Advertising With Mr.T and William Shatner

There are a lot of advertisements are amplified by sports endorsements from athletes or race car driver endorsements etc..  Blizzard Entertainment took this idea a step further.  For their game World of Warcraft, they made a series of commercials that included celebrities that you would not normally expect to be endorsing a video game.

An example of a commercial can seen below with Mr. T

These commercials were wildly popular because it was shown in a comedic voice, also it gave the community something to compare with, having users be proud of how they played the game.  These commercials also brought WoW to new users, making the game more acceptable among friends and again placing the game in a light, saying that it is accessible to everyone.

Gender Stereotyping

Gender stereotyping can be used as a powerful way to bring a message across, especially through advertising. This can also become a negative feature to an advertisement, the key is to know your target audience and portraying a stereotype that doesn't offend or give the wrong impression to the viewers. 

An example of this can be seen in some Carl's Jr ads where a woman is depicted eating one of their burgers while scantly dressed in a sexual way. the stereotype is that of a certain type of woman that they are trying to cater to their male audience even though this woman is probably not likely to eat the food anyways

Changing our Perception: Semiotics

Semiotics happens everywhere in our daily lives, whether we are aware of it or not.  Some ads use implied symbols, leaving us to interpret their visual cues into what message is trying to be passed onto us.  I feel that the following 3 ads do a good job of establishing a clear message while still leaving some interpretation to the viewer.

The first ad that I have chosen is a Doritos TV Commercial that aired during the Superbowl.  The ad tells a story of a guy who buys a goat that loves Doritos chips and the goat just keeps eating and chewing and crunching, which inevitably make the guy go nuts.  The message from the commercial isn't straight forward and leaves us to connote the message.  I felt that the message they were trying to portray is that Doritos are addicting even to a goat?  Either way, it leaves me craving Doritos and I was definitely eating them during the Superbowl.

The second ad that I have chosen Is an ad by Mercedes that touts their new detection systems in their cars.  The image mixes Denotation with Connotation, the set up for this ad tricks our mind into seeing two images.  The profile cut out of the picture as well as the profile of the man's eye leaves us to see the man in full profile even though the rest of his face is facing forward.  This ad leaves the viewers to connote that in their vehicle we can be looking to the side while not actually facing to the side.  This ad does a good job of leaving interpretation to the viewer whilst also leading toward the intended conclusion.

The last ad that I have chosen is from Koleston.  It is a very simple set up and with the use of the landscape, it leads the viewer through a simple icon of and outline of a woman's hair and facial features.  The ad is for their Natural collection and reinforces it being natural by using the natural landscape to create the image. Overall is leaves us with a clear message while again, still making us decipher what the message is.

Branding

The most amazing part about a brand is how well it connects to its consumers and caters it's image in order to make the consumer feel special in their own way. When we think of brands in a personal sense, we each have our own brands that we as an individual can relate with. Brands become a part of who we are. In the modern age of today, brands have to change how they operate and make an attempt in order to make it that we are as much a part of the brand as it is of us. This can be said even about games and movie publishers. Certain publishing names in the gaming world gives the user a general idea of what to expect. Most users that already connect with the publisher within one game that they have published are much more likely to buy more games that are published from the same company. It used to be that for games, there are a certain amount of in-house testers that feel out bugs etc... But in today's world we are seeing many more game "brands" reach out and invite the users to test the games while it is still in development, they are taking the initiative in order to create a community behind the games before they are even released. Thus they create a market for the game and those gamer's experience is passed onto friends and word of mouth / social media makes their market even bigger. The point I'm trying to get at, is that brand snow have to create a community behind their product, a living, breathing, opinionated community that is no afraid to speak up and let the brand know when they are faltering.

Twitter, Thoughts and Experiences

Social Media, in this day and age, it is what connects the world.  Through mostly informal and direct responses, we interact through the use of the internet and it gives us an invisible yet visible voice.  On the internet just about everyone is heard and it is obvious that many exploit and use it toward the misfortune of others.  While there is also a positive message that some carry, there will always be two sides to it, after all the content is still created by humans, and we are flawed in varied degrees.

But I digress, Twitter is new to me and I can't seem to get a good grasp of it.  It would be easy to dismiss this and say that it is not my style of social media, for it does not speak to me and I am blind to its allure.  In this class I will give it my full attention and try to understand its draw.  At first glance it seems to me to be just a varied amount of Facebook status update equivalent.  This, to me, is my least favorite aspect that Facebook has to offer.  I care little of what others are doing right now, and just text speaking of how you feel or what you're doing is of little relevance.  Upon further inquiry I find that there are many layers to twitter and a variance of how users use this outlet, yes some use it like a status update and those annoy me to my very core, but then there are those that use it practically   In fields that i am interested in, they allow others to interact and respond in real time to an event that is occurring right now, this is unique.  I am still overwhelmed by the amount of content and how quickly twitter moves, but I can begin to see the draw for companies and events, as well as groups of like-minded individuals.  I however still can not see a personal draw for twitter, It does not speak to me and I haven't the slightest clue how to structure my posts in a way that help to enhance anyone else's experience through twitter.  I will try to figure this out, but until then I will have to blindly walk into the abyss that is twitter. 

Until Next Time

-Colin