Targeted advertisement improves the quality of the
match between the consumer and the advertisement message, and enables smaller
businesses to access advertising markets from which they were previously
excluded. While this holds for display advertising, it is even more true for
sponsored search, where the individual consumer declares her intent or
preference directly, by initiating a query.
On the other hand, if a company sends a lot of
target ads to a consumer, he or she might stop using the company’s product or
services. Too much of something is never good and could end up turning the
consumer away. Hence the saying less is more.
In the Dr Pepper Ad, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c4iaetOC54,
this clearly tells consumers that their product “Dr Pepper 10”is not for women.
This showcases hyper masculinity to sell
its product. They are pushing an idea that to be a real man, you can’t be
sensitive and you have to be into physicality. In trying to over masculinity to
promote this drink I think was not the right thing to do. Dr. Pepper is a drink
that is clearly not just for a certain type of people. So making a commercial that only targets only
a certain group of people (real masculine men) was not a great idea. I understand that they are trying to say that only
real men drink Dr. Pepper 10, but the way that they portrayed it in the video
is was overdone. The commercial seemed
sexist both for men and women. It portrays men to be brainless by showing them
doing dangerous things without a second thought and it excludes women completely
by trying to portray women as weak and not strong enough to handle the drink.
There are lots of commercials that try to play into
the stereotypes of men and women. Most advertisements either try to use women
as a sex symbol or men as being masculine. Some do this sadly and others do it
in an extreme way for example the Dr Pepper 10 commercial. I think to have a useful commercial advertisement
companies need to be able to relate to both sexes without offending them. Yes
you can please everyone but only there are ways to be able to please the majority
of people.
I enjoyed your insight about ads that endeavor to “push only one idea.” Indeed, this “could turn the consumer away.” I agree that some ads target a male audience and make women out to be sex symbols. However, what I’m tired of seeing is women always being portrayed as stressed out people fulfilling multiple roles all at once. Women are portrayed as if they can never have a balanced lifestyle because we are expected to be “Superwomen”— a wife, mother, and businesswoman all at the same time. So, I like your thoughts that “less is more!”
ReplyDeleteHi, Fery! Your post is very interesting. I agree with you when you write: “There are lots of commercials that try to play into the stereotypes of men and women. Most advertisements either try to use women as a sex symbol or men as being masculine.” In my opinion, gender role is very important in many advertisements. It is true, we are different: men and women and our choices for closes, shoes, perfume, sports and drinks are absolutely different. I watched this video. Interesting! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYEs, and that leads to something interesting. Ads have always played on the insecurities of women much harder than those of men, and the fact that it allows the ads to target them more narrowly means this could get much worse. Addressing them by name, preying on the specifics of their fears of being too fat or too "slutty" via ad software reading their public posts on such subjects, the dudebros who make these ads would likely have no compunctions about making the world feel less safe for women to sell their crap.
ReplyDeleteI think the way we kill this is with satire. Some comedian/social commentator needs to make some sort of piece taking this to its most ludicrous heights, a fake ad or horror film trailer that does exactly what I described to profoundly cartoonish levels of evil. If it goes viral, hopefully it might make the advertising dudebros think twice before pulling these shenanigans.
This was an interesting blog post to read. I think this was a great point to bring up. I think it's important to be aware of the trends in what is more attention grabbing for different sexes in what appeal more to them, such as a sensitive vs a non-sensative advertisement. But the gender roles played out in advertisements are too high-strong most of the time, being dramatic and over worked.
ReplyDeleteLess is more is a great way of putting it. In a way, I would think not over-doing gender roles might be super beneficial in an advertisement considering it's not a technique commonly used in advertisements.
Great analysis of this commercial.
Where are we as a culture headed with privacy and advertising? Are we becoming dependent on technology that exploits us, or is this concern about our privacy overblown? What are the larger implications of this trend?