Friday, November 30, 2012

Divided by a Border

by Oana Naiman




In order to enhance the awareness towards their products, the Coca-Cola Company invested in media advertising, using a marketing strategy called “creative excellence”. “Coca-Cola Border Guards” advertisement shows the story of two soldiers from rival nations who are able to put aside their differences and, for the briefest of moments, see each other as individuals, as they share a bottle of Coke.

First of all, the media product emphasizes a tough and critical situation in a humorous manner; the two soldiers are too responsible of following their missions, acting ridiculously both being too proud and having a hostile behavior. An ice-cold bottle of Coke is the only solution that can bring them together, at least for one moment, a small step in order to become closer, “friends and not enemies”.

Furthermore, in my opinion, this advertisement can not be appalling for those who feel as they are “on the top of the world”. Even though the characters and their behavior might be annoying for someone who is in a bad mood, it is almost impossible not to have a little smile on you face at the end of the commercial. The ridiculous story tells us that no matter how big a problem is and no matter how many enemies are against us, there is always a solution for everything.

The music, as one of the greatest means of affecting the particular mood of the audience watching the production, is perfect for that period of time (the action might happened in the first half of the 20th century). A new war is about to come, and the two rival soldiers are ready to sacrifice their own lives in order to protect their countries and their homeland. The song is an orchestrated version of "Keyboard suite in D minor, Sarabande" by George Frideric Handel.

The advertisement allows us to gain pleasure by giving us permission to interact with a different world and different people who lived more than one thousands years ago. The two characters are ready to face death anytime, by working in the army. Nowadays, we can not understand a situation like that, just because we have never been involved in a dramatically and dangerous war; all our knowledge about war comes from history classes, books, movies or documentaries.

In my opinion, “Coca-Cola Border Guards” is a successful advertisement!
       

THE DARK NIGHT RISES


by Loredana Barbu 


"The dark night rises”, also called Batman 3, is an impressive movie due to its scenario.  In the movie, the director uses variety of scenes to involve the audience. On the other hand, the spectators can experience all the drama, action and romance storylines, because this movie confers it all.

In the beginning of the movie, the producer uses a way to transmit a pleasurable context, which can later involve the audience in the movie actively. The cliff hanging makes people think that they “can take the action in their hands” and make a real connection between the person and the screen.

During the movie, the producer wants you to make psychological judgments and to think about how the movie ends. This can make an uncomfortable mood, but also a good one, this means that not only the director or the scriptwriter has to offer and send a positive and peaceful scene, but also the people who are looking at the movie have to perceive the message correctly and to be in the mood to see it.

The emotional scene also exists, highlighted at the end of the movie, when Batman helps the whole population of one city and no one knows if he was still alive. The filmmakers want the audience to be involved until the end of the movie, so they create an interesting end that makes people think differently on how to interpret it.

To draw a conclusion, the producer of the movie dislikes the fact that the audience is not involved, that so he created amazing scenes that make us think about, even when the movie has finished.     

Monday, November 26, 2012

Pepsi vs Coke



by Rosi Otilia



The main topic of this video is to highlight the supremacy of the Pepsi’s products against the Coca Cola’s ones. The message shown in this video is definitely created by the Pepsi’ s promoting team. The video seems to be produced and directed quite well concerning the main line and the plot. The commercial was made in 2005, therefore the images are of low quality, but the action is fully organized and easy to follow. There is no speaking during this video, as a result the message is communicated through the boy’s point of view.

The target audience is widely represented by the consumer of any gender or age, meaning any person who can afford or usually buys such products. The storyline of this video presents a little boy who buys 2 coke bottles from a vending machine and then uses them to get to the button for the Pepsi ones.

         The main tool of persuasion is the kid’s behavior in order to get what he wants, even if it means spending more money to reach it. His attitude is meant to induce the idea of better quality, in spite the cost and the superiority of the Pepsi brand to the customer.

       The point of view revealed in this video, is generally referred to the competition between today’s most known brands. The untold part of the story is the effect of these goods on our organism and how dangerous they can become when excessively consumed.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Big Rock Advert_Specsavers Company


by Oana Naiman

       Specsavers is an international company providing eye care service, glasses and contact lenses all over the Europe and across the Globe. In order to enhance the awareness towards their products and to make them more appealing for possible customers, the company decided to use media advertising. Big Rock advert was created by SMART in 2012 and it was first launched in Australia.

       The advertisement features a young couple: the man wants to propose to his girlfriend, but she mistakes the engagement ring for a stone and skims it across the water. First of all, I might say that the target audience is represented by wealthy people of all ages and backgrounds, as the actors do not seem to have a shoestring budget vacation. The landscape, probably somewhere in Ireland, and the ring box suggest something about their financial situation and their prospects.

       The text message is objective and convincing, but in the same time, it emphasizes an embarrassing and tough situation in a humorous manner.  The technique used to persuade the viewer into buying Specsavers products is associated with the sense of fulfillment and happiness, which in this unique situation, only a new pair of glasses can bring. The man’s reaction when his girlfriend throws away the ring, shows the importance of being capable to see the world as it is, and to pay attention at every single thing in order to succeed in life and to be happy.

       On the other hand, the commercial does not talk about their products quality and the advantage of purchasing form their stores. At the end of the advertisement, it is said that the company offers a 50% off for glasses over $179.
       In conclusion, the aim of this advertisement is to encourage people to put their trust in Specsavers Company and to purchase products in order to enrich their lives.


Doritos Ads

by Radu Casiade

“Advertising is the art of the tiny. You have to tell a complete a story and deliver a complete message in a very encapsulated form. It disciplines you to cut away extraneous information.” Dick Wolf






Doritos is a brand of seasoned tortilla chips founded by Arch West and produced since 1964 by the North American food company Frito-Lay (a division of PepsiCo, Inc.). For many years, Doritos advertised heavily during the Super Bowl. Doritos launched a contest, Crash the Super Bowl, to allow consumers to create their own Doritos commercial. The general public was allowed to vote for their favorite of five finalists. I assume that they chose this method because fans were able to feel as if they are actually taking part in advertising Dorito's. Along this, it might also be a financial advantage, not having to pay for advertising companies.


The target audience are grown-ups and middle aged people, especially men. I am saying that it is especially for men because it is shown how Dorito's might have gave Adam the power to resist in front of The Original Sin, and also to resist in front of a posibly bad temptation from Eve. As a tool of persuation, I consider that making the story funny and catchy is the main weapon. As well as that, it is the refference to a Biblic theme, which is widely known, so that everybody could understand the joke.

In the end is depicted how God gets angry on Eve for breaking his only rule, but it's not shown what the consequences are and what will happen to Adam who did nothing wrong.

United Colors of Benetton


by Katrin Kuncheva

Advertisements are the strongest weapon of marketing, they are the main reason for increasing the sales and interest around the company’s products. The sensation and the provocation cause attention, which leads to knowledge and sales respectively. Many brands are using thеse two methods to be seen and remembered. The marketing trick - "scandalous" images is well-known in the world.


Italian company "Benetton" uses this kind of trick from the beginning of its foundation in 1950. The popular brand presents once per year scandalous ads and they become the subject of discussion worldwide. Nowadays the Italian company has developed the strategy to such an extent that the media around the world expects their new advertisement.
Luciano Benetton, the creator of the brand “Benetton” is one of the most scandalous designers. His ads represent what unites and what separates people. Basic themes are: sex, religion, race, life and death. Power and money are not included, despite they are so desired by people. Both of them belong to the high society and Benetton wants to reach only the people on the street- they are the main audience to which the message is made for. Advertising photos concern everything real people are involved in their life- from the birth to the death. Benetton brand is like a world speaker. The audience is truly inspired and reacts positively or negatively.
One of their advertisements is connected with AIDS. This theme is not a taboo, people are just afraid of it. The posters don’t give any indication of how to treat  people who have AIDS- whether to be tolerant or not. This debate is beyond advertising, it’s in the society. The purpose is only to say that the phenomenon exists.
The text in the green is the company’s logo, which is on each of the Benetton’s ads says: “United Colors of Benetton”. This is the message of the company to the world.

The brand addresses its vision using the opinion of the individual rather than the consumer. The company can identify its target group not based on age or income, but rather a shared vision of what is important in life, starting from a set of common values.
Another photo shows religious and sexual conflict (a priest kissing a nun). These conflicts are a consequence of taboos.
"Benetton" provokes, scandalizes and of course unites. The focus has shifted from the clothes to the world around us and the problems of everyday life. The audience is attracted, each consumer interprets the message in their own way and most importantly, remembers it longer.


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Roland McDonald at Burger King


by Loredana Barbu 

For the fist assignment, I have chosen one video from YouTube - “Roland McDonald at Burger King” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GpUhULRIuA&feature=fvwrel).



            In my point of view, this message comes from the McDonald’s competitors, Burger King, because there is a fight between this two fast food companies. The Burger King’s company also created and paid for this commercial.

The aim of this video is to position BK’s company as the best in the world, even better than McDonald. They use Roland McDonald to impress the great amount of people, but especially kids, because children think Roland is real and all that he do is important and really good for their life. They use the image of McDonald to emphasize some particular thing, like their food and their services. Moreover, they use some text to highlight the recurrent action that happened – Roland making the visit every day and he is used to buy the same sandwiches. They stress the fact that even Roland is the “face” of McDonald, he prefers the BK’s product instead of  “his own” food.

The “tools of persuasion” used in this video are: the man dressed in Roland and the tips on why chose Burger King over McDonald. The whole commercial is based on comparison, Burger King versus McDonald. To convince the audience why to chose the one over the other, the filmmakers use subtext to transmit they message “choose Burger King over McDonald”. Without any further explanations, the video stresses that at Burge King prices are better and there is more meat in sandwiches.

The message that is not being told is to stop thinking of going to McDonald’s and start doing what even the image of this fast food restaurant is doing.

Eating Junk Food

by Cosoreanu Vlad








The video I've chosen to analyze is made for promoting preventive medicine.
The message contained in the video is from the PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine). The main reason for creating this message is to make people aware of the link between heart disease deaths and eating junk food.

The target audience consists of people usually eating fast food, their family and friends, and also doctors. The characters of the story are the main lead to this presumption. The video illustrates a dead man sitting on a tray, holding a hamburger in his hand, someone crying over him, and a doctor.

The main tool of persuasion is the presence of a dead body during the story, but there are also secondary ways like the presence of the crying woman. I believe everyone is familiar with the feeling of losing someone we love, so I believe these images have a great impact on our minds.

The point of view expressed in this media message is, in my opinion, very radical. The untold part of the story is that there is only a little link between heart disease deaths and fast food, if it is not abusively consumed and the consumer is not already ill.

Security Cameras: The Coca-Cola Company


by Irina Donici 

The “Security Cameras” Coca Cola commercial was created by Landia Production Company. The team consisted of Martin Mercado, Martin Goldberg, Damián Garofalo and Silvio Caielli. The commercial was ordered by Coca-Cola Company in order to enhance the awareness towards their main product.



This advertisement targets ordinary people of all ages, backgrounds and religions. The people surprised in the 91-second commercial are shown both in everyday occurrences as well as in extraordinary circumstances. The background song is called “Give a little bit” and was composed by Roger Hodgson. The message of the song is obvious from the title, while the images show ordinary people doing positive things, whether it’s helping a total stranger, or protesting peacefully, hugging a friend from a totally different culture, or just blowing off steam by dancing in the middle of the street or goofing around while working in a department store. This is a better world, devoid of hatred, egocentrism, sexism and war, a happy world in which people get to be children again every once in a while – but not immature, or maybe even heroes – without expecting to be praised as such.

The technique used to try to persuade the viewer into buying Coca-Cola products is associating the Coca-Cola bottle at the end of the commercial with the sense of fulfillment and happiness experienced by the people in the footage after doing something helpful, useful or just plain silly. The idea is that all these positive actions are rewarded with a Coke, and possibly that Coca-Cola Company is encouraging people all over the world to be better in everything they do, on a day-to-day basis.

Translating a media message to an audience in a film series


by Preslava Petrova


The “Harry Potter” series is one of the most popular film series of all time. Thanks to the magical effects and intriguing story the eight parts have managed to find place in every spectator’s mind. But the truth is that in addition to that there are three main sets that contribute to the creation of this effect. The filmmakers used them in order to translate the media message of the film.


Firstly, I would start with the emotional state. Media producers attract viewers to their products by using the audience’s emotions. The story of an orphan, who is chosen to save the world from its biggest enemy, is so touching that would move even the most unwavering ones. The filmmakers take advantage of this and try to use it as a tool, which will keep the audience concerned. Such an implement is also presented in the series - the love stories between the characters, which are an incredible background of the main set. Besides the feelings that conquer the audience’s minds, the emotions of the entrancing romances that happen just fortify the above mentioned effect.

Following this further, the other state that the film pursues is the so called mood state. At this stage, the filmmakers’ aim is to affect the mood of the audience. Thus, they will make the spectators’ fancy the final product. Therefore, they will become keen on the series and will impatiently wait for the next part to come out. In my opinion, the creators of “Harry Potter” successfully accomplished this. From a personal experience, I would say that everyone that watched the series, including me, was so thrilled and agitated that could not wait for the subsequent films to be shot. Another thing that plays an inevitable role in affecting the mood is the music. We all know that melody in the beginning of each part of the series. Every time we hear it, magic wands and brooms pop into our consciousnesses and automatically transfer us into the dimension of magic.

The last state is known as the pleasure state, where it all comes to enjoyment and imagination. We are allowed to run away from the reality and to put ourselves in the place of various characters. “Harry Potter” is a great example of escaping the reality – the action takes place in a different magical world, which is partly related to ours, but it is not the same. This, for a while, allows the spectators to get their own freedom in our busy world. Apart from that the viewers often identify themselves with certain characters in different productions. In this case it is mostly Harry - the one that saves the world. The majority of us had this dream at a younger age, because of the stories about superheroes that we loved listening to back then.

The “Harry Potter” series has gained billions of fans all over the world. To conclude I would say that this is thanks not only to the skillful acting and unbelievable script, but also to the filmmakers who managed to translate the film’s message to the audience in a marvelous way.

Distance Learning Lectures "Media Literacy"



"Capturing Reality" kicks off by conducting e-learning workshops and lectures, using an e-learning platform with audio and video link. The Distance Learning course is made out of series of lectures that will help the students to access, analyze, evaluate and create media messages of all kinds. 

Assignment 1:
As part of the first lecture of the Distance Learning Media Literacy Lectures, the students had an assignment where they had to chose a media product, like a film, ad, blog, TV show, Youtube video, etc. and try to deconstruct its media message. They had to write a short analysis of the ‘hidden message’ (300-500 words), and use the following deconstruction questions:

1. Whose message is this? Who created or paid for it? Why?
2. Who is the “target audience”? What are the clues (words, images, sounds, etc.)?
3. What “tools of persuasion” are used?
4. What part of the story is not being told?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Ads about toys for little kids


by Borislav Zahariev (Bulgaria)

Filmsadsblogs, TV showsYoutube videos – everything is with commercial purposes.Everything on the TV we see,everything that we hear on the radio, everything we read about is invented for advertising.Every bilbord, every newspaper. Everything.

I would like to talk about the comersials about toys for little kids. Everyone knows that our kids (not mine, I’m too young for having a kids) cant live without cartoons. They cant live without toys. Everybody knows that kids love watching „Cartoon Network”, „Disney Chanel”, „Boomerang” etc. But have you noticed that between every funny film there is about one-two hundreds of commercials. Commercials about toys, clothes and other stuff that your kid will want.

Let’s see an example : Your kid is watcing „Ben 10” and when the show ends, there is a commercial where there is the Ben 10s transforming clock and then your kid see that thing and think that with this clock he/she will be like Ben 10 and wants you to buy the clock. This commercial is made by the „Ben 10” creators so they can make money from the show. The creators of the ads know that you will do everything for your child and you can’t watch him/her getting sad because he/she don’t have that toy and they’re using that for making money.

The commercials for toys are addresed for the little kids watching TV. They are so easy to be persuated. They are persuated by pictures, videos and that kind of things about what they want and there is no way that they won’t believe  the commercial and if you want to be the ‘best parent’, you must buy them that ‘the thing’.What kids don’t realise is that commercials lie.They lie about everything. About the quality of the stock, about the numbers of the products that they will send you and kids doesn’t understand that. They dont understand how hard is to make money and that everyone is doing everything for money. They don’t understand that the people behind the ads are doing that just for money for their families.

I don't have anything against commersials because I know how hard is to earn some money and I dont blame them for „doing their work”. I blame them because they lie about the quality of the products but there is nothing I can do about that. I can’t stop them and I won’t try, because it’s stupid to be agains the commercials,ads,Youtube videos and etc. Besides that, I also learn new things with the commercials.

Borislav Zahariev

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Fast food advertisements



Fast food advertisements
Miroslav Zahariev (Bulgaria)
(McDonald’s)

McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast food corporations. They make advertisements of all their new products, which have to persuade the “target audience” which is mainly young people with little free time who don’t have the opportunity to have a healthy eating lifestyle.

The advertisements are made by the McDonald’s corporation and they are a marketing trick for which they pay to a special crew of people who have to make the ad look great and show how happy are the people when they eat from McDonald’s.
Whit all the people on the advertisements who are smiling and laughing and the happy children and pretty lades selling the fast food, they are trying to persuade the “target audience” that eating their food is going to make their life happier and that it is healthy to eat all this junk food.

Nevertheless, in the advertisement they are not telling about the high prices of their products and all the strange chemicals used to make their food that looks still fresh after a long a long period of time. They are not telling about the old cooking oil, which they are using to cook the tons of French fries and the cholesterol that causes heart attacks and many other health problems.
They are also not telling that over 60 % of the American population is suffering from overweight because of their brand.

The Hidden Message of an Advert




The Hidden Message of an Advert
                                                          by Preslava Petrova (Bulgaria) 


Every day while watching TV we cannot avoid seeing adverts as well. They are an inevitable part of every single TV program and this is not at random.

Each one of us is familiar with The Coca-Cola Company. Their products are widely spread around the world. The company is also very well known for their advertisements, especially the Christmas ones. When the Christmas adverts start showing up on TV we all know that the holidays are approaching. 

The advert that I chose to talk about is one of these. Its message is to persuade as many people as it can to buy the product by tactfully using the holidays. The leaders of the company paid a lot of money in order to achieve this effect, because if it had been done the right way, it would have gained times more.
Throughout the year people impatiently wait for Christmas to come. This is also a part of a technique used by the Coca-Cola Company in order to accumulate consumers, who belong to the “target group”. I personally think that the advert in question is designed particularly for children. To support my opinion I would say that adolescents are most likely to trust what is being told or shown to them. The ad tells about a magical Christmas, which is what all kids believe in – that miracles happen on Christmas. There are a couple of clues used to achieve this. On the one hand is the fact that the advertisement is animated, which immediately transfers the “target group” to an imaginary world.  On the other hand is music. The melody is truly catchy and gets stuck into people’s minds easily. Thus, whenever the song is being heard, the image of the advert will emerge and will unconsciously make somebody buy a bottle of Coke.

While watching an advert we do not pay attention on the “tools of persuasion” which aim to make us buy the product. But if you look deeper, those techniques can be easily spotted. Association is such a tool, used in the advert. Santa is the symbol of Christmas. Despite not being shown he is actually presented. The trucks passing through the town spread gladness, enjoyment and happiness just like Santa does. But instead of presents they give away bottles of Coke.

Like in every story, in this one there is also a part that remains not being told. The ad shows just the basics of the story matching with most people’s ones. After watching the ad viewers complete the created picture with personal details that are significant to them. These can be memories, habits or traditions, which bring them back in times they were glad and contented. Doing this the advert aims to get into their mind and stay there.

To sum up I would say that consumers should be more cautious, because on the surface of it advertisements are made just to promote a service or a product. But in reality they are sources of media which aim to manipulate audience’s minds.