On Advertising Commercials

2004-04-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Over the course of this Blog, we have analyzed four different television channels in an attempt to explore the targeted audiences in the commercials. Before beginning this Blog, we hypothesized as to what the targeted audience for each channel would be. For the Sci-Fi Channel, we hypothesized that the targeted audience would be a predominantly male, technology-savvy group. For MTV, we hypothesized that the targeted audience would be young adults, children, or people who have money to spend/waste. For ESPN, we hypothesized that the targeted audience would be men, specifically older married men. And finally, for HGTV, we hypothesized that the targeted audience would be women, families, and stay-at-home dads. Some of the techniques employed by the commercials were: humor, sex, cool appearance, peer pressure, guilt, and targeting specific groups. After analyzing the techniques and targeted audiences of the four different channels, we concluded that the targeted audiences were broader than we had originally hypothesized, most of the commercials were selling their image rather than a product, and that “effective” commercials were subconsciously affecting people’s views of the products once they turned off the TV and were in the “real” world.

Posted by: Matt Hendricks
Alison Brennan
Sean Hitchcock
Brian Boddy

2004-04-21T10:14:00.001-07:00

While watching HGTV, I particularly noticed this one commercial. The commercial was an advertisement for Singer sewing machines and it began at a woman's house who had a bunch of company over. It then centralized the attention to this woman who was aweing over the host's furniture, wondering where on earth she could have gotten it. She passes by some nice looking drapes, pillows, chairs, and couches. Then she continues to walk around the house adoring the surroundings until she passes by a slightly opened door. She peeks in and notices a Singer sewing machine. After that, she realizes where the woman got all her nice furniture, and she looks ahead and sees the owner of the house nodding in approval. The other commercials on HGTV where basic home appliance commercials such as Home Depot and gardening products. Overall, HGTV advertises efficiently and effectively towards its targeted audience of families, women, and feminine men.

Posted by Brian Boddy

2004-04-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

2004-04-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

As our last commercial posting, we are posting on our favorite commercials of all time. For me, this is an easy call on a recent ad campaign. My favorite commercial is that of “Terry Tate Office Linebacker”. This is an ad for Reebok which does not sell shoes, or shirts, or any real physical object, at least not when it was originally conceived. These commercials sells an image, they are more for entertainment than actual product movement. It is sort of a “what if scenario,” a blending of the sports world and the seemingly mundane corporate work world. The seemingly omniscient Tate always knows when one has done something wrong and seeks revenge and punishment in true linebacker style….. brute physical force. Perhaps it is because I am a 20 year old male, perhaps because I have never worked in an environment such as “Felcher & Son,” but I find the hard hitting Tate to be hilarious. In light of this, the commercial is presented in a completely serious manner, presenting the good idea that this would be. The CEO of the company explains how Tate has been a God send to his business. This ad is extremely successful at selling an image. It put Reebok in a completely new light for me. There is of course the sports image, which is a primary function of Reebok products. Then there is the “fun factor,” where the company truly shines in this respect. The audience views the commercial and is entertained rather than enticed by a product. This is a powerful statement, which is that the company will spend money to entertain. It is still intended to bring in sales, to make you want to buy Reebok products, but it is done through making you like the company and the expressed ideals they stand for.

Posted By : Sean

2004-04-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

As a final blog our group decided to write about our personal favorite television commercial. One of my favorite commercials is a Kodak commercial for their in-store picture center which can scan in images and reprint them. In the commercial a small boy uses one of these picture centers, with the assistance of a store employee, to scan in am image of his grandmother when she was young and played women’s baseball. The boy uses the machine to enhance the picture quality, to crop the picture, and to print it out on an 8x10. Then the boy visits his grandmother, gives her the picture and asks her if she can still play like that. The commercial ends with the little boy and his grandmother playing catch in her backyard. This is one of my favorite commercials because every time I see it on TV it makes me cry.

Posted By: Allison

2004-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite commercials appeared during the 2000 Super Bowl. It was an advertisement for EDS Communications that featured a bunch of guys herding cats. The commercial was hilarious as it went through the trials and tribulations of a cat herder. In the mean time, the advertisement had epic music playing in the background to further develop the humor. Overall, I loved this commercial and more and more companies should use humor such as this in their advertising.

Posted by Brian Boddy

2004-04-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

Our group decided to watch HGTV, which is all about home gardening. Before watching for commercials, I expected to see lots of commercials about gardening and home improvement. Unsurprisingly, most of the commercials were all about gardening and home improvement, while others were more focused toward a specific gender group. Home Depot seemed more aimed toward men. These commercials showed people actually using the Home Depot products in their homes, which actually resemble many of the home improvement shows that HGTV shows. There was a commercial for a hormone supplement for women called Avilmil. There were commercials for Macaroni Grill, which I perceived was aimed toward women, in hopes they would go to Macaroni Grill instead of cooking a meal for their family themselves.

Posted by: Matt Hendricks

2004-04-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

This week we are viewing commercials on HGTV. The first commercial I viewed on this channel was for home depot, but that was a bit too obvious a choice, so I waited for the next one to tickle my fancy. The next commercial was for kitchen countertops. The commercial opens in a spacious and luxurious kitchen, the envy of any home owner. The dim lighting and placement of the camera seems to bring the audiences attention to countertops. The narrator states “Your kitchen countertops are the busiest part of the kitchen,” implying that it has to be the most durable and should look the best. The commercial seems to bring this “busy” across in the scrolling of text across the top of the screen, text about the countertops. The commercial is advertising a magazine about countertops which has obvious placement on a channel that televises home improvement. The audience, though perhaps not directly in the market for countertops, is hoped to remember the ad if they are in the market in the future or might recommend it to their friends. Essentially the magazine is free so the hope is that the audience which thinks about home improvement will just go to the website and have one shipped to them. I think the ad is effective at what it set out to accomplish and is well targeted. On many other networks, such as the other ones we looked at in our blogs, the commercial would not be nearly as effective as on HGTV.

Posted By: Sean

2004-04-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

On Home and Garden television (HGTV), there was a commercial for some type of siding. The commercial featured a small girl who is outside rubbing a piece of paper over the siding of her own house with a crayon. She then proceeds to go inside and cut the paper into many long strips and attach them to her own doll house, thus putting the same great siding of her house on her doll house. This commercial uses location and audience targeting because it is advertising a product for the home and because it uses a sentimental story, something that would be appealing to an HGTV viewer. Although it is a good example of location and audience targeting, it is not a good commercial because the product name is only shown briefly at the end. If I could not remember the name of the company, especially when I am focusing my attention on the commercials, then how is anyone else supposed to remember the name of the company?

Posted By: Allison Brennan

2004-04-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

This week, our group was to watch ESPN and note the types of commercials we saw. Almost all of the commercials on the channel were “manly” commercials, integrating many stereotypes of men and their wives. One such commercial, which I found particularly humorous due to its view of women, was an advertisement for Dish Network. The husband was watching TV while his wife talked to him in a high pitched voice that could not be understood, but still annoying enough to distract him from his football game. Fortunately for the husband, the Dish Network that he has for his TV has the ability to pause and rewind, so he just rewinds to see what he missed while his wife was nagging him. This commercial would defiantly NOT be appealing to women, but since it aired on ESPN, there are probably more males than females watching the station, in which case, the commercial would be very appealing.

Posted By: Matt Hendricks

2004-04-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

I watch ESPN all the time so I already knew what I was in store for when I tuned in. All of the commercials aired are centered towards a diehard sports fan. Many of the commercials are alcohol advertisements, mainly Miller and Bud. One commercial that is constantly aired though is an Enzyte advertisement for male enhancement. Just about every commercial break these advertisements air starring a man by the name of Bob. Enzyte makes it seem like because he is on their product, every other aspect of his life is amazing. This is certainly misleading but the commercials are rather humorous. One of them has Bob negotiating with the Chinese for some type of business deal and the Chinese speak in their language with suggestive subtitles. Another has Bob attending a neighbor's pool party. Bob dives into the pool performing ridiculous flips in the process and while he gets out, his trunks are floating in the pool and he stands in confidence as all the neighbors gawk at his "goods".

Posted by Brian Boddy

2004-04-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

While watching ESPN I saw a commercial for Dairy Queen advertising their blizzard sundaes. The commercial features a dad carrying his baby boy in one of those harnesses that rides on the front of the adult. The dad has just come out of a Dairy Queen and is carrying a new cheesecake Blizzard. The baby wiggles around as if he wanted a bite of the Blizzard. The dad moves the Blizzard away from the baby saying “no, this is daddy’s.” The baby then kicks the dad in the groin and head butts him from the harness. The Dairy Queen logo then appears and the narrator states “the new Dairy Queen cheesecake Blizzards: they’re worth fighting for.” This is obviously targeted to the typical ESPN audience, men, because it uses physical humor and it is clever.

Posted By: Allison Brennan

2004-04-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

This week we are looking at commercials on ESPN, the most readily recognizable sports network on television. For several years, ESPN has been advertising itself and sports in commercials. This has been designed to bring viewers in and keep them hooked. Often these commercials employ situational comedy. The late and great example I’ll talk about is the “Nimrod” commercial. The commercial is centered around a small town with a small local high school where the team is called the Nimrods. Displayed in the commercial is the support of the community for the Nimrods. The cinematic shooting of the commercial is that almost of a documentary, but with a homemade feel, as if it were just shot with a normal video camera, shot as if by one of the community. The “punch line” comes at the end of the commercials with the simple text, “WITHOUT SPORTS, WHO WOULD CHEER FOR THE NIMRODS?” This commercial is very effective and well targeted. Nimrod is a classical negative name, and here the Nimrods are the beloved sports team of the town. This illustrates the importance of sports in our society and community. The humor in the commercial ads a light air; sports are supposed to be fun, as is watching and learning about them, which is the purpose of ESPN.

Posted By: Sean

2004-04-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

While watching MTV, I noticed that almost all of the commercials were ones that would appeal to teenagers and up through young adults. There was a commercial that especially stuck out in my mind that was encouraging people to volunteer. The commercial would show someone with a black screen behind them, while they talked about how good it was to volunteer in their community. I think that all of the actors were teenagers or young adults, which also helped convey their message to their age group. Also, many of the people that would be volunteering would be people of this age group since older people have to worry about working, and also volunteer work for certain organizations might look good on some college resumes. This commercial is similar to the one posted by Allison, where the commercial was “targeted for a young, hip, and quick audience”. Since the people in the commercial are younger, they may convey the image that since they look cool, then what they are doing is cool, which would be volunteering in this case.

Posted by: Matt Hendricks

2004-04-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

While watching a commercial break on MTV, most of the ads were targeted for a young, hip, and quick audience. One specific commercial like this was for Mercedes. The commercial features several pictures of different Mercedes cars and their owners posing with them. At the end of the commercial a black screen with white writing appears and states “No one poses with their toasters.” This is a very quick and clever commercial that would appeal to the young audience of MTV. It is, however, a little more sophisticated then the rest of the commercials on MTV because it is for an expensive car the most teenagers would not be able to afford. This Mercedes commercial is probably trying to sell their image to the young generation rather then the actual product so that they will become potential buyers.

Posteb By: Allison Brennan

2004-04-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Our next commercial is one from MTV, the quintessential pop culture channel. The name of the game here is youth, and what is on the mind of most youth….. sex (well at least on the male side). It is a known fact that “sex sells,” and advertisers for years have capitalized on this idea. The commercial I am writing on is the Dentyne Ice commercial called “Subway” The commercial, of course, is set in a subway and opens with an attractive young woman walking to a train car. In the background there is the song “I can tell by the way you walk.” The woman bumps into a handsome man and apparently there is some kind of instant chemistry. They glance back at each other upon passing and the woman gets on the train, moves to a window, places a piece of a Dentyne Ice in her mouth and Breathes on the window. Dentyne Ice advertises a cool refreshing taste to their gum, so this is manifested in the commercial upon the woman breathing on the window which freezes the air onto the window and thus allowing the young woman to write her number down for the young man. The commercial closes with humor as the camera pulls back to reveal three other men writing down the woman’s number. This commercial is effective in advertising the cool refreshing appeal of Dentyne Ice. The youth oriented ad with sex appeal further highlights these ideals. Furthermore, the ad is well placed on MTV, where stars like Britney Spears use sex to sell albums.

Posted By: Sean

2004-04-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Most of the commercials found on MTV are centered towards middle teenagers. Many of these commercials were advertisements for concerts or CDS. The other commercials consisted of personal appearance such as body fragrances and hair styling. The Axe advertisement stuck with me the most. It shows this young man spraying it all over himself then going out and producing the "Axe Effect". A mosquito then bites him and spreads to a frog who spreads it to an old man who appears attractive to a young beautful woman. The commercial then goes to the old man's grave where a couple worms form a heart shape symbolizing them loving the scent of Axe. I found this commercial rather surprising because it overdid the scent of axe way too much. No one cares if animals or insects find a body scent attractive. Overall, this commercial also had poppy music and was centered towards teenage boys.

Posted by Brian Boddy

2004-03-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

This week, while watching commercials on the Sci-Fi Channel, I saw many that related to technology, or things that would appeal to people who liked technology. Advertisements such as car commercials included their CD player, while Home Depot showed a guy using a leaf blower and hedge clippers, demonstrating the many uses of the technology that can be found in their store. There was an advertisement involving a new DVD that will complete a trilogy set, and an advertisement for Bowflex where the caller can get a free DVD or video by calling. All of these commercials show people how they can use technology to benefit themselves, which is fitting since the Sci-Fi channel is oriented towards technology and its advancements.

Posted by: Matt Hendricks

2004-03-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

While watching the Sci-Fi Channel, I expected to see many commericials on technology, but i was surprised to find that not too many of the commercials were technological. The only commercial that was close to being technological was a Home Depot commercial, talking about making your kitchen the best or being the boss of your lawn. The other commericials I viewed were about hair products, weight loss pills, and pregnancy testers. I suppose the pregnancy tester could be considered technological but it seemed like it would be grouped with the others. Contrary to what my group members said, maybe I was watching during the wrong time slot because I certainly failed to see many technological commercials.

Posted by Brian Boddy

2004-03-29T20:51:00.000-08:00

While watching one commercial break on the Sci-Fi channel I found several advertisements that were geared towards their stereotypical viewer; that viewer being a technology savvy individual. One commercial that stood out to me was a brief ad for Centrino mobile technology, which allows for a wireless internet connection. The commercial featured the company’s logo flying around the screen and cutting through and untangling wires. A Sean stated in his blog entry about the commercial for Electrasol Tabs, this commercial is a good example of location and audience targeting because it has aspects which make it seem more future and technology oriented.

Posted By: Allison

2004-03-28T14:42:00.000-08:00

For this week’s entry, our group is looking at ads on a specific channel, trying to decipher who they are geared toward and if they might be effective. The Channel is the Sci-fi channel, and the commercial I choose to look at is the Electrasol Tabs commercial. This ad popped right out at me as a very befitting ad for the sci-fi channel. First of all it is advertising technology for technology. Electrosol Tabs are dishwasher detergent tabs. They advertise a sense of revolutionary performance with “two in one,” detergent and Jet Dry, for “best performance.” They advertise superior dish cleaning power. Befitting of the sci-fi channel, the background music is the Jetson’s theme song, implying a sense of the future, of advanced technology. The commercial is very vivid and graphic oriented with quick cuts and computer generated graphics. All in all, the advertisement is very effective for its audience. Most homeowners who have TV, especially ones that can receive the sci-fi channel, are going to have a dishwasher, so the ad is well placed. Combined with the aspects which make it seem more future and technology oriented, this commercial is a prime example of location and audience targeting.

Posetd By : Sean

2004-03-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

A commercial I found interesting was the new McDonald's commercials for Chicken McNuggets. Apparently, Mcdonald's claims that their tasty McNuggets are now made with white meat. I don't know about anyone else, but this claim is rather disturbing and, I think, should not be made. If their chicken is made with white meat now, what was it made with before? Who knows what it used to be, but for McDonald's this is bad advertising, and I wouldn't be surprised if their McNugget sales decreased as a result of this recent claim. McDonald's should rethink their recent advertising and think of an ad less outrageous.

2004-03-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

The Disaronno commercials feature a beautiful woman ordering their amaretto liquor from an attractive male bartender. When it appears that she has finished her drink the bartender reaches to take her glass, but she stops him because she wants to lick the pieces of ice that are still in the glass. The whole commercial is very sexy and seductive, but at the end of the commercial one sees the woman and all of her friends laughing. Disaronno is trying to play off the idea that they are selling their product with sex by showing that it was all just fun and games. The commercial is very bizarre and almost disturbing, but apparently it is affective because I remember the commercial quite vividly.

Posted By: Allison Brennan

2004-03-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

For my first entry, I decided to look at several different commercials that stood out in my mind while flipping through channels. I saw a commercial that started with someone returning some kind of tan colored blobs, maybe pads, at a lost and found. The man asked if they were found near some stairs and the person replied that they were. Apparently, they were love handles and it seems that people are losing them when taking the stairs instead of escalators. This commercial was presented by smallstep.gov, apparently trying to give people tips on good health. I’m wondering why there are advertisements not selling anything and trying to promote better health. Maybe these kinds of commercials are replacing the ones seen several years ago about “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. See the difference?” type commercials.

Posted by: Matt Hendricks

2004-03-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to our class Blog, I am Sean Hitchcock, a freshman here at Georgia Tech. Our group blog is on advertising, specifically focusing on commercials. I, being in a commercial before have some knowledge of this technology and its impact on society. So without any further adieu, lets begin looking at a commercial, i'll start with my favorite Super Bowl Commercial, the Etrade "Wasted 2 million Dollars commercial." The commercial is based highly in humor as it stars... well a monkey... and two old men. The monkey runs into a garage, turns on a radio to a latin number and begins to jump up and down dancing as the two old men sit and clap. The punchline comes at the end where they state "We just wasted 2 million dollars, what are you doing with your money?" This is a powerful statement and i found it to be hillarious. Etradde is an online investment company, so on the one hand one might think they should not be frivilous with money, but the more compelling argument is that "we make so much money that we can throw some away." Can you go wrong with a monkey?