CI 5472: Ad Analysis

This commercial from the Norwegian Association for the Blind is targeted at those people who feel inclined to distract working blind-seeing eye dogs out in the community. The variety of participants in the commercial allows the audience to assume that the commercial is intended to be seen and internalized by a variety of different people. By using images of people treating working citizens like pets—using a discourse reflecting someone playing with a dog—the audience can comprehend that the ridiculousness of behaving in such a way mirrors the irreverent treatment of working dogs as mere pets when they are doing their job. The ad starts with a simple enough comment and gradually becomes more and more identifiable with the way one treats a dog, ending with a woman taking away a train station workers flag and throwing it in a game of “fetch.” The ad ends with an image of a working dog and the script “vest on = at work.” Letting people know how to recognize working dogs and how to treat them accordingly. The ad is emphasizing the need to respect the animals at work and their owners when they are out and about. I think the ad does a great job in getting this point across by mirroring the work of the dogs with the work of people; the connection makes such behavior seem funny and out of place for both humans and animals. Overall the ad adds a new spin on how we think about working dogs.



In this ad I tried to capture the never-ending search for perfection that over the years has been starting at younger and younger ages with a parody on a common Maybelline commercial tag line. Here we see a picture of an adorable little girl juxtaposed with an enhanced version of the image in which she is wearing make-up and fake hair as well as having been airbrushed to remove some of the flesh around her cheeks. I hoped to convey the ridiculous obsession our nation has with superficial beauty and the tireless pursuit of an impossible, ideal perfection. The use of an infant in the commercial centers around the idea that as children we are typically praised and exalted for the natural appearance, but the search for beauty and perfection is never too early a quest to begin. Today, more and more products and agencies are marketing beauty products or toys to girls—from the newly vamped image of Strawberry Shortcake to makeover kits for girls. Even the much beloved Barbie forces girls to have a false sense of what is natural versus what is an impossible standard of physical and superficial appearance. I chose the Maybelline slogan to help highlight the comparison between natural “born” beauty and the use of make-up or other appearance changing tools that target women from a young age.

Ad Analysis Activity:
I think it would be neat to divide students up into small groups and assign them each a channel to watch 30 minutes of television on. Students would record the different commercials that are presented during that time slot on their designated channel. Students can note not only how many commercials are broadcast during this time period, but also what ads have been selected for that particular channel. In class the next day, students could pair up with those who watched the same channel as them and compare their notes on the commercials aired during the 30 minutes they watched. Using their data they would come up with a summary of the target demographics for the commercials and assumptions of the ads and compare that to the channel itself and the assumptions made in connection with the channel—for example, there might be a lot of beer commercials targeting men on ESPN fitting with the assumption that men are the ones primarily interested in sports and that to enjoy sports one needs alcohol. Groups would then present their findings to the class or use their findings to create a parody commercial that illustrates the connections made within each group between the channel, commercials, target audience, and assumptions.