Structures of Advertisements

The structures of television advertisements relate to its form, style and the codes and conventions used by media producers. Over the next series of blog posts i will discuss each of these in detail with examples.

Form - Documentary

A documentary style advert is a better way of getting people to buy the product as documentaries are very convincing as they use facts and experts to make people believe that what they are saying and the information in the advert is true.

The Colgate Toothpast Advert is an example of a documentary that uses facts and experts to convince people that the product in the advert will work. It has a dentist on the advert showing us what the toothpaste will do for our teeth and that it will defiantly work, this will make people trust the advert and go out and buy it. The advert will be aimed for adults that are able to buy themselves their own toothpaste and for anyone.

Form - Animation

Animation has become more popular in advertisement and is used frequently. Animation can be used in different ways from hand drawn to computer generated. Using animation over normal actors can have different benefits, they can have a certain appeal that is difficult to create with actors/actresses. Animation can be changed easily to go with time and so they can be run for long periods of time.
The Coco Pops Advert shows the characters that are always in each of the advert which attracts the target audience such as Coco the Monkey, this would be used as children like cartoons and it will make them enjoy the advert more as they would see the same ones on the advert each time so it will stick in their head and make them want their parents to buy the product. This advert would defiantly be aimed at children as all the colours used in the advert are bright and animation usually is to keep children entertained.

Form - Narrative Structures

In every advert there is a narrative story, there are many different ways that a narrative can be told, so there are many different narrative structures. Firstly, a narrative story can be Linear, a linear story is where the story is told in sequential order, from the beginning through the middle and to the end. It doesnt flashback at any time and events happen as they occured.

In the above advert, it uses a linear narrative structure, this is because its starts of with him brushing his teeth and then when he finishes he uses the listerine mouthwash, in sequential order he is swelling his mouth as the time bomb ticks away in his hand. At the end of the advert, the dynamite goes off in his mouth and he expells the listerine. Therefore, the story in the advert was told in a linear fashion.

Form - Talking Heads

Talking heads is a way of allowing the viewers to relate to the people in the advert. The reason why the audience can relate them is because these people are normal everyday people and would be doing the same things and be in the same situation as them. If in the advert the turnout is good for the people in it then the viewers may think that if they do the same they will be successful too which makes it more believable and so it must be true. The advert below shows us an advert that can relate to the audience as the people on the advert are the people in it are regular people, it shows that it is aimed at everyone and everyone can send their phone into envirofone.

Style - Surreal

A surreal advert is one that is meant to be dream- like, as if they are bringing a dream to life and gives them something dream like. it entices the audience and makes them want to tell others about the advert they have seen and link the product that is being advertised to the advert itself.

The Aero advert is a surreal advert, the advert shows someone having a bite of an Aero chocolate bar and then he skate boards through brown ballons as if they are the bubbles that are in the chocolate bar, as if he is dreaming he can feel the bubbles as he eats it. The advert is aimed at people who like chocolate and escpecially like Aero chocolate.

Style - Humorous

The humourous side of adverts uses comedy to sell its product, this is a good way of trying to get people to buy the product as makes the advert stick into the viewers head. John Smiths beer is a quite cheap beer which means that working class people would buy it, the makers of this advert have used Peter Kay in it as he can relate to working class people as hes a normal guy. He represents all the men that buy this kind of beer.