From Valerie Riffe:

Last week we spoke about the benefits and detriments of advertising spoofs and parodies.  This high quality parody, although a complete reversal of the Dove commercial, has a positive effect.  Dove is still pitched because the humor is lost without the original.  I hope that parodies will continue exist in the advertising world.  In my opinion, these spoofs only lessen the advertising costs as audiences become more and more fragmented.

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This commercial drew me in because it is about the baseball player Roger Clemens. I chose this commercial because it plays on how Clemens came out of retirement last year, and the events that led up to it. This ad is an exaple of ambiguity. Clemens wife does not want him to come out of retirement, but bcecause of the dropped call, Clemens and teamates are celebrating because he thought she was speechless. 

When I first saw this ad, I had no clue what this commercial was going to be about.  Women were using metal objects during a lightning storm, purposefully trying to get struck by lightning. Were they crazy? However, the ad caught my attention even more when the fact was displayed that men are struck by lightning four more times then women.  I think this was a great strategy in grabbing the consumer’s attention during the commercial because this fun fact is something I will remember; not only will I remember it but I will remember Mountain Dew.  Overall, I’m impressed with Mountain Dew’s new campaign for pushing the envelope that much more.  This ad was hilarious and it’s another reason why I’m thankful to be a woman.

Today in class, we briefly discussed stereotypes and offensiveness in advertisements.  When advertisers use these strategies they can offend a certain group in the population. In my first advertisement is a television commercial for Klondike, which stereotypes men. I am not an advocate for men’s rights, but I don’t find this commercial humorous and it turns me off to the brand. When does stereotyping become too much. I’d also like to note that this ad is a 15 second spot and was followed by another 15 second ad by Klondike with the same male stereotype. Is it me or is this commercial bad? 

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I wanted to use this second advertising to talk about offensive advertising. This ad was taking down after a ton of people found it offensive. Most believe the image depicts rape and violence towards women. The woman is in a submissive position and there are five men around her ready to take advantage of her. In my opinion, even though Dolce & Gabbana are known for their risque advertisements, I think this one crosses the line. What do you think?

http://www.maxior.pl/film/81670/Reklama_browarka

I just love this ad.  I admire creativity of a person who came up with this idea.  I guess I’m a fan of beer commercials in general, but this one may be my favorite. I like how this ad doesn’t really propose any features or benefits of the product to the consumer.  Instead, this ad just seems to be a desperate call for action, and it’s hilarious.  Also, I love the choice of music for this ad.  It catches attention, and the content, which is so twisting and unpredictable, manages to maintain this attention until the end. It would definitely sell me some beer.

This ad for Pepsi aired during the Super Bowl. Poor Justin Timberlake, he’s a tool in this ad. I think its hilarious how they use slapstick humor and basically beat Justin up to promote Pepsi Cola. Especially at the end when he gets knocked out by the plasma screen TV. Whether or not you like his music, its easy to like this ad. One, if you hate him, he gets beat up. Two, if you like him, you get to see his smiling face at the end. Other celebrities in this ad include Tony Stewart (who almost runs over Justin). The ad is funny, keeps your attention, and even invokes sympathy when he keeps crashing into the mailbox. I always enjoy seeing this ad, even months after its debut.

I have seen this ad a couple times now, as it seems the fad for this summer in the beer industry is lime-flavored beers. This is an advertisement for Bud Light Lime, and I found it interesting the way in which they are presenting it in the commercial. The first thing that jumps out to me is the music, which I found out is the sound of Santogold. Santogold is a black multigenre artist who dabbles in hip hop, R&B, and even Latin music, like in this case. Another strategy I notice in the commercial is how the camera seems to emphasize an off-color and almost greenish lighting. Furthermore, I find it interesting that many of the actors used for the commercial have an exotic appearance. All these things (sight, sound, movement, etc) seem to work together perfectly to form a aesthetically pleasing commercial. Also, it is important to note that alluding to summer fun can be a very strong advertising strategy. While I am still unsure how successful this lime marketing ploy will be, I think this style of advertising will prove effective, especially among college aged consumers.