Advertisement+Analysis

Advertisement Analysis As Stephen Leacock once said, “Advertising may be described as the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it.” (Leacock) In the twenty-first century America as well as the world, advertisements play a major roll in the increasing numbers of products and their effectiveness. However, like most everything else in the world around us, advertisements have gone through a period of development not only because of skill level, but need, want, and changes in technology. Does advertising arrest our minds long enough to get money from us? Only the individual can answer that question. As a future graphic designer, all these aspects to an advertisement are important and interesting to me to analyze. Their effect on the viewer has to be taken into consideration, along with the effect an advertisement has on the designer. With the development of form, line, appeal, and technology, advertisements now have been developed to encrypt the human mind to want and need what’s there. However, with the development of racism, sexism, and the world around us, advertisements in the past ninety years has not only changed the way we see the world in some eyes, but also, the way we satisfy our wants and needs through our eyes based on influences in a society.

As young adults in a society that grows as fast as grass under the sun, we see more advertisements than one would ever imagine. According to a study done by Harvard University, we are exposed on average to 500 ads daily from different media sources such as television, newspaper, billboards, and many more (Fowles 658). However, how many of those advertisements do we pay attention to in our lifetime? With the invention of direct television, many of the advertisements can be overlooked. According to Adage Magazine, “…ad skipping and on demand viewing could cost the TV industry $27 billion in lost ad revenue in the period of 2005-2010” (“Advertising Statistics”). When it comes to media other than that of the most commonly thought of form of paper; radio shows, commercials, the Internet, and several others, generally fill the air with words, and flashy images before us. Nevertheless, if you are anything like the typical American, we flip through the stations, or spin that dial in our cars to find the next closest and exciting song or show that’s playing. So in reality those 500 ads literally become maybe 50 to 100 that attempt to visually capture our attention. To some companies this presents a challenge to create an advertisement that is effective and readily sought for, rather than becoming lost in space as some sort of digital media. For those companies with the newest technology and up to date information, they have figured it out, the use of the internet, becoming a sponsor, are two simple ways they have been able to keep their name out there, rather than it floating in space.

Advertisements play large roles in our communities, schools, business places, and even our hospitals, but of all those ads; again, how many do you look at? For example, of the advertisements placed around Mercyhurst, which typically catch your eye: those with great color, big pictures, lots of clutter, or simplicity? All of these questions come down to a simple answer and evaluation in the end. As said in an article, “New and Improved: Six Decades of Advertisements”, on the whole, advertisements from the 1950s until now hold many similarities, and on the contrary hold very few differences because they still have the psychological appeals and layout in terms of design and headlines. (Behrens and Rosen 656) In order for an advertisement to be effective to the eyes, and not just watch the images and words flow like a river through our eyes and out the back of our head, we must make them visually pleasing and eye catching. All of this is based on effective layout and form. Even though most people may think it’s the picture that draws them in, on closer analysis however, it’s the effectiveness of design and layout that draw them in and it’s appeal to the eye because as Fowles stated, “Despite the finesse of advertisements, and all the subtle emotional tugs, the public resists the vast majority of the petitions” (673). No two ads are similar, which most people can agree with, but as stated in “Making the Pitch in Print Advertising,” the difference comes when designers employ the common features we see in advertisements, and make them artistically different such as headlines, body copy, and slogans, but most importantly, the form and line with in the advertisement (Bovee, alt ed. 675). These little details are what set the big guys form the armatures. It’s the quality and effectiveness of the advertisement that wins all the success, and the ability of someone to convey that through their eyes and in to their hands to the computer, is going to become the successful one.

When we talk about form and line, we typically are talking about those objects, which appear 3-D in its natural form such as a tree, mountain, and so on. However, when we think in terms of graphic design and advertisements, we use the term //gestalt//, a [|German] word for [|form] or [|shape]. It is used in English to refer to a concept of “wholeness”. (“Gestalt”) The layout of an advertisement has many specific elements to it, those such as: balance, proportion, movement, unity, clarity, and simplicity. All of these, which may seem like a lot, are all simple little details that make the world of difference when it comes to a successful advertisement. These little details are very important. If one element is over emphasized to the smallest extent, the advertisement loses all its intended meaning, and it is now up to the viewer, and the appeal of the rest to become a successful advertisement.

In the past 90 years, one company for example, Camel cigarettes, has been advertising since their creation in 1913. It started in the very beginning with drawings by professionals, but over time have become more involved; however for my purpose, the main concern will be those decades of the 1940s, 70s, and 2000s. They may seem like a wide range of decades, but equally separated by three decades, posing immense amounts of changes not only in layout, but also in graphics all together, and its ability to become effective to the public eye. In these three decades a viewer can truly see the evolution of advertisement and how it has changed with the times in our lives which mean the most, especially those of historical events and cultural movements.

Advertisements of the 1940s, just at the start of World War II, had an immense amount of graphics pertaining to the military. Like the advertisement on the left, even though it may be small, there are certain areas the viewer looks to and then follows. The most apparent is the jet of water coming from the back of the submarine, which we follow to the submarine. This instinctive action is based on what we call in graphic design, an implied line, and a line that is not physically there, but is created visually. The same line is followed when our eyes are drawn to the speak bubbles, the carrot looking form, is the implied line. Still today in 2008, we as graphic designers, teachers, artists, and even grade school children draw using implied lines, yet we don’t know it. These implied lines help create a sense of unity, which is achieved when an advertisement possesses similar shapes, sizes of subject, sensitivity to the subject, and the colors and moods portrayed. For example, again, the jet of water an implied line, but at the same time plays the role of the //dot//, the subject which we look to first and from there, search for similar shapes, colors, ines, and forms because it is natural for humans to search an advertisement before reading what’s really there.

Another important part when it comes to a successful advertisement is it’s movement -- not the way it blows in the wind as a gust brushes across it’s surface, but rather the way in which it is designed to make your eye follow through it. Like stated before most are instantly drawn to the water jets then from there, down. The pictures are placed in a varying zigzag, which is drawn in so that your eye follows from one picture to the next, picking up the messages in the bubbles and find that everlasting, and fresh tasting carton of Camel cigarettes at the bottom. In the 1970’s however, when most would think that our advancement in technology, even though not significant, would increase an advertisements look, it really didn’t.

As the 1970’s rolled around, we had become obsessed with the ability to get what “they” had, the appeal of a social life in a society of rising industrious superiority. Unlike the 1930’s, the advertisements of the 1970’s had become increasingly simplified compared to then. In the 1930’s, there was writing to fill up all possible //white space//, the space not being occupied by images or words. Social life was very popular then. It was the start of a new decade, new style, and the time to make a new life. Camel showed this through smoking. It gave you the friends, the parties, the women. The 1970’s started using the cigarette box as the //dot// of the advertisement, which we tend to follow up to the black letters, which is reflective of the black camel, and then to find the cigarettes in the pictures to it’s left, but what we don’t notice is what is being emphasized at first. Emphasis, an important part of an advertisement, usually would stick out to someone with an untrained eye, but it’s not too apparent. In this advertisement, the women are the emphasis, one, in each of the miniature pictures, looking at the “man” of the photo. Many believe the emphasis to be on the cigarette carton, but it’s the women rather. Again, what many don’t see is an implied line, but in a different form. Each woman is looking at an angle of about 45 degrees or so; it is consistent in each photo implying that //line//.

As the decades moved on, and technology finally made a significant change with the MAC revolution in 1984, evolving the world of design and technology. The advertisements of the millennium years have made significant changes, but not what we would expect. As the millennium flew in like a lion and out like a lamb with the Y2K scare as we all called it, advertisements changed, but not with the decade, rather, back a few decades. In the earlier decades the use of realistic photography was used, giving viewers the appeal and realization that it was attainable, again, playing with our culture and our demand for want and need. However, at the turn of the century, Camel did something that most may have thought of as the unthinkable: they played on our appeals with the past. Even though the technology had advanced and the use of programs such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator came about, Camel chose to go back in our past to the 1950’s and their style of paintings. Again there are similarities that are present like every other advertisement even though there is a significant distance between them. In the millennial decade the use of similar colors greatly simplified the advertisement, taking out the busyness of the people an d the words around the product. It is presented simply and exactly to the point, served on a silver platter for your enjoyment, taking in all the essence of something so luxurious and sophisticated. Therefore the elements of design come in again.

For Camel, the vintage, was the style that they believed would capture the eye of the viewer, but they didn’t leave out any details when it comes to the //gestalt// of the advertisement. Like in the other two advertisements, there is a distinct //implied line//. When people first look to the advertisement, they are drawn to Camel, written largely across the top of the advertisement. As the eyes flow down, to the subtitle, they catch the top of the head, from there, following the hair as it puffs out. As the eyes reach the shoulders, they follow right down the straps to its completion, where a silver platter is delivering the luscious stick of life, to light and love.

Again, this advertisement shows simplicity, very few words, and to the point unlike the 1930’s where the description was in paragraphs, and the 1970’s where it was in a column joined with a busy picture. With the simplicity comes one last factor that all successful advertisements possess, balance. As stated by Dorthy Cohen, “Balance is a matter of weight distribution; in layout it is keyed to the optical center of an advertisement, the point which the reader’s eye designates as the center of an area.” (681) Weight is distributed correctly, the objects start large at the top, stretched equal to the width of the tray, narrowing to a V shape to the cigarettes, yet another way for the eye to capture the picture and essence of the advertisement. As advertising became the most popular way to promote an item on the market such as cigarettes, Camel took the liberty, to use the technology given to them in a different way. 50 years ago, jobs were readily available, but as the advancement of technology advanced, so did the advertisements, but not the job opportunities. As Jodi Staniunas-Hopper explained, “ 50 years ago phototypesetting and custom photo shots with mechanical boards and drafting tables were the norm. It took a slew of trained professionals 2 weeks minimum to produce an ad. 10 years after the Mac revolution, graphic designers were out fighting for their jobs, which the computer took over. Since then we haven't been paid that well. The computer eliminated the job of the typesetter, the cameraman, the production staff, and the stripper (a printing position), collapsing a 2-week time span into less than a week, leading some people to believe they can Do-It-themselves. (Staniunas-Hopper) Even though technology helped us in a society, advancing our minds and the availability to generate work faster and complete it with a greater efficiency, it has destroyed jobs on the other hand. A business that generates billions of dollars a year has come to the grasp of society, relying on the very few hands and minds that create these advertisements, to generate advertisements that are successful and pleasing to the eye.

So even though the use of computers helped, it didn’t. Advertisements have made great impacts on the society around us in many different ways such as the way people look at the world not with an insight, but rather with a demand of need and want. Exceptional line and form are appealing to viewers. Also, companies playing with our past, drawing in both young and old, with the attraction of a reoccurring society, style, and lifestyle, are allowing advertisers to make successful careers for themselves. At the same time, advertisers appeal to the population, feeding their hungry eyes. Even though line and form, //gestalt//, may be a simple part of an advertisement, it is truly one of the largest reasons our country is becoming the way it is, dependent on advertisements, following that implied line to the treasure at the end of the rainbow. Works Cited "Advertising Statistics." __Media Literacy__. 1 Nov. 2008. 2 Nov. 2008 . Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J. Rosen, eds. "New and Improved: Six Decades of Advertising." __Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum__. 10th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2008. 656. Bovee, Courtland L., John V. Thill, George P. Dovel, and Marian B. Wood. "Making the Pitch in Print Advertising." __Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum__. 10th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2008. 675. Cohen, Dorothy. "Elements of Effective Layout." __Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum__. 10th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2008. 681. Fowles, Jib. "Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals." __Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum__. 10th ed. New York, NY: Pearson Longman, 2008. 658+. "Gestalt." __Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia__. 12 June 2008. 29 Oct. 2008 . Leacock, Stephen. "Advertising Quotes." __World of Quotes__. 2006. 29 Oct. 2008 . Staniunas-Hopper, Jodi. "History of Graphic Design." E-mail interview. 27 Oct. 2008.