An Analysis of a Various Range of Television Commercials Numerous companies of different financial stature within the commercial industry use Advertising as a platform to bolster product awarenessand distinguish themselves from similar market competitors. A flexible budget will often define the aesthetics and technical quality of an advert as there has been enough funding provided to create an idea in which they believe will sell best. Essentially meaning that their products will be best suited for a buyer. Guinness Commercial – Sun Bingo Commercial The ‘GuinnessEvolution’ commercial is a fitting example of a high budget, high production value advertisement. Like most GuinnessCommercial’s, the concept solely focuseson the notion of “Good things come to those who wait”. In this particular Guinnessadvert, we are shown three men at a bar enjoying a refreshing pint of Guinness. Suddenly, they are sent back in time, passing through various generations and eventually reaching the beginning. This shows that in order to truly enjoy a traditional Guinnesspint you must first wait for the froth to settle to really enjoy the actual beverage, reinforcing the point “good things come to those who wait”. This immediately cancels out any negative perceptions of the beverage. The fact the beginning of the advert is very tranquil as opposed to the fast paced, fairly quirky time lapse we see in the main part of the ad, sustains the audiences engagement. The Guinnesscommercial also utilizes the ‘Power of three’ within its graphics. At the start of the commercial there is an extreme close up of three men drinking Guinness, each of which is at a different stage in the setting process. As this is the last thing the audience sees,it reminds them of the product once more. In contrast, Guinnessfeatures the waiting time prior to a pint of Guinness being ready to drink in most of their recent commercials, ‘surfers’ , ‘evolution; this use of inversion; the turning of a negative into a positive, has really worked for the brand with contemporary audiences. Not only is the product still popular, but the TV commercials using this concept have won many an advertising award.
On the other hand, the ‘Sun Bingo’ commercial is simple, yet the concept is to promote a game that will feature in The Sun newspaper. Compared to the Guinnesscommercial it is very different in terms of the way it is portrayed. For example, the text is on a budget white backdrop with mini digitalised windows of people speaking about the game, a far cry from the high production, movie style values of the Guinnesscommercial. The sun bingo advert is informative rather than narrative; it focuseson explaining how to play the game and encouraging the sun readers to play the game.
Cresta Bear – Honda Animation Firstly, the Honda commercial a high production value contemporary animated commercial, which suggests that the production team had a good budget to work with. Whereasthe Cresta Bear commercial is a simple 2D animation, with which seemsto be created on a low budget. With the main concepts being ‘Avarice, Conformity and Celebrity Endorsement’ the reason for this being that the commercial is trying to sell a food product with the aid of a celebrity’s voice to help the
audience relate to the product and in effect help the product to sell. On the other hand the Honda commercial focuseson the life of a Honda engine, the commercial is very clever in doing this, as it tells a story of a Honda engine through a story type commercial. The commercial usesthe consumers’ concerns about pollution levels and the environment to persuade viewers that Honda is cleaner for the world. For example it shows a rusty old car engine polluting the earth and animals with its ‘non efficient’ fuel, buzzing in the air; this is what raises the concern. Then it shows us as the audience a cleaner, pollution free engine, floating in the air; in effect pointing out the dangers of a normal engine, hence the reason they want you to choose their clean Honda engine. The colours in the commercial are very warm and bright which represents happinessand a positive mood which is a complete contrast in terms of the concept of the commercial which is removing all harmful sources from polluting the environment. The makers have purposely set the advert in a friendly, happy, green environment to enhance the concept that they listen to viewers and users of the product to apply the necessary changesthat have been suggested, in effect targeting environmentalists and green peace people of that type. Again the product, the fact that the ad has been set in a friendly environment suggests to those that care for the environment that by making a new environmentally friendly engine shows the love for nature. A possible reason the makers have created the commercial in animation suggests that they had everyone one in mind. For example children would relate well to it seen as it’s happy and cheerful; much like a cartoon, in effect making their parents and other adults watch too. In contrast, The Cresta Bear commercial is a 2D animation where the colours are very limited although some colour is introduced when we as the audience are introduced to the Cresta ‘drink’ at the end, which shows some significance becauseit immediately tells us that the product is the most important and is the highlight and central focus of the advert. Again, the fact that the production team has opted to use a bear suggests they want to keep the commercial friendly and happy becausea fearsome tiger or another animal may scare off young children and the more responsive target audience. Becausethe commercial is funny, cheerful and cartoon like, younger viewers or children will be able to relate to the commercial more, which will urge to imitate the bear in the commercial and want to buy the product. The commercial is also interesting in terms of the way it has been made becausewe would not really see such a simple animation commercial these days simply because there are more advanced and better ways of advertising. The Honda commercial includes the old perception of noisy diesel engines of the past, which is reinforced in the mise en scene by the bunny rabbits wearing ear muffs. When the new diesel engine appears not only do the rabbit characters remove their ear muffs but there is a gap in the soundtrack for us to ‘hear’ the silence of the new Honda diesel engine. This tells us that the makers intended to highlight the cleaner, more environmentally friendly engine fully so that the audience know that it is most significant part of the commercial. Ariel commercial – Iceland commercial To start with, the commercial starts clearly with an extreme long shot of the hills which then overlooks the village, which obviously represents family togethernessand happiness. The
commercial then goes into a medium long shot of a woman dressed in pure, loose fitted clothes looking up at the ‘purity’ of the sky, which works in connection with the product ‘Ariel’ as it is clean and fresh. On the other hand the Iceland commercial pans around the set and tracks around a lot. This helps the audience to grasp each aspect of the commercial is in a senseto target ‘young mothers’ who hold a lower financial position. The fact that they have set the commercial at Christmas time also represents family happinessand togethernesswhich in effect would help the spirit of ‘young mothers’ and suggest celebrating well on a fixed budget. The mise en scene consists of various colours and bright lights, the theme and atmosphere clearly links to the Christmas spirit, which leaves the audience in a positive happy moodand suggests that the commercial and product is doing what is needed and required of it. In connection, the ariel commercial, in a sensealso does this as the woman is seen hanging fresh white sheets on a washing line in the open fresh air, which represents care, love and comfort for the family and in a sensethis