Thursday, 10 September 2015

ADVERTIZING - What is advertizing and how does it work?

STAGE #1 - WHAT IS ADVERTIZING AND HOW DOES AN AD WORK?

Here are two ads/adverts/commercials broadcast on American TV:

Dorito chips ad

Funny Scotland Sheep Commercial


You'll find below some VOCABULARY to speak about the documents and a sample of ad description & analysis:


VOCABULARY 

NOUNS
VERBS
ADVERBS
EXPRESSION

An ad / advert / commercial
A car seat
The back/rear of the car
A cuddly toy
A traffic light
Average people

An elderly couple
A convertible
The luggage (SING)
A drove / flock / herd of sheep
A sheperd
A gesture
A train horn



Be strapped in
-> to strap / unstrap
to show/feature/to star (in a movie .. )
to annoy/bug/bother
to nibble away at/eat away at/ chew
to pinch/steal/nick/take
to warn
to direct
to secure something/ keep sthg for oneself

to be set in
to block the way
to push away
to signal
to disperse/scatter/split up
to disclose=to reveal
to crush/smash


Immediately / instaneously/ in one whack/all at once

To jump out of the window


Be about to do sthg
Beneath their eyes / in front of the their very eyes


ADJECTIVES

to be naughty =unkind



VIDEO #1 AD FOR DORITOS


Type of document?
Product?

The document is an ad / advert / commercial for DORITO CHIPS.

It shows / features a little girl and a very tiny dog, a chiwawa, in an everyday situation, in a car.

The situation:
The girl is sitting all strapped in in the car seat at the back / rear of the car. A small family dog is also riding along at the back, unstrapped.

The problem:
The doggy is being very naughty: he keeps annoying / bugging / bothering the little girl.
-> FIRST, he nibbles away at / chews / eats awat at the little girl’s cuddly toy,
-> THEN, he starts pinching / nicking / stealing / taking the DORITO CHIPS the mother is giving her from the front seat while driving.

As the mom/mother / mum warns that she won’t give the little girl anymore of those, the little girl realizes that she needs to do something if she wants to keep the DORITO CHIP to herself.

The strategy / the solution:
As the traffic light turns green, she opens the car window, directs the DORITO CHIP towards it and lets the naughty doggy jump for it .. out of the window. Of course she has secured the DORITO CHIP for herself.


Who is targeted?
How does it work?

The ad targets children / TEENAGERS / AVERAGE PEOPLE / PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME.

It uses different techniques:
-       HUMOUR : we laugh at the situation (doggy vs little girl / little girl needs to defend herself)
-       INNOCENCE vs INJUSTICE : the poor defenceless powerless little girl vs the naughty dog








VIDEO #2 AD FOR TRAVEL INSURANCE


Type of document?

The document is an ad / advert / commercial.

It IS SET in the beautiful scenery of the Scottish Highlands. 

The situation:
An elderly couple is travelling and visiting Scotland in a beautiful convertible. We can see the luggage strapped in and the couple elegantly dressed.
Typical holiday music screams in our ears. We can imagine, they are listening to this music.

The problem:
In the middle of nowhere, they get stuck on the road in the middle of a huge drove / flock / HERD OF sheep that are blocking the way.
As they try to push the sheep away, they see the shepherd of the flock up on the hill. The man is signalling something to them, speaking loud (a language they probably don’t understand) and making signs / gestures.
The tourists take this as an invitation to come up the hill.

The Turning point:
As they are half-way up, they hear in the background the hissing sound of a train horn. The sheep immediately / instantaneously / all at once / in a whack disperse / scatter / split up, disclosing/REVEALING  the railway track beneath them and beneath the car.

Of course, the beautiful convertible is about to get totally crushed/SMASHED in front of them / beneath their eyes.

_______________

What product is this ad for? Imagine:

A travel insurancde / a car insurance / a travel agency / a tourism office / a language course..

What is the ad based on?
-       the cliché about Scotland (sheep / scenery..)
-       the incongruous situation (the elegant couple in a convertible vs the sheep)
-       the language / sign misunderstanding 

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