Ad For A Sex Video example essay topic

Effective WritingMuthyalaWhat Ads Say / What We Remember "After all, advertisements are purely functional things, and therefore the criterion is their success as advertisements and not as works of art". - H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh Well, yes. Although recognizable works of art are commonly used in advertisements, the ads themselves will most likely never end up in the louver. With both of those mediums, though, you will notice that an individual's retention level will be remarkably similar. Most people could identify Whistler's Mother, although they could not cite any gender inequality issues concerning the painting.

Similarly, people could remember that people say "Wazz p!" in Budweiser commercials even if they did not know who was saying it to whom, or how often. The strength of ads like these, then, is the staying power of any or all aspects of their message, no matter how much it has to do with the actual product. Example: 'Hey man, what do you think of Budweiser beer?' 'WAZZ P!' This makes absolutely no sense, but it would be a surprisingly common response, based solely on the public's retention of the advertisement. No matter what methods or messages an ad uses to promote it's product, what people remember from it is very arbitrary. In the Ben Sherman ad, three men and a woman are enjoying a picnic.

There seems, however, to be no interaction at all between the men and the woman. The guys Lively 2 are interested in everything but the woman, and are spaced out around the blanket at a good distance from her, not even looking in her direction. The two in the back seem to be having some sort of exchange judging from their expressions, and the third is simply gazing off into the fire. There is food at the picnic, but so far no one is eating, they are just drinking. There is a definite difference in alcoholic preference, though, as the three men are enjoying bottles of beer, and the woman has chosen champagne.

There is no need to go into the inherent maleness of beer, so the woman is being classy and feminine by opting for the bubbly. So, while being ignored by the men and drinking her champagne, the woman uses the fiery environment to cook. As Susan Bordo said in her essay "Hunger as Ideology", "Despite the increasing participation of women of all ages and classes in the 'public's there", - which the woman in the ad is doing by being at the picnic and drinking with the guys - .".. her private role of nurturer" - cooking - .".. remains ideologically intact" (156). This simple act of cooking, though, also carries with it the connotation of eating alone.

The men she is with are doing other things, so the woman decides, again in Bordo's words, to use "eating... as a substitute for human love" (162). With that in mind, the copy one would expect to read would be something like 'They may not pay attention to me, but they can't stop me from cooking!' only cleverer. The copy actually reads: "Cut from a different cloth", which is the only sort of indication the ad gives that it is promoting clothes. Without the copy, the ad does nothing but portray the separateness of the woman and men. According to Rosser Reeves' book Reality in Advertising, "The consumer tends to remember just one thing from an Lively 3 advertisement - one strong claim, or one strong concept". (34).

I have looked at that Ben Sherman ad hundreds of times now, and I still have to check it to remember the copy, but I could describe the scene - especially the woman - quite accurately. By setting her apart and having her 'do her own thing', the ad calls attention to the rift between the genders, and what they do to fill that rift. The same sort of rift, stylistically instead of spatially, exists between the Ben Sherman ad and my second, a Better Sex advertisement. The latter is for a sexual instruction video, and uses it's extremely in-your-face topic to its advantage. Adhering to Reeves's tate ment, this ad for a sex video will most likely leave you thinking about sex, regardless of what other messages it contains.

The additional messages, though, have already been summarized in the lead copy: "Great Lovers Are Made, Not Born". This text has an unexpected similarity to one of Bordo's ideas, that "It is the created image that has the hold on our most vibrant, immediate sense of what is, of what matters, of what we must pursue for ourselves". (143. The created image, then, is the physically beautiful, passionate pair of "Great Lovers" pictured in the ad.

And, as they appear to have already mastered "the techniques that lead to exciting lovemaking", to use the ad's own words, the ad must be directed at some other imperfect lover, namely, you, the reader. So, the created image that Bordo claims we are striving for is only attainable through the video. This is a little demeaning to the target audience, but it is not the only demeaning thing in the advertisement. If the situation portrayed by the picture is supposed to represent great lovemaking, then it can be assumed that male aggression, Lively 4 female submission, and physical beauty are intrinsic to great lovemaking.

The assumption that all these go hand in hand disqualifies a very large portion of the ad's potential clients. Despite the qualities of this ad that would disgust a lot of people, ten pages after you read it you would be more likely to simply remember that 'It was about sex and it turned me on'. The way the ad plays on its strengths - the overwhelming popularity of sex - assists the reader in forgetting, or overlooking completely, it's weaknesses. Beyond the obvious messages in most advertising, it is important to pay attention to the aspects of the ad that stick out, the parts that you will be repeating to yourself for the next couple of days and you will not know why.

There is so much emphasis on the catchy parts of ads that whatever gender or culture bias they may contain gets covered up and forgotten. An ad may be the most unique, creative piece of unbiased work ever created, but if it is not remembered, then it is a failure. Only when society starts remembering the good things about ads will the message of them take precedence over the catchiness.