Christmas advertisements are
constructed, despite how cute, heart-warming and harmless they appear to be.
The companies want to draw in the weak and easily influenced audiences and
persuade them to buy the product that they are advertising. However, some companies
are very smart and discretely advertise a product without the audience
realising what they are doing, meaning they are being 'sucked in' therefore may
end up unintentionally buying the product, resulting in audience consumption
being very high. The majority of advertisements including ones based on the
theme of Christmas follow an audience theory known as the hypodermic needle
theory because the media assume that the audience are empty vessels who know
nothing so are easily manipulated by the media itself. This theory is displayed
in Christmas advertisements because the audience are tricked into believing
that in order to have a ‘fulfilled’ Christmas, they must buy the product being
advertised. Christmas advertisements such as John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and Boots
follow many of the points I have brought across.
The John Lewis Christmas
advertisement 2014:
John Lewis are very well known for
their annual Christmas advertisements and this year was no exception. The 2014
advertisement is about a young boy who has a pet penguin named ‘Monty’. As the
advert develops, we discover than Monty is lonely and is in need of a female
penguin to keep him company which he predictably receives at the very end. John
Lewis has purposely used a young boy and a baby penguin because they know the
audience will find them exceptionally cute therefore will be drawn in to watch
the rest of the advertisement. The themes of love, happiness and friendship are
displayed throughout and these are themes that many people associate with
Christmas, causing them to relate more with the advertisement. John Lewis, as
usual, have used an emotional but catchy song in the background that they know
will stick in peoples head therefore meaning that every time they hear or think
about that particular song, they will remember the John Lewis advert and the
product being advertised within it, which is this case is Monty the penguin.
The advertisement is over two
minutes long which means that John Lewis must have spent a lot of money on
producing it and they would not have done that unless they knew Monty the
penguin was going to provide them with a high profit. It has been evidenced
that John Lewis created the toy versions of Monty and Mabel before the
advertisement which proves that they knew the penguins were going to be very
popular with their audience and would sell out in stores quickly; a very smart
and cunning move made by the company.
The Sainsbury’s Christmas advertisement
2014:
Personally, the Sainsbury’s Christmas
advertisement is my favourite because it focuses on the First World War
therefore is very emotional and genuine. It is about the soldiers on the front
line during the first Christmas of WW1 (1914) and how both the British and
German soldiers came together for that one day. Themes such as giving, remembrance
and friendship are expressed in the advertisement because at the end, a British
and German soldier exchange a chocolate bar for a shortbread biscuit which represents
how Christmas is for giving and being kind to one another.
Sainsbury’s were very clever and
brought out this advertisement soon after Remembrance Day and also because it
has been one hundred years since the start of World War One. This means the advertisement
relates to what is happening now resulting in more people watching it and
feeling engaged with the themes and messages within it. However, the chocolate
bar which is shown towards the end is being sold in Sainsbury’s stores meaning
that although one of the main purposes of this advertisement is to raise
awareness and remembrance for WW1, they still aim for members of their audience
to buy the chocolate bar after watching the advertisement due to being influenced
and emotionally affected by it.
The Boots Christmas advertisement
2014:
The Boots advertisement focuses on
a Mother who could not be home for Christmas with her family due to her working
hours. However on Boxing Day, her family all get up at around midnight to go to
the Mothers house in order to surprise her when she arrives home from work.
This narrative explores the themes of family, generosity, love, togetherness
and the idea of the Mother completing the family. Boots chose a very realistic
topic to work upon meaning the audience will find the advertisement relatable, especially
if they have a family member who works demanding hours such as night shifts as
a nurse resulting in them not being at home for Christmas. There was a good use
of Mise-En-Scene throughout, for example, the snow was used because it is one
of the many symbols of Christmas so really helps to set the scene.
Although products from boots are
being advertised throughout, it is done in a more discrete manner and I
personally do not feel persuaded to go and buy a product from boots that I saw
in the advertisement because it mainly made me just think about the importance
of family during Christmas Time.
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