Gender stereotypes in ads

Here is a great example of gender stereotyping in this Dolce & Gabanna ad:

This simply implies that men are masculine and dominant over women as you can see in this ad, a muscular male holds down an attractive female seductively, showing a dominant frame. This may be offensive to women. I'm guessing it is trying to show that once you buy this Dolce & Gabbana product, you will be perceived in a certain frame of dominance. For those who are socially blind of course, can fall for this ad. If I was a male who had no sense of self-centered masculine dominance, looking at this ad would greatly motivate me to buy this product and act accordingly to the ad, in a situational confidence. However, it is surprising that it is accepted by society and may influence others' perspectives on gender roles.

Stereotypes in Movies/TV

The latest stereotype I've seen in a movie is the 2012 comedy, Ted starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. John (Wahlberg) was at a house party hosted by his best friend Ted, a live teddy bear along with the real life Flash Gordon actor San Jones. Jones, after being coked up at the party, punched through a wall. Ming (typical Chinese name), Ted's neighbor is furious with a hole in his wall, frantically screamed and yelled with a heavily strong accent, holding a butcher's knife threatening to kill Jones as he approached the party. To sum this all up, an angry Chinese man holding a butchers knife screaming with a strong accent was the producer's portrayal of a Chinese man. In another scene from this film, John was checking out Ted's new apartment and asked about his next door neighbor. Ted responded, "Well they're Chinese and luckily they don't have a gong so I don't see any problems." Another great example of a very childish stereotype. They believed that all Chinese people bang their gongs loudly. This is not true.

Stereotyping in ads

Here is a very funny example of a stereotype ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5peC9wFu64w

I saw this ad one day at a cafe in Hong Kong. Obama is making a speech about change and then suddenly the famous KFC sandwich falls down in a giant size state and crushes him, ending the commercial with the Obama impersonator saying, "Change is good!" This stereotype portrayed in this commercial implied that all blacks love fried chicken. It was pretty hilarious to me however, I understand how this ad may be offensive to some viewers. I believe that stereotyping in ads can be wrong, however, in some countries like Hong Kong, stereotyping in ads are accepted as long as it is in a comedic form.

Semiotics

Once you have an idea of what semiotics are, you can apply that to how ad makers create their ads. This is a great way to analyze an advertisement. In a way you are un-blinding yourself and understand its witty or funny methods of a certain ad once you understand semiotics instead of being sucked into the convincing ad.

Semiotics in ads

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Kent.Outdoor.Advertising.JPG

Here we have a billboard ad for Kent brand cigarettes. This ad is similar to a billboard for a car since it is simple and said "Smooth Transmission" as well as "True: Performance". The connotation appeals to those who likes menthol cigarettes as seen in this ad, the whole background and theme is blue with blue lines on top on the cigarette. It is implying that smokers likes cigarettes with a smooth drag so the ad makers thought that making a simple blue background with a smooth car-influenced theme promoting this cigarette brand would be wise.


http://d2f8dzk2mhcqts.cloudfront.net/0554_Creative_Ads/3.jpg

In this ad, we see a Pepsi and Coca Cola can. One straw is inserted into the Pepsi can while the other is resistant in being inserted into the Coke. The denotation of this ad focused more on the Pepsi can because the Coke can is obvious however, they censored the logo so that you can only see Pepsi. The ad simply implies that Pepsi is way better than Coke since the straw was very resistant to it. The connotation is some people prefer Pepsi over Coca Cola.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMraav_Q9L8

In this Oreo Super Bowl ad, we see two friends at a library whispering to each other which part of the Oreo tastes good, the cream or the cookie. As the words are being exchanged to each other, the fight escalated into a library disaster. Patrons knocking over shelves, employees throwing books, and a police car driving through the building. The connotation of this ad relates to us and Oreo cookies. We often have a debate over which part of the cookie tastes better.

Thoughts on advertising

I feel that if you are socially intuitive and aware of the dynamics of human beings, you can take advantage of that in advertising. This is because you know how others think and therefore, you can use your creative skills to create an ad that can convince others to buy a certain product or brand. People always told me, you must have a creative mind to have advertising ideas. I agree and disagree. Yes you must have creative ideas, however, those who are aware and socially intuitive, can also benefit from this as well.