Advertising Assignment
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Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Television Advert: Ready Brek Seriously Oaty Introduction In this assignment I am going to discuss the denotation and the connotation derived from the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty advertisement. Along with this many media concepts will be analysed and applied to the context of the advertisement. These media concepts include Representation, Narrative Codes, Stereotyping, Todorov’s Theory and four different forms of Intertextuality: Mimicry, Parody, Pastiche and Homage. I will sum up the advertisement in my conclusion at the end, stating how all these factors were used in the advertisement and if they were used to good and/or bad effect.
Denotation This advertisement takes place in the kitchen of what appears to be a typical family home in the morning time. The mother is preparing the breakfast cereal (Seriously Oaty). We see a close-up of her opening the packet and pouring it into the bowl and adding the milk. The mother moves across the kitchen to the window and then to the microwave, as she moves we see her husband up a tree in the garden cutting a branch while sitting on it. Also, as she walked to the window, we see that her daughter is sitting at the kitchen table eating her breakfast already, a bowl of Ready Brek Original. Once the cereal is out of the microwave, she moves back to the kitchen window and calls her husband to say it is “ready”. At the same moment, her husband falls from the tree after cutting through the branch he was sitting on. Throughout the whole of the advertisement we hear a female voice-over telling us what the cereal is like. She tells us that it is like the Ready Brek we grew up with, but it has a “real oaty taste and texture made especially for adults”. She goes on to say that since we spend a lot of time looking after the kids, we should not forget to look after ourselves. The tagline at the end is that new Seriously Oaty, is “Seriously Good for Grown-ups”.
Connotation From the beginning of the advertisement there is a feeling of nostalgia from the female voice-over. She reminds the listeners (target audience) that the new cereal is “warm and filling” like the Ready Brek they grew up with. This infers that the advertisement is primarily aimed at adults that grew up eating the original Ready Brek, since the taste is
-1-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Connotation referred to. The kitchen has a warm feel to it and the husband seems to be working out in the Winter or Autumn cold. He is dressed in a warm jacket and woolly hat while is wife and daughter are inside in the warm atmosphere of the kitchen. Most of the warm feelings inferred are from the breakfast scene itself. Condensation can be seen on the window denoting that it is indeed cold on the outside even if we had not seen the husband’s dress and the golden leaves on the tree.
Media Concepts Representation This shows to us, “the process by which the media presents to us the ‘real world’” (Rayner et. al 2001:63). In the advertisement for Seriously Oaty, we are shown a family setting at the mother prepares breakfast and the dad works outside in the garden up a tree. The kitchen has a warm and calm setting with the child sitting quietly eating her Ready Brek. We are being shown something that rarely exists in the morning at any household that has even one child at the kitchen table. The advertisement in essence is showing what might be called idyllic preferred breakfast setting, rather than the chaos that can take place at the breakfast table in a real world situation. Only one reality is shown here in order to give warm feelings to the viewer and in “reality” sell the product to the nostalgic people of the world.
Age If you were to watch the advertisement without sound, it would appear not to discriminate against age. On the other hand, turn up the sound and you soon find out that they are targeting adults who may have eaten the original Ready Brek when they were kids. The question has to be asked, “Are they narrowing their target people to too small a group?” Kids eat cereal as well in the real world. It is somewhat stereotyping according to taste. Taste is used here in the sense of the “oaty taste” the advertisement refers to and goes on to say that it is made especially for adults.
-2-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Narrative Codes: Actions When people watch something on screen such as movies soap operas or in this case, a television advertisement, they are more than invariably influenced by what they are seeing happening in front of their eyes, that is, the actions of the characters. It is widely used and coined phrase, but actions do speak louder than words in the advertisement world. They appeal more to the senses of the intended audience. Advertisements work best if each action within the particular advertisement, or any media text for that matter, can be linked to a recognisable sequence of events operating in the media text as a whole. Making breakfast can be linked to the action of pouring cereal into a bowl and then pouring milk on top of that. These are a distinct series of events and action that can be linked to making breakfast, all of which mostly take place in a kitchen in the morning time. The mind of a human needs narratives to makes sense of things that the eyes pick up. In terms of the media, this is extremely important or you will not sell your product to a perplexed public. One could say that for a good story to be told we do in fact need a beginning, middle and an end.
Enigmas Like all great detectives stories, advertisements need something to draw in the target audience and hook them. It can be something to make them want to watch more like a continuing storyline, each one ending with a “cliff hanger”. There is usually something there for the audience to get involved in and they feel like they are a part of events unfolding onscreen. In the Seriously Oaty advertisement we are introduced to a family setting in the kitchen at breakfast time. We see the mother preparing the cereal, but perhaps what we hear is a more important enigma. There is the sound of a saw and it s Ready Brek advert. Then there is the child already sitting at the table eating her breakfast of Ready Brek Original. People may ask, “Then what exactly is this ad about?” This is the hook and they find out as the female voice-over explains more. Information is given to the audience only at key moments during the course of events that are linked to the actions and the voice-over explanations.
-3-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Stereotyping Stereotypes are, “widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups”. (Branston & Stafford, 2003:91). There are many assumptions made clear in the Seriously Oaty advertisement. I mentioned some of stereotypes this advert infers throughout. It does seem to target adults specifically while at the same time mentioning the original Ready Brek for kids. Everyone remembers the old advertisements for Ready Brek where the kids
Stereotyping had the warm glow around them as they got ready to go out the door for school. This of course was due to eating the warm pasty cereal. Now the makers make the cereal oatier and go out to target adults who may have once eaten the original cereal and possibly want to relive their childhood memories. They have categorised their target group in to a minority who may feel the need to relive their childhood and eat microwaveable, easy to prepare, healthy oats for breakfast. They in turn have placed a particular emphasis on the group they targeted, because they are past “users” of the original product and the assumption is that they will like the “upgrade” as well.
Todorov’s Theory Tzvetan Todorov’s theory simply states that all narratives have a recurring formula and it is no different in the case of the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty cereal that I am writing about here. The formula he theorised about is that in narratives there is first “equilibrium”, a balance of peace and harmony and social order. Then disequilibrium occurs where the order is somehow disrupted and chaos reigns. After these a new equilibrium happens and a new harmony is found and all is right with the world again. In the aforementioned advertisement, the mother is preparing the cereal and happily moving around the kitchen, which fundamentally is the equilibrium of the advert. What disrupts the equilibrium is that there is no one there for the cereal when it is prepared, as she has to call out the window for her husband to come in for his cereal. For comedic effect, the husband is sitting in a tree branch and cutting away that branch from under
-4-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Todorov’s Theory himself. A new equilibrium is found when his job is done and he falls to the ground outside. I would say that it is assumed his subsequent fall was not fatal and he was finally able to come inside for his Ready Brek Seriously Oaty, thus reaching the new equilibrium of Todorov’s theory.
Intertextuality This is the way in which texts in the media refer to other media texts. Intertextuality takes on different forms in this context: Mimicry, Parody, Pastiche and Homage.
Intertextuality: Mimicry I am going to discuss those that apply to the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty advertisement. Since the brand name of Ready Brek has been around for quite a long time, they have really only built on a formula that already existed in their older adverts that were for the younger generation. They have mimicked their own adverts and brought in the new twist, in that they are now targeting adults with this new form of Ready Brek and showing what the old one was like with the child sitting there eating the original product while her mother prepares the new brand for the dad.
Parody One of the final scenes in the advertisement is of the father falling after cutting the tree branch he is sitting on. This parodies some of the old cartoons like Road Runner or Bugs Bunny from the Looney Toons series of animations.
Pastiche This advertisement is very reminiscent of most other nostalgic advertisement that rely on fond memories of the user of the product. Adverts such as Wurther’s Originals and adverts for Lyon’s and Barry’s teas. All these types of advertisements borrow from one another in some way, shape or form, while trying to tug at the heart strings of the viewer.
-5-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Intertextuality: Homage It is true to say that the advertisement may be indeed making a parody of the Looney Toon cartoon. It may also be paying homage in order to achieve comic effect in the scene where the father falls from the tree.
Advertisement Details This advertisement was shown along side ‘The Simpsons’ at about 6:30p.m. This would lead one to believe that the target audience are people who have perhaps just arrived in from work, that is, adults. Also many adults watch ‘The Simpsons’ along with people in there late to mid teens. The Simpsons has adult humour that is not understandable by very young children so, although they may watch the programme, they are unlikely to be the target audience.
The Advertisement The advertisement is good, but I feel that it could be improved upon with greater reference back to the original Ready Brek. The child at the table could have had the warm glow, which would have paid perfect homage the older adverts.
Conclusion The advertisement for Ready Brek Seriously Oaty hits on all the right notes for being full of nostalgia. It represents the family setting for breakfast and refers back to the original Ready Brek that was aimed at kids as a breakfast cereal. This cereal advertisement does state more than once that it is for adults who perhaps enjoyed the taste of the original. Actions and enigmas are used to engage the viewer for the short time the advert runs and this was very effective. In stereotyping, the makers have narrowed their market considerably because there is nothing to say why kids would not want to eat the oaty cereal compared to the smoother original.
-6-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Conclusion Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium are apparent throughout the advertisement. This is a wining formula that is present in all media texts and also keeps viewers more engaged. Finally, the advertisement also contains many forms of intertextuality that go towards what the viewer already know, either on a conscious or subconscious level.
-7-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
References Books Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (2003) The Media Student’s Book (3rd ed.), Routledge, London. Rayner, P., et al (2001) Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, Routledge, London.
Web Sites Allen G, (Date Unknown) S/Z, (1970) [online] Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10346 [accessed 5 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Narrative [online] Available at: http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/narrative.html [accessed 5 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Todorov’s Theory [online] Available at: http://www.adamranson.freeserve.co.uk/todorov.htm [accessed 6 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Intertextuality and Dialogue (Links) [online] Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/visualarts/r4100/inter.html [accessed 7 November, 2004].
-8-
Television Advert: Ready Brek Seriously Oaty Introduction In this assignment I am going to discuss the denotation and the connotation derived from the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty advertisement. Along with this many media concepts will be analysed and applied to the context of the advertisement. These media concepts include Representation, Narrative Codes, Stereotyping, Todorov’s Theory and four different forms of Intertextuality: Mimicry, Parody, Pastiche and Homage. I will sum up the advertisement in my conclusion at the end, stating how all these factors were used in the advertisement and if they were used to good and/or bad effect.
Denotation This advertisement takes place in the kitchen of what appears to be a typical family home in the morning time. The mother is preparing the breakfast cereal (Seriously Oaty). We see a close-up of her opening the packet and pouring it into the bowl and adding the milk. The mother moves across the kitchen to the window and then to the microwave, as she moves we see her husband up a tree in the garden cutting a branch while sitting on it. Also, as she walked to the window, we see that her daughter is sitting at the kitchen table eating her breakfast already, a bowl of Ready Brek Original. Once the cereal is out of the microwave, she moves back to the kitchen window and calls her husband to say it is “ready”. At the same moment, her husband falls from the tree after cutting through the branch he was sitting on. Throughout the whole of the advertisement we hear a female voice-over telling us what the cereal is like. She tells us that it is like the Ready Brek we grew up with, but it has a “real oaty taste and texture made especially for adults”. She goes on to say that since we spend a lot of time looking after the kids, we should not forget to look after ourselves. The tagline at the end is that new Seriously Oaty, is “Seriously Good for Grown-ups”.
Connotation From the beginning of the advertisement there is a feeling of nostalgia from the female voice-over. She reminds the listeners (target audience) that the new cereal is “warm and filling” like the Ready Brek they grew up with. This infers that the advertisement is primarily aimed at adults that grew up eating the original Ready Brek, since the taste is
-1-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Connotation referred to. The kitchen has a warm feel to it and the husband seems to be working out in the Winter or Autumn cold. He is dressed in a warm jacket and woolly hat while is wife and daughter are inside in the warm atmosphere of the kitchen. Most of the warm feelings inferred are from the breakfast scene itself. Condensation can be seen on the window denoting that it is indeed cold on the outside even if we had not seen the husband’s dress and the golden leaves on the tree.
Media Concepts Representation This shows to us, “the process by which the media presents to us the ‘real world’” (Rayner et. al 2001:63). In the advertisement for Seriously Oaty, we are shown a family setting at the mother prepares breakfast and the dad works outside in the garden up a tree. The kitchen has a warm and calm setting with the child sitting quietly eating her Ready Brek. We are being shown something that rarely exists in the morning at any household that has even one child at the kitchen table. The advertisement in essence is showing what might be called idyllic preferred breakfast setting, rather than the chaos that can take place at the breakfast table in a real world situation. Only one reality is shown here in order to give warm feelings to the viewer and in “reality” sell the product to the nostalgic people of the world.
Age If you were to watch the advertisement without sound, it would appear not to discriminate against age. On the other hand, turn up the sound and you soon find out that they are targeting adults who may have eaten the original Ready Brek when they were kids. The question has to be asked, “Are they narrowing their target people to too small a group?” Kids eat cereal as well in the real world. It is somewhat stereotyping according to taste. Taste is used here in the sense of the “oaty taste” the advertisement refers to and goes on to say that it is made especially for adults.
-2-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Narrative Codes: Actions When people watch something on screen such as movies soap operas or in this case, a television advertisement, they are more than invariably influenced by what they are seeing happening in front of their eyes, that is, the actions of the characters. It is widely used and coined phrase, but actions do speak louder than words in the advertisement world. They appeal more to the senses of the intended audience. Advertisements work best if each action within the particular advertisement, or any media text for that matter, can be linked to a recognisable sequence of events operating in the media text as a whole. Making breakfast can be linked to the action of pouring cereal into a bowl and then pouring milk on top of that. These are a distinct series of events and action that can be linked to making breakfast, all of which mostly take place in a kitchen in the morning time. The mind of a human needs narratives to makes sense of things that the eyes pick up. In terms of the media, this is extremely important or you will not sell your product to a perplexed public. One could say that for a good story to be told we do in fact need a beginning, middle and an end.
Enigmas Like all great detectives stories, advertisements need something to draw in the target audience and hook them. It can be something to make them want to watch more like a continuing storyline, each one ending with a “cliff hanger”. There is usually something there for the audience to get involved in and they feel like they are a part of events unfolding onscreen. In the Seriously Oaty advertisement we are introduced to a family setting in the kitchen at breakfast time. We see the mother preparing the cereal, but perhaps what we hear is a more important enigma. There is the sound of a saw and it s Ready Brek advert. Then there is the child already sitting at the table eating her breakfast of Ready Brek Original. People may ask, “Then what exactly is this ad about?” This is the hook and they find out as the female voice-over explains more. Information is given to the audience only at key moments during the course of events that are linked to the actions and the voice-over explanations.
-3-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Stereotyping Stereotypes are, “widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups”. (Branston & Stafford, 2003:91). There are many assumptions made clear in the Seriously Oaty advertisement. I mentioned some of stereotypes this advert infers throughout. It does seem to target adults specifically while at the same time mentioning the original Ready Brek for kids. Everyone remembers the old advertisements for Ready Brek where the kids
Stereotyping had the warm glow around them as they got ready to go out the door for school. This of course was due to eating the warm pasty cereal. Now the makers make the cereal oatier and go out to target adults who may have once eaten the original cereal and possibly want to relive their childhood memories. They have categorised their target group in to a minority who may feel the need to relive their childhood and eat microwaveable, easy to prepare, healthy oats for breakfast. They in turn have placed a particular emphasis on the group they targeted, because they are past “users” of the original product and the assumption is that they will like the “upgrade” as well.
Todorov’s Theory Tzvetan Todorov’s theory simply states that all narratives have a recurring formula and it is no different in the case of the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty cereal that I am writing about here. The formula he theorised about is that in narratives there is first “equilibrium”, a balance of peace and harmony and social order. Then disequilibrium occurs where the order is somehow disrupted and chaos reigns. After these a new equilibrium happens and a new harmony is found and all is right with the world again. In the aforementioned advertisement, the mother is preparing the cereal and happily moving around the kitchen, which fundamentally is the equilibrium of the advert. What disrupts the equilibrium is that there is no one there for the cereal when it is prepared, as she has to call out the window for her husband to come in for his cereal. For comedic effect, the husband is sitting in a tree branch and cutting away that branch from under
-4-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Todorov’s Theory himself. A new equilibrium is found when his job is done and he falls to the ground outside. I would say that it is assumed his subsequent fall was not fatal and he was finally able to come inside for his Ready Brek Seriously Oaty, thus reaching the new equilibrium of Todorov’s theory.
Intertextuality This is the way in which texts in the media refer to other media texts. Intertextuality takes on different forms in this context: Mimicry, Parody, Pastiche and Homage.
Intertextuality: Mimicry I am going to discuss those that apply to the Ready Brek Seriously Oaty advertisement. Since the brand name of Ready Brek has been around for quite a long time, they have really only built on a formula that already existed in their older adverts that were for the younger generation. They have mimicked their own adverts and brought in the new twist, in that they are now targeting adults with this new form of Ready Brek and showing what the old one was like with the child sitting there eating the original product while her mother prepares the new brand for the dad.
Parody One of the final scenes in the advertisement is of the father falling after cutting the tree branch he is sitting on. This parodies some of the old cartoons like Road Runner or Bugs Bunny from the Looney Toons series of animations.
Pastiche This advertisement is very reminiscent of most other nostalgic advertisement that rely on fond memories of the user of the product. Adverts such as Wurther’s Originals and adverts for Lyon’s and Barry’s teas. All these types of advertisements borrow from one another in some way, shape or form, while trying to tug at the heart strings of the viewer.
-5-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Media Concepts Intertextuality: Homage It is true to say that the advertisement may be indeed making a parody of the Looney Toon cartoon. It may also be paying homage in order to achieve comic effect in the scene where the father falls from the tree.
Advertisement Details This advertisement was shown along side ‘The Simpsons’ at about 6:30p.m. This would lead one to believe that the target audience are people who have perhaps just arrived in from work, that is, adults. Also many adults watch ‘The Simpsons’ along with people in there late to mid teens. The Simpsons has adult humour that is not understandable by very young children so, although they may watch the programme, they are unlikely to be the target audience.
The Advertisement The advertisement is good, but I feel that it could be improved upon with greater reference back to the original Ready Brek. The child at the table could have had the warm glow, which would have paid perfect homage the older adverts.
Conclusion The advertisement for Ready Brek Seriously Oaty hits on all the right notes for being full of nostalgia. It represents the family setting for breakfast and refers back to the original Ready Brek that was aimed at kids as a breakfast cereal. This cereal advertisement does state more than once that it is for adults who perhaps enjoyed the taste of the original. Actions and enigmas are used to engage the viewer for the short time the advert runs and this was very effective. In stereotyping, the makers have narrowed their market considerably because there is nothing to say why kids would not want to eat the oaty cereal compared to the smoother original.
-6-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
Conclusion Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium are apparent throughout the advertisement. This is a wining formula that is present in all media texts and also keeps viewers more engaged. Finally, the advertisement also contains many forms of intertextuality that go towards what the viewer already know, either on a conscious or subconscious level.
-7-
Darren Fennessy Media Studies Advertising Assignment
References Books Branston, G. & Stafford, R. (2003) The Media Student’s Book (3rd ed.), Routledge, London. Rayner, P., et al (2001) Media Studies: The Essential Introduction, Routledge, London.
Web Sites Allen G, (Date Unknown) S/Z, (1970) [online] Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10346 [accessed 5 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Narrative [online] Available at: http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/narrative.html [accessed 5 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Todorov’s Theory [online] Available at: http://www.adamranson.freeserve.co.uk/todorov.htm [accessed 6 November, 2004]. Author Unknown, (Date Unknown) Intertextuality and Dialogue (Links) [online] Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/visualarts/r4100/inter.html [accessed 7 November, 2004].
-8-
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