Connotations
We are saturated by media content and ads. In 2018 in Australia $8.69 Billion was spent on online advertising accounting for 54% of all advertising. It is big business, but with the abundance it makes it increasingly difficult for advertisers to cut through and make a lasting or impactful impression.
This means that the advertising message needs to clearly defined, highly refined and consistent.
Advertising requires very careful construction so everything that appears in any format of advertising needs to be carefully considered.
Click on the image to the right and inspect all of the elements.
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The character
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The location
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The objects / props
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The colours
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The language used (known as the Copywriting)
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The font used
Everything is there for a reason!
The underlying meaning is the connotation.
The desert has a connotation of being dry and harsh.
Yet all the other elements contradict and juxtapose against this reality.
The hair has water flicking from it.
The girl is youthful and at peace. Relaxed and happy.
The colours and design of the girls costume are cool and comfortable.
The coconut milk brings with it moisture.
The flowers, a feminine association and the accompanying pleasant fragrance is a connection the advertiser wants to make to their product.
The copywrite uses alliteration saying, 'Miraculously moisturised hair'.
Even the bottle and logo branding uses greens and blues, which have calmning psychological effect, but also a reading of being clean and natural.
If we were to complete a 'connotations table' to help identify all of this it would look like this.
SIGN
Desert
Water
Coconut
Milk
Sarong dress
Flowers
Blue
Orange
Green
Purple
Young girl
Blissful expression
CONNOTATION
Dry, baron, remote, harsh
Refreshing, cool
Tropical
Nourishing, smooth
Cool, comfortable
Pretty, romantic, aromatic
Cool, calm
Warm, stable
Natural
Royal
Youthful, fun
Happy, serene, peaceful
Repeat this process for the following advertising images and discuss the signs and connotations as a class.
This same process applies to video advertisements. Each frame offers an advertiser to construct meaning. Some obvious to us, some more subtle, nuanced and operating on our subconscious. All of it is deliberate and purposeful, and as media consumers we should be critical and maintain control over our reading and understanding of it.
Formative Ad Analysis
For this Advert deconstruction task:
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Select a suitable ad to deconstruct.
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Identify the Company, USP (Unique Selling Point) & Demographic (category of people targeted).
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Describe what happens in the ad, everything that you see, hear and feel. (Complete the connotations table.)
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Identify which of the advertising strategies/techniques are used in your advert and explain how. (techniques are listed on previous page.)
Formative Ad Analysis
Subaru Australia "Crowd Rider" Television Commercial
The following analysis will explore the persuasive advertising techniques that were utilised in the recent Australian Subaru television advert. This analysis will examine the ways in which the advert was constructed to reach a particular target demographic and the techniques employed to sell Subaru’s product.
Product
Subaru is a car manufacturing company, who pride themselves on reliability and their all wheel drive system. They often compete in world rally. Collectively, they have been recognised for the integrity of their engineering, design, functionality, safety and quality by a multitude of Australian media and motoring organisation awards over several years.
CONNOTATION
Morning, new day, preparation, fresh
Space, private
Successful
Large support, professional.
Friendly
Busy, stressful
Isolated, relaxing
Refreshing, hydrating
Oppressive, sombre, miserable.
Helpful, convenient
Admired, desirable.
Go, moving forward, progress.
Servitude, class, hierarchy
Morning, nature, peaceful.
Clockwork, time, precision.
Heavenly, perfect.
Natural, moral, pure.
SIGN
Sunrise
Empty carpark
Man in Business attire
Crowd dressed in blue
Wave
City landscape
Country landscape
Glass of Water
Darkened rain clouds
Umbrella
Attractive woman
Green traffic light
Carrying people
Birds tweeting
Clock gong
Angelic singing voices
Green trees
Subaru is a part of a larger company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) which is a Japanese transportation conglomerate. Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which in turn inspires the Subaru logo and alludes to the six companies that merged to create FHI. The Japanese name for the Pleiades is ''Subaru'', which in Japanese translates into "gather together." The logo as seen above incorporates a blue colour which has become synonymous with their rally cars and also the star constellation, which represents them gathering together.
Demographic
I believe that Subaru’s target demographic is 30-40 year old men. The reasoning behind this is that these are the people whom are most interested in off-road activities, automotive technology and rally. This is highlighted by the people used in their web page and marketing campaigns.
The advert
The advert uses many persuasive techniques and conventions associated with advertising. The advertisement runs for 1:30min which is accompanied by a shorter version of the advert to suit a 30sec time slot. The advert features a man whom enters a parking lot and proceeds to commute by being carried on his journey by a sea of what appears to be Subaru employees. (We assume this as they are mostly dressed in blue).
The Representations
The main characters within the commercial, appear to approx late 20 to early 30s, and professionally dressed. This fits in with the target demographic and is a clever way to try and get the intended audience to take notice and relate the advert to them. By using slightly younger and attractive people than their target audience it also makes the product more appealing as this is the way the consumer may wish to appear.
The Techniques
The Subaru company prides themselves on reliability. In the advert thousands of people wearing the company colour (blue) are seen to be helping commuters in various ways. The sheer number of people could be a means of telling the audience the mass support the company offers its consumers, and supports the Japanese meaning of their company name “gather together”. It could also be a clever way of utilising the “Bandwagon” technique. The bandwagon technique aims at showing that many people are involved or use the product, so therefore you should too. This technique works well on a younger audience or target demographic as they are more inclined to want to “fit in” and follow what everyone appears to be doing/using.
The main motif in the ad is that people are riding around and commuting by this large supportive base. The people within the base a constructed as being friendly (waving up to the window), and helpful (offering a drink) which are two major qualities you would like in a car provider/manufacturer, when you are purchasing a new car.
Often a major reason for purchasing a car is to use it as a status symbol. A car often represents your wealth or power, and this is another way the advert is skilfully constructed. Those who use Subaru are carried around on the shoulders of the people below. Similar to the kings of the past, who were carried around by peasants. While subtle in the way it is carried out, after watching the ad there is a clear feeling that by using Subaru you have this large population of people underneath you in the hierarchy to help you. Even in the interaction between those driving and those lifting there is a use of camera angles to further accentuate this sense higher figure and servant.
CONTINUE ON WITH ANALYSIS.... this is just some of what can be analysed within this advert.