

• Shock tactics to appeal to softer/kinder side and we feel empathy

Examples• NHS - Give blood/stop smoking• Think! - road safety• Bob Monkhouse - Prostate cancer

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Style

Parodic/Intertextual• References existing texts and makes fun of the original

subject matter

• We feel smart/glad to get the parody/homage

Examples• The A-Team - 118 118• Wacky Races - Vauxhall Corsa

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Style

Nostalgic• Plays on our sense of nostalgia/fondness of the past

• Audience remembers older days/adverts

Examples• Through the ages - Hovis• Through the ages - Bisto• Through the ages - Fairy Liquid

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Style

And finally… TECHNICAL ELEMENTS• When analysing ads, just like when analysing any other

moving image media text, you’ll need to make sure you cover the technical elements of the text:

• Camera use (angle, shot, movement, composition)• Mise-en-scene/iconography/lighting• Editing• Soundtrack (sound effects, music, dialogue)