Von Restorff Effect

I learnt a new terminology, called 'Von Restorff Effect'. It is a psychological term, means the people's memory does last long for something which stands out. I think this what as designer always mentions about 'uniqueness'. This is a very suitable term for describing 'No Pain, No Gain' working philosophy of some advertising agencies, isn't it?

Chucky Movie 

Japan Autoway Tire (Caution: This is extremely scary, I strongly advice to mute the voice if you really scare of it)

Frankly, 'shock' and 'awe' pop out from my mind toward these three advertisements. I think the ultimate goal of them is gaining buzz-worthy attention, whether it is positive or negative. Recently, there are a lot of big companies utilize this method to advertise their brand or service, it could be both reward and risk, but I can make sure that the result in the end must be memorable to people. However, this approach might not be workable for SMEs in initial stage because people have no recognition about them before, once they use this method to 'torture' the people they are pranking, people would be hating these small businesses in rest of live. 

Concerning about this EX approach (EX as in extreme), I am wondering what is the 'gain' of the advertisers look for. Professor of Marketing Michael Solomon said about this genre, "The dark side of the constant drumbeat to enhance consumer engagement." All the scenarios of fear and danger are testing the limits of personal privacy and social acceptability, it makes people's adrenaline increased instantly. 

Scary advertising (idea) > Outdoor event/TVC (media) > Unsuspecting participants/Viewers (target group) > Terrified (public response) > Laugh at it/Scold abusively (public response) > Advertisers gets good reputation from it/ gets law letter from public (public action)

The last of the chain is showing the positive and negative cases, especially in sue-happy nations. This is the liability which advertisers need to concern about. To sum up this post, what I have found out in this stage is advertisers intend to make people talking, and thus become "memorable" in their mind. I would not say it is a very clever method, but it is a very impactful and quick way to get people response toward it. I believe that there are some hidden social issues behind this methodology.

To Be Continued... 

Resources:
Gianatasio, D. (2013) Prankvertising: Are Outrageous Marketing Stunts Worth the Risks? [Online] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/prankvertising-are-outrageous-marketing-stunts-worth-risks-148238 [Accessed: 24th Dec, 2013].

Lidwell, W., Holden, K. & Butler, J. (2011) Universal Principles of Design: Revised and Updated Edition. Taiwan: Uni-Books. pp. 228-229, 254-255.

"No Pain, No Gain" Propaganda in Advertising

This post is about the first stage of my thinking process for the final essay. After having twice tutorial section with my lecturer, I finally come out with my particular statement that I would like argue about- "No Pain, No Gain". Frankly, it is still very superficial at this moment. But, I will be clarifying my statement specifically afterward, perhaps in this post. 

After doing some relevant researches about the masculinity in advertising, I was somewhat confused toward the direction that I would intend to work on. The main reason is those questions that I wanted to explore and find out in the beginning, there are already various academical resources can be found via internet. Therefore, it will be like having 2000 words introduction for describing solely about masculinity. It is quite bored actually because it has nothing much to argue with the masculinity in advertising anymore. The perfectionism is the notion of advertising likes to portray, this is already the general statement. Therefore, what can I still argue about the reality versus virtuality in term of the masculinity of advertising. NO POINT!

Why don't I explore something related to masculinity? Here are sequential pin points that make me come out with the idea:

1. Muscularity is the great sign of masculinity.

2. Fitness center- arena of bodybuilding. 

3. The visual propaganda of fitness. (Chiat has mentioned before)

4. Questioning myself again: What makes them craving for the 'perfect' body shape? 

5. It must be having some motivation to burn up male's passion, but I will be seeing the negative side. (Well, I always like to go against normal theory. Haha!)

6. "NO PAIN, NO GAIN" is the propaganda that fitness industries propagated/

After discussing with lecturer about this, she suggested me to look for other fields as my case studies, rather than only focusing on fitness. How the advertising cultivates this propaganda in the society globally? My own experience of learning English is somewhat affected by this "motto" I guess, it makes me feel torturing during the self-learning process. So, I think it is good to dig out deeper about this impactful quotation. 

The diagram above is my little brainstorming notes. It is quite abstract which I don't expect anyone can understand it, but I will explain elaborately in this post. Anyway, I like abstract :) 

Before explaining the content, I would like to mention that the purpose of my final paper will be focusing on graphic design and advertising field. Back to topic, I have splitted up the long term into 'pain' and 'gain'. Firstly, in term of 'pain', I have checked up Oxford Dictionary:

1. physical suffering or discomfort caused by injury or disease. (psychological pain)

2. unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual/ potential damage.

These are the original meaning of 'pain'. Nonetheless, I would like to highlight psychological pain in this case, and then redefining the term 'pain' in advertising. In this initial stage, I would be sharing my thought based on the understanding I had learnt.  

Figure above shown, Leo Burnett's HumanKind scale for rating ideas. From here we can know that an influential design must be able to change the world, the way people live, and the way people think and feel. Instead of calling the being as consumer, Leo Burnett treats them as people. The perspective of design is changed, understanding people can be easier to integrate into their life via design. 

McDonalds Sundial BillBoard is the great example, such impactful effect that can penetrate into our daily life. The motion graphic that applied through the natural element, reminding people grab a McDonald at each single moment. Therefore, it is influential enough to change the people feel and think, rating between 7 and 8.

Same perspective of design, however, there are some advertising does take action to make have psychological pain in order to penetrate into people's life. Prankvertising is the particular case study, it is when a brand pulls a marketing prank on random, unsuspecting consumers, and this medium is powerful  to generate word of mouth buzz. So far, this kind of medium has not been seen in Malaysia, but Europe countries do. It makes people get frightened, this is the phenomena shows that people is emotionally changed due to this unexpected incident. In other words, I consider it as psychological pain in this manner.

Besides that, movie is one of the media that take parts in propagating 'No Pain, No Gain'.

In term of 'gain', I could only show some superficial ideas so far. 'Gain' can be defined as people follow with interest the design or advertising. So, the first part is about the human behaviour and response. Secondly, I will be looking the entity of external factors, such as economy, social-cultural, and politic. The profit that the particular segmentation of advertising gain from it. In this technology era, social media is a great platform to share information and thought. For instance, Ylvis- 'What Does The Fox Say' gains more than 200 millions views in youtube, and likewise, it has been shared insanely in Facebook. This phenomena proves that it is truly gain the interest of people, it also become an agenda of people. 

Resources

Jay, M (2011) McDonalds Sundial Billboard. Available at: http://designyoutrust.com/designyoutrust/mcdonalds-sundial-billboard/ [Accessed: 8th Dec, 2013].

Integrated Brands (n.d.) Is prankvertising the new trend in advertising? Available at: http://www.integratedbrands.org/news/is-prankvertising-the-new-trend-in-advertising-1 [Accessed: 8th Dec, 2013].

 

What is masculinity?

Who doesn't like to have nice body shape? This is the reason why there has so many fitness centers out there, the community who crave for the muscular body is the one advertising industry really aim at. Advertising creates the term of 'masculinity', it is not merely the body shape, but the attractiveness that men can catch opposite sex's eye balls. Men, you would become popular, and welcomed by girls! Yes, exactly, this is the global stereotype that advertising has successfully create.

Nothing much to argue about this masculinity indeed. I have read some great resources about the notion of masculinity. I would like to analyse an ad in order to give in-dept understanding about how the current ad depicts the sexual message.

Well... I think it is an interesting ad to study. Obviously, in first sight, it is advertising Adidas casual shoes. Undoubtedly , the most significant sign in this ad is the Adidas logo, and likewise, it is well placed in the center. As I have mentioned, masculinity is not solely representing muscular body, but also the sign attractiveness the advertisers like to highlight and bring out. So, you would not be able to see any man with impressive six pack or V-shaped upper body.

Generally, the Adidas casual shoes and long jeans are the great combination of casual wear for most generation Y. At least, I think I am one of them. However, high heel shoes is the symbolic wear of upper-medium income working ladies. In addition, the lace underwear is the sign of lady's sexiness. In reality, woman would not be attracted by men with this kind of apparel, unless you are a celebrity. Perhaps the man who wears this shoes is freaking handsome. However, we don't see any portrait in this ad, it is merely showing the shoes. Therefore, no matter who the man is, girls would only take notice of his shoes in their first sight. The copywriting 'The First Thing She Notes Are Your Shoes' connotates that the shoes make the woman has positive impression- his masculinity affirmed.

Last but not least, this branded shoes has the power to animate a still life in a surreal transformation from object to human being in this consumer society. The another issue I would like to discuss about the lady takes off the lace knickers, reflecting the pejorative sexual message- woman is depicted into slattern. Nonetheless, the power of masculinity become higher thanks to this way of advertising.

In conclusion, sexual advertising likes to satisfy male viewers' desire through this kind of ironic method in order to grab society's attention. Well, it is worth to think of what if this ad published in Malaysia. The problematical question comes to my mind: Is this kind of ad about problem-solving or troublemaker in our society?


Resources:
Chaos (2010) imgfave: The First Thing She Notices... Are Your Shoes. Available at: http://imgfave.com/view/835976 [Accessed: 6th Dec, 2013].

Schroeder, J.E. & Zwick, D. (1999)  Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images. [Online] Available at: http://www.yorku.ca/dzwick/CMC_Mirrors.pdf [Accessed: 29th Nov, 2013].