Te Lab Lesson Advertising Mediums

TE Lab Lesson Choosing Advertising Mediums • •

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Television also offers the advertiser an opportunity to speak to a captive audience. In fact, television viewers are even more apt to fully “tune into” an advertisement. The cost, though, of purchasing a television spot is even greater than that of radio. Television is a terrific medium for image advertising. The visual action and audio allow viewers to feel involved with television. The per person cost to reach viewers through television, which is typically national in its reach, is very expensive. The emergence of local cable stations, however, is opening up this advertising avenue to many businesses who otherwise would not have been able to afford it. If you are targeting a small, local marketplace, check out the advertising programs offered by your local cable station.

Radio offers a dramatic improvement over “print” advertisements. The “listener” is captive to the message unless they switch stations or turn the radio off. The cost to reach the same amount of people that a print ad would reach, however, is significantly higher. Radio is significantly less effective than magazines and television when used for image advertising. Radio can’t effect the strong photographic impact of print advertising or the drama of television, and is, as such, a much more challenging medium through which to place a strong and lasting image in the listener’s mind.

Magazines offer a slightly better opportunity to catch the reader’s attention. Readers tend to peruse magazines more carefully than they do newspapers, and because magazine ads are placed fewer per page, the competition for the reader’s eye is reduced. But magazine ads cost more than newspaper ads. Magazines are not as effective as television as a medium through which to wage an image advertising campaign. They are a strong contender, though. The quality of magazine printing offers a nice venue for conveying exciting imagery. The use of color photography is especially effective in magazine print advertising.

Newspapers are generally the cheapest way to reach a mass audience. However, newspapers carry many ads. It is easy for all but the largest display ads to get lost in the visual clutter. In any case, remember that newspapers are typically scanned by the reader. If an ad is seen at all, the headline will be glimpsed and the copy largely ignored. Newspapers are not always an effective medium for carrying an effective image ad. The graphic reproduction is poor and the consumer has been conditioned to look at newspaper ads for price announcements, not image messages. If you do use newspapers as vehicles for running image advertising, make sure your ad space is large, perhaps as much as an entire page.

Newspapers. Newspapers are one of the traditional mediums used by businesses, both big and small alike, to advertise their businesses. Advantages

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Allows you to reach a huge number of people in a given geographic area You have the flexibility in deciding the ad size and placement within the newspaper Your ad can be as large as necessary to communicate as much of a story as you care to tell Exposure to your ad is not limited; readers can go back to your message again and again if so desired. Free help in creating and producing ad copy is usually available Quick turn-around helps your ad reflect the changing market conditions. The ad you decide to run today can be in your customers' hands in one to two days.

Disadvantages • • • • • • • •

Ad space can be expensive Your ad has to compete against the clutter of other advertisers, including the giants ads run by supermarkets and department stores as well as the ads of your competitors Poor photo reproduction limits creativity Newspapers are a price-oriented medium; most ads are for sales Expect your ad to have a short shelf life, as newspapers are usually read once and then discarded. You may be paying to send your message to a lot of people who will probably never be in the market to buy from you. Newspapers are a highly visible medium, so your competitors can quickly react to your prices With the increasing popularity of the Internet, newspapers face declining readership and market penetration. A growing number of readers now skip the print version of the newspaper (and hence the print ads) and instead read the online version of the publication.

Magazines. Magazines are a more focused, albeit more expensive, alternative to newspaper advertising. This medium allows you to reach highly targeted audiences. Advantages • • • •

Allows for better targeting of audience, as you can choose magazine publications that cater to your specific audience or whose editorial content specializes in topics of interest to your audience. High reader involvement means that more attention will be paid to your advertisement Better quality paper permits better color reproduction and full-color ads The smaller page (generally 8 ½ by 11 inches) permits even small ads to stand out

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Long lead times mean that you have to make plans weeks or months in advance The slower lead time heightens the risk of your ad getting overtaken by events There is limited flexibility in terms of ad placement and format. Space and ad layout costs are higher

Radio Advantages

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Radio is a universal medium enjoyed by people at one time or another during the day, at home, at work, and even in the car. The vast array of radio program formats offers to efficiently target your advertising dollars to narrowly defined segments of consumers most likely to respond to your offer. Gives your business personality through the creation of campaigns using sounds and voices Free creative help is often available Rates can generally be negotiated During the past ten years, radio rates have seen less inflation than those for other media

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Because radio listeners are spread over many stations, you may have to advertise simultaneously on several stations to reach your target audience Listeners cannot go back to your ads to go over important points Ads are an interruption in the entertainment. Because of this, a radio ad may require multiple exposure to break through the listener's "tune-out" factor and ensure message retention Radio is a background medium. Most listeners are doing something else while listening, which means that your ad has to work hard to get their attention

Television Advantages • • •

Television permits you to reach large numbers of people on a national or regional level in a short period of time Independent stations and cable offer new opportunities to pinpoint local audiences Television being an image-building and visual medium, it offers the ability to convey your message with sight, sound and motion

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Message is temporary, and may require multiple exposure for the ad to rise above the clutter Ads on network affiliates are concentrated in local news broadcasts and station breaks Preferred ad times are often sold out far in advance Limited length of exposure, as most ads are only thirty seconds long or less, which limits the amount of information you can communicate Relatively expensive in terms of creative, production and airtime costs

The Advertising Medium Is Not the Message Ways to make your advertising message more powerful--and more relevant--no matter what medium it's in.

1. Prospective customers noticed the ad, received the message and understood it perfectly. They just didn't care. Solution: Dump the irrelevant subject matter. Discover what people actually care about and talk about that instead. 2. The ad's message would've been relevant, but it was unclear. Solution: Remind your writer that creativity often gets in the way of clarity. Remind your layout artist that the prettiest ad is rarely the most effective. Make sure the dynamic duo understands that their continued employment depends on creating ads that sell the product. And if you take care of both of those jobs, don't be afraid to criticize yourself and correct your mistakes. 3. The listener wasn't engaged because the ad was written from a cultural perspective other than their own. This is why Anglo-conceived Hispanic campaigns usually fail. Translating language is easy. Transferring cultural perspective is nearly impossible. Solution: Hire a different ad writer to create the second campaign. Make sure the writer is from the cultural background he or she is trying to reach. Here are the bottom lines: •

Ads that fail in one medium will usually fail in others.

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The medium is not the message; the message is the message.

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And the message is what matters most. To deliver a pointless message powerfully is the definition of hype. To deliver a powerful message pointlessly is the result of weak creative content. But to deliver a powerful message powerfully is the first step in making a fortune.

CONTROVERSY IN ADVERTISING: How do controversial ads help business? OR do they hurt it in the end? What’s the point in being so controversial? Look at how the level of controversy changes overtime. http://www.debonairmag.com/the_most_controversial_ads_in_fashion_history/5.htm

Visual Rhetoric/Ethics of Controversial Images Little research has been done thus far concerning the emotional effects surrounding abrasive images. How are you supposed to feel when you see a picture of child soldiers in Africa, or a composite image making a mockery of the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald? Images have the potential to elicit emotion from a viewer just as much, if not more than text alone, so why hasn't the ethics of visual communication been studied more comprehensively? As images become more and more a part of professional communication, we will see more research and ethical guidelines pertaining to the use of ethically questionable images. But for the time being, what is currently out there in the

real world? Research shows that visuals play just as an important role as text, if not more important, in having an emotional impact on its audience (Kienzler, 1997). However, the code of ethics that loosely governs images is highly under-developed compared to that of its counterpart- written text. According to Stephen Casner, Ph.D., of the NASA Ames Research Center, visuals can sometimes have more impact than text when coupled together, for three reasons. First, images have a direct and quick emotional impact that linear text alone lacks. Also, when viewing a document, an audience is drawn to the images accompanying the text before the view the text itself. Last, viewers remember images much longer than they remember accompanying text. For these reasons it is important to study images and the effects that they may have on viewers just as intensely as humans have scrutinized the ethics of the written word. Visuals have an increasing impact on today's high-speed society, especially in professional communication (Keinzler, 1997). This chapter will closely examine what abrasive images are readily available to society today in advertisement, editorial cartoons, as well as manipulated composite images. We will also discuss the emotional responses that are tied with images that cause irritation. Emotionally stirring images can conjure up a lot of feelings among their viewers, whether that is joy or anger. Although text has the ability to do so, there is a much more comprehensive set of ethical codes that go along with them. Currently there are no real standards set thus far for visuals beyond what is considered pornographic, and with a lack of these needed standards the envelope will only be pushed farther and farther. As the ethical boundary is pushed, and line for what is considered ethical will follow closely behind. If the current trend of abrasive and irritating images continues to move, the ethical standard will continue to drop. It is the responsibility of the viewer to act as a critical thinker and determine if an image is unjustly abrasive. The following sections will discuss the different aspects of controversial images listed above. Please use the information below as an informational start to see how current issues and other controversial debates can be manipulated. Although the ethical code of images may change soon to mirror the standards of text in public domains, for now it is the responsibility of the reader to determine what they should consider ethical and stand against.

Composite Images, Photoshop & Irritation Our life is filled with emotionally-charged images that may contradict our traditional ways of interpreting and thinking. One way that we are challenged in our views is through images that shock, or surprise, an audience. Traditionally, these images are found in advertisements, but more recently we find ourselves being challenged by the popular art of composite images. Photoshop is growing trend in our culture, mostly among the younger generation, that allows our everyday images to be turned into something extraordinary whether it’s a politically-charged message or just something that we like to parody. This fairly new program opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to images and visual rhetoric given that these images can be manipulated to portray a biased opinion or view. Oftentimes in a composite image the more shocking the material, the better; and the more blatant or disturbing an image is, the more we question the ethics of

the author and their intentions. Given an uproar in composite images after the advent of Photoshop, we are often brought to ask ourselves whether it is the fault of the program or audience for potentially abusing the power of the program.

Image:http://www.doctorcosmo.com/photoshop/images/justice.jpg Mostly, our questioning of these images leads us to a different way of thinking and a way of reflecting in upon ourselves; on what it is that disturbs us about certain images and why. For example, in a recent class presentation, my partner and I used a composite image of JonBenet Ramsey as a demonstration on how composite images strike a sort of “irritation” between our social standards or ideals and our emotions. The composite is of a bartender’s body with JonBenet’s head “photoshopped” onto the figure. The child appears to be mixing a cocktail in this up-scale environment with a martini shaker made of a judicial figure. The author of the image wrote on his website Doctor Cosmo that the he made the image because he thought the trial of the case “was a mockery of the judicial system, and how money can’t buy you love…but it can certainly keep your ass out of jail.” This image stirs our beliefs and makes us question if it’s morally correct to use an image of a child who died so young and horribly in an image that mocks our system. When presenting material with my partner, we questioned if the image of JonBenet would offend our audience, but we quickly realized that sometimes it is good to shock people with emotionally-charged images because we get more of a reaction and we begin to question why it is that we get so offended. Perhaps the reason why composite images are so controversial is because they often use subjects that are displaced from their original contexts and transform them into a completely new perspective. As a result, we feel transplanted along with the subject. This change in contexts is what initially draws our attention to the image, and it may be why we initially become shocked when looking at a divisive image. Alternately, one of the reasons composite images can be rhetorical is that they sometimes shed new light on a subject, almost as if to give us a fresh new outlook on what it is that we’re seeing. When we see things as if we see them for the first time, we tend to think of them in an alternate

way and may be easier persuaded given we gain a different perspective. Often images that grab our attention the most are shocking and controversial, so much so that we experience a sort of "irritation" between our cultural, social, and moral discourses. Craig Stroupe describes his theory of the rhetoric of irritation as "inappropriate juxtapositions" that work together to create a sort of dialog "among normally unrelated voices and contexts, produc[ing] both an irritation whether expressed visually, verbally, or in some hybrid form like a Web page- as well as a social irritation in the audience who registers this friction as a kind of disruption of "normal" discourse" (245). The "irritation" that we experience can offend or enhance our character simply because it's a different outlook on an image that we are normally not accustomed to. Unfortunately, with composite images, ethics is always in question. Is it appropriate to remove context from a subject or image and transfer it to another? Is ethics still a problem if the image is overall rhetorical and better for the good of society? Does a composite image have to go along with societal ideals? The answer to all these questions is subjective and ultimately depends on who you ask, but in interpreting composite images, it is always crucial to get “the big picture” and understand both sides of the argument being portrayed. Only then can you make an informed decision about the rhetorical nature and purpose. Essentially, in the search for an even clearer answer to the ethical question, composite image creators should be more aware and sensitive that audiences often view manipulated images with a naive eye and audiences need to educate themselves and question what is being portrayed in a composite image in reference to what is being said, what should be said, and what they believe is right.

Shocking Advertisements

Image:http://www.cad-comic.com/news.php?i=1153 Juxtaposition and irritation can be used in order to advertise products. This idea is called “shock advertising”. You maybe be wondering, “Why would anybody use a controversial image in an advertisement?” The answer is simple- “Any publicity is good publicity.” Two companies’ that are well known for their shock advertisement strategies are United Colors of Benetton and Calvin Klein. Calvin Klein received a great deal of attention when they used an underage Brooke Shields in their advertisements very provocatively. This controversy led to a great deal of free press covering the story. However, it is not only the free press that encourages companies to use shock advertisements. This also markets their goods and services to a younger more “socially conscious” age group. This type of shock advertisement makes the company seem edgy or youthful. Peter Fressola, communications director for United Colors of Benetton, defended a Diesel Jeans

advertisement, which depicted a gun pointed at the audience, by saying “Jeans are about sex and danger. And the people who are offended by these ads are probably not Diesel customers anyway.” However, it is not just clothing companies that have been known to use shock advertisement. Barnardo’s, a London based charity, helps many different poverty stricken families all across Great Britain, is also known for having very controversial ads. In the year 2000, they had an ad that depicted and infant baby about to inject heroin. They also ran and ad campaign, which staged five death and suicide scenes. One of the passages read, “From age three, Jane was neglected and a large part of her died. Her future died. 19 years later, after being lured into prostitution, she was beaten so badly by her Pimp she died for real. What a waste.” Barnardo’s was asked to remove the campaign due to criticism. However, donations increased by 5 percent to the charity. As much as these images may illicit a negative emotional response, they will not be forgotten.

Emotional Response People are constantly being tested by outside stimuli such as the media and are faced with images and advertisements that can sometimes be shockingly controversial. In some cases, such controversial ads do not feature the product, but rather an idea. United Colors of Benetton, a clothing company discussed earlier in the chapter, is known for their emotionally stirring advertisements. During the peak years of their controversial campaigns, many of their advertisements have been a topic of discussion. A popular technique for the United Colors of Benetton is to take a unique but daring approach in their advertisements by featuring sensitive issues rather than people wearing their product. One year, an advertisement ran with a picture of a dying AIDS patient branded with the company’s logo.

Image:http://press.benettongroup.com/ben_en/about/campaigns/list/ Companies taking the shock approach in their advertisements do so in order to ultimately drive up product sales. Companies know that controversy receives much publicity and thus creates attention. How does the shock approach in advertising and images correlate to a customer making a purchase? These images and advertisements are created by companies to spark debate and discussion among buyers in the hopes that the emotional response the advertisement provoked was strong enough for people to make a purchase.

People are naturally inclined to pass judgment but are often psychologically influenced by the complexities of emotions. Each individual has differing sets of emotions which stem from his or her life events and experiences. Because such a range of emotions can exist, it allows room for differing interpretation. With this in mind, it is difficult to create any broad assumptions when it comes to how one should view a shocking, irritating or controversial image. But there are certain factors, both internal and external, that should be taken into account when understanding ones emotions towards these visuals. People are also influenced by their environment. It might be easy to say that consumers are able to perceive an object or person without interference from the perception of the physical and social surroundings of that object or person; however this is not always the case. People bring their personality to the things they do in their daily lives which involve other people whether it be through work, school, nightlife, or church. Past experiences shape an individual’s personality which can further influence and be influenced by one’s environment. Lastly, people are influenced by their social centers. Social groups have a huge impact on how images and advertisements are perceived. A common interest is usually the core of what brings a social group together. However, differing opinions may arise which can change people’s opinions and beliefs. It isn’t just the image or advertisement that is being interpreted, it is the brand. The opinions that come from social circles can impact how one is influenced into purchasing behavior. We have discussed many mediums where controversial images may appear. However, this list is far from comprehensive. Controversial Images can appear in a wide variety of public and private spheres. As an informed consumer of the above mentioned mediums, you are responsible for the ethical standards you hold for the visuals you view. As said before, the amount and severity of controversial images in the public sphere has continued to increase, and in turn the ethical standards of said images has been slowly decreasing, and the proverbial ethical bar is following. For the time being, no public policy change will occur regarding this issue. Informed consumers must act as the vigilante.