Songs in commercials.

I find many commercials annoying however one technique that i think helps catches someones attention is incorporating a catchy song somewhere in the commercial. I hate the education connection commercials however the song is always stuck in my head after i see it on tv. Wether you like the commercial or not if there is a catchy song somewhere in it you find yourself singing it later on. Two advertisements that came out during the Superbowl had actual songs in them which help make the commercial more of a hit if you ask me. One was the m&m commercial that had the song "sexy and i know it" in it and the other was the chevy commercial with the song "we are young". Every time these commercials come on tv these songs draw you into the commercial and later you start to associate the songs with the products without realizing it.

Burger King Commercials

Burger King recently has been using celebrities to promote their new products in their commercials. One commercial had David Beckham buying their new smoothies. Another commercial has Steven Tyler inside of Burger King promoting their new crispy chicken strips. I think this was a good move for Burger King to use these celebrities to help get their new products known to the public. Also i think people are not expecting a commercial like these two from Burger King or any fast food restaurant which may gain their attention even more.

Apples Siri TV ads

In two recent television ads Apple has promoting their new Iphone 4s, people are questioning whether the advertisements were a smart strategy. In the TV ads you see the new iphone in the hands of Samuel L jackson in one commercial and Zooey Deschanel in another, using the devices Siri application. The actors ask Siri questions such as "find organic mushrooms for my risotto" or if its raining outside [Steinberg]. They basically use Siri in the commercial as their "personal electronic assistant" instead of having a real person as their personal assistant. The author of this article is saying how they think it was a bad move for Apple to only target the extreme upper-class and Hollywood area instead of targeting everyone who could use this application. I agree with the author i think Apple should have had one commercial with a celebrity using the iphone 4s application and then another commercial with an average person using the application to show that it was made for everyone.


Steinberg,Brian. "Apple's Rare Ad Misstep: Celebrity Siri Ads that Slice the Wrong Way." 26 April 2012. Adage.http://adage.com/article/tuning-in/apple-s-rare-ad-misstep-celeb-ads-slice-wrong/234393/

"Has Advertising Played A Part in the Bullying Epidemic"

A recent article called, "Has Advertising Played A Part in the Bullying Epidemic" discusses how advertising could be a main part of bullying.  It states how advertising plays a huge role in shaping what's cool and not cool, what's normal and what's weird [Caplan]. The author also explain how casting sessions for movies, tv shows, advertisements, etc could also be a form of bullying. During casting sessions people decide whether a child is "cute"enough to be seen with the company's new toy, or wether a man or woman is "sexy" enough to promote the product. Before reading this article i never really though about how advertising could be viewed as bullying however this article does prove some very good points that it does. here is the url for the article for you to read, http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/bully-advertising-blame/234219/

How has DVR affected advertising?

Over the past couple of years, DVR has become very popular. Many people have DVR on at-least one of their TV's at home. They use it to record their favorite shows or movies that they are unable to watch at the premiere time or just to record. When people DVR a television show, they are most likely going to fast forward through all the commercials missing out on what new products and promotions are available. With DVR becoming more popular and people less likely to even see a commercial, what does that mean for businesses and their advertising? Should companies pay less for TV commercials and focus more on online advertising?

Advertising with Twitter.

Twitter is filled with different kinds of advertisements and promotions. When you go on the application on your phone at the top of the minifeed, Twitter has an advertisement spot. This advertisement usually changes often every time you reload your twitter. Also many times when celebrities tweet they are tweeting to promote a show or movie they are in or have a connection to. They also tweet about products they are going to put out or already have out. Twitter is a great way to find out what is going on in the world, what new products are out that may be in interest to you and what new shows and movies are coming out.

Commercials

I absolutely hate commercials when I'm watching TV. Whenever they come on i usually always have to change the channel because i find most of them boring. I do not mind watching previews for upcoming episodes or shows because they are entertaining and show you what is going to be on television. I also do not mind movie trailers however i think they overplay them. For example, Titanic is coming out in theatres in 3d this upcoming week, and they play the trailer every other commercial break it seems. Other commercials that play are usually very boring and not funny. If commercials played catchy songs, were funnier and just more entertaining people would most likely actually watch and pay attention to them.

Advertising using the "Lorax" character

i recently read an article on adage.com called "How Much 'Lorax' Advertising is too much?". The article talks about how the Dr. Seuss character, the "Lorax" has been all over the tv the past few weeks and not just to promote the new movie. The character has been cross-promoting a Mazda SUV, Seventh Generation Diapers and  has  also been involved in in-store promotions in places such as Target and Pottery Barn (Poggi). The Lorax was even a "guest judge" on Mondays episode of "The Voice". The article says that when advertising for kids, more is usually better however it could send negative messages for the parents. For example, with the promotion of the Mazda SUV, the car is driving through scenes from the movie, as the character is trying to promote the actual vehicle on tv. Mazda has turned a simple children's character into a cars salesman. I think these advertisements are taking this character too far. The movie just came out on friday, no one even knew if it would be a huge hit. What if the movie had negative ratings and all these companies use this character to promote their product? That would have been a bad advertising call for them. Also, noone wants to see the same character in every commercial or all over the place, people will only end up ignoring the commercial because they are annoyed by it.



Poggi, Jeanine. "How Much 'Lorax' Advertising is Too Much"  02 March, 2012.  http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/lorax-advertising/233092/

Celebrities in Advertisements

Many companies use celebrities in their commercials to help promote their products. When people see their favorite celebrity using a certain product in an ad or commercial it makes them want that product even more. However some people might not realize that just because a celebrity is using the product in the commercial does not necessarily mean the product will actually work or be as effective as they say it will. Celebrities are only in the commercials to attract their fans to buy those certain products. Examples of this is the proactive commercials. The proactive commercial is always switching up celebrities from Katy Perry to Julianne Hough to  Jusin Beiber. Also alot of make up commercials use celebrities to promote their new products such as Beyonce, Drew Barrymore, and Queen Latifah. Just because all these celebrities are in the commercials does not mean they actually use the products or that the products are guaranteed to have the same effect on everyone else.

Super Bowl Advertisements

I was very disappointed in this years Super Bowl commercials. They were not as funny and entertaining as they have been in previous years.  Many people look forward to these commercials and have high expectations since so much money and effort goes into them. Alot of the companies concentrated on trying to make their commercial entertaining or more unique then the others and while doing this they did not advertise their product well. Many of the commercials were almost hard to tell what their actual product was that they were advertising. However with that said, some were not that bad and were entertaining.  My favorite Super Bowl commerical was the m&m one. I thought this commercial was very funny and also kept my attention. After watching it, it made me want to have a bag of m&ms. Another favorite of mine was the Dorito's commercial with the baby and grandma. In this commercial the baby and grandma are on one side while another younger kid is on the other side in a swing set. The younger kid is bragging how he has a bag of Doritos and the baby and grandma do not. The grandma ends up flinging the baby to the swing set, which he grabs the doritos and they both share the bag as the other kid looks on upset. I thought this was another funny commercial like the m&ms one. It also clearly advertised the product that they were trying to sell, which was Doritos.


http://youtu.be/q33drZUXSzY