Racism in Advertising
by Marine Viale on Mar.07, 2013, under Racism in Advertising
All of the photos that you see here are ads that date from a while back, it is crazy to think that this was tolerated in the past, who knows what kind of scandal this would cause if any of these were to be released today. You can tell in some of these ads that stereotypes and generalizations were used a lot when referring to some races, this is still done in the advertising world today, particularly when targeting women, but not in such an aggressive and obvious way.
Banned Volkswagon Commercial
by Marine Viale on Mar.07, 2013, under Racism in Advertising
Here is a terrible, terrible, terrible Volkswagen commercial depicting a muslim man entering a Volkswagen car, he starts the engin and drives to a type of cafe, he clicks a button and he legit explodes, except for the car.
The commercials slogan is “Polo. Small but tough.” I find this shameful and of very bad taste, thankfully it has been banned. Some people may say that its funny, its just a joke and there were no harmful intentions… I don’t know what to say to people who approve of these ads, I don’t find it funny.
L’Oreal Denies Photoshopping Beyonce Knowles to Make Her Skin Look Fairer
by Marine Viale on Mar.07, 2013, under Racism in Advertising
In 2009, l’Oreal was accused of ‘whitening’ the international celebrity Beyonce Knowles to the point where The New York post said that the “digital lightening” made her “virtually unrecognisable”.
“We highly value our relationship with Ms Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L’Oreal Paris altered Ms Knowles’ features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color,” the company said in a statement, even though L’Oreal does have a reputation for intensely photoshopping images of their models.
This might not seem like such a big deal, but one needs to wonder: Why did L’Oreal feel the need to do such a thing? Do they feel that Beyonce looks nicer with fairer skin? Is she not beautiful enough naturally?
Sony’s Racist Ad to Promote its New Black and White Playstation
by Marine Viale on Mar.07, 2013, under Racism in Advertising
Sony released these advertisements (quickly removed from the public) depicting two women who appear to be in some sort of combat to promote its black and white portable PlayStation. How do you feel about these?
Regulatory Considerations in International Advertising
by Marine Viale on Mar.07, 2013, under Uncategorized
As the media scene of a country changes, so does the regulatory situation as the two are often linked. As new media forms evolve, new regulations also develop vis-à-vis of advertising messages that may appear in those media. Advertising regulations vary among nations therefore a message that may be tolerated in one market may be considered unacceptable in another, that is one it is imperative to understand local attitudes when marketing in a foreign country.
Factors that may effect the regulatory situation:
- demographic
- economic
- geographic
- political-legal
- cultural
Horsemeat found in Nestlé’s meals
by Marine Viale on Mar.06, 2013, under Uncategorized
Traces of horse DNA have been found in Nestlé’s beef pasta meals leading to the product being removed from sale in Spain and Italy. The product was labelled and advertised as beef when it was in fact horse meat this prompted product withdrawal, consumer rage and government investigation even though governments across Europe state that horse meat poses little to no health risks, although some carcasses were found with a painkiller (most likely ketamine, a horse anesthetic) which is obviously banned from human consumption.
This shows how people around the world truly take advertisers words for truth. It’s crazy how if advertisers say that it’s beef, consumers will believe that it’s beef, purchase the product, eat it, only to later on find out that there were traces of horse DNA in what they ate…
How the portrayal of women has changed over time as advertising agencies try to build better marketing relationships with women
by Marine Viale on Mar.06, 2013, under Sexist Ads
If you asked an advertising agency to visualize a mom fifty years ago they would probably envision a domestic woman racing through a kitchen cooking a nice meal with one hand while cleaning the floor with the other. Ads depicting this ‘idyllic’ scene have been made in the past, but as time passed by people began to realize that this picture doesn’t truly do justice to the intricacy of women’s everyday lives.
The thought of taking risks make advertising agencies anxious which is why they oftentimes make generalizations (they must think its a safer option), especially when targeting women, by sticking stereotypes such as the perfect suburban housewife or the busy mother that struggles to balance out her work and family life.
“The oft-quoted Greenfield Online Study from 2002 found that 91 percent of women believed that advertisers of every stripe didn’t understand them. Recent research from Insights in Marketing’s i-on-Women unit suggests little has changed over the last decade. Just 17 percent of 1,300 women surveyed said today’s advertisers market effectively to females, while a mere 9 percent believed marketers were effectively communicating to them personally.”
“Part of where they’re missing the boat is, they’re painting all customers with the same broad brushstrokes,” says Tinesha Craig, division director of i-on-Women. “All moms aren’t quite the same. All women aren’t the same. Companies haven’t figured out how to customize their message in a way that’s meaningful. I think they leave a little bit of opportunity on the table because they’re looking at just one aspect of who you are.”
“Marketers have the ability for real-time feedback now like never before,” says Kramer. “Women have the ability to help marketers develop direction and make messages more relevant.”
Data helps advertisers understand what is important to women and how they are unique in terms of how they engage and care about ads.
British Columbia Children’s Hospital Foundation’s ad has been conveyed through the use of optical illusions
by Marine Viale on Mar.06, 2013, under Uncategorized
Here’s an imaginative way to highlight an issue as ordinary as restricted working conditions. Agency Dare opted for a different approach to design their new ads for the British Columbia Children’s Hospital Foundation, they decided to create optical illusions through custom set design rather than using special effects from the computer. This is a crafty way to convey a profound message on a global scale, particularly if it is for such a good cause as a Children’s Hospital as anybody can understand the clever message that new facilities are required.
This creative method to advertise is a fantastic way to hit people internationally. Click here to watch another one of these ingenious ads!
International Advertising and its Impact on Children
by Marine Viale on Mar.06, 2013, under Uncategorized
Much research (such as the effects of cigarette and alcohol ads on children) has been conducted to study the negative psychological effects that advertising may have on children. This has grown to become a big problem today as subtler marketing methods are used, such as product placement in films and TV shows. Analyses indicate that this drives children and adolescents towards unhealthy behaviours as it becomes more problematic to protect them as marketers have so much power over the social media and internet.
An interesting experiment conducted to study the effects of branding: two portions of the exact same food were given to 3 to 5 years olds, one of which had a McDonald’s wrapper. The kids were asked which one tasted better and Dr. Robinson said, “overwhelmingly, for hamburgers, French fries, baby carrots, milk or juice in a cup, kids would say the one on the McDonald’s wrapper tastes better.” And apparently this is because up to the age of 7 or 8 children don’t understand the persuasive intent in the nature of advertising .
To help reduce the damage it has been noted that when a child asks for something, parents should ask their child why they want it and where they heard about it ? Like that the kids can begin to understand that if they saw something on TV or the internet that the advertisers want them to want it, so that they can begin decode and understand what the world is trying to communicate to them.
Coca-Cola and L’Oreal’s Big Goals for 2020
by Marine Viale on Mar.06, 2013, under Uncategorized
Coca-Cola and L’Oreal have big plans for the future, they want to expand by 2020 with grand strategies and stretch goals such as doubling revenues and customers worldwide.
Coca-Cola wants to increase their revenue to $200 billion in 2020 from $95 billion in 2008, this is ‘a big, hairy, audacious goal’ as Joseph V. Tripodi, executive vice president and chief marketing and commercial officer at Coca-Cola states. On the bright side nonetheless there are certain factors such a urbanization and the rise of the middle class which are in the company’s favour.
“Every 30 days there’s the equivalent of a new Atlanta added to the world,” he said. Even so, “demographics are not destiny,” Mr. Tripodi added. “You have to capture it.”
Mr. Tripodi’s outlined approaches that included “inserting ourselves into the culture to stay relevant” in realms like music and sports, suprising customers with free sodas and t-shirts…
On the other hand, L’Oreal said that by 2020 they want to be selling products to 2.5 billion customers around the world in contrast to 1.2 billion from the beginning of the decade.
Today we are in an era where the importance of social media continuously grows, like facebook where the coca-cola fan page has over 40.6 million likes. L’oreal has several fan pages on Facebook dedicate to specific markets such as Brazil, Canada, France and the United states. “Beauty and digital are a magical match,” Mr. Menesguen said, head of l’Oreal’s strategic marketing department.
