Creative subversive ads

Creative subversive ads 

Subversive advertising is not the advertisements you might encounter every day. There are plenty of adverts which take a twist of the original ad and gives a meaning that is the opposite. They tend to be more extreme than the original and makes people think more and harder about what is actually being advertised at them. 

Examples of subversive ads:

Adbusters.org

http://weburbanist.com/subversive-marketing-and-other-culture-jamming/

https://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/

OUCA401

The 1980´s context of advertising

Aim for the seminar:
Understand cultural, aesthetic, social and technological contexts of the 80´s.
Understand some key aspects of romantic model of creativity.
Define postmodern advertising.

Economic & Political
S&S Became the world´s largest advertising firm
Context of privatisation
It was the time of Raegan & Thatcher
Recession and unemployment (1981)
Historian Lord Hennessy "uncanny" similarities between the riots of 1981 and 2011
1982 election state industries sold; gas, water & electricity.
Financial deregulation
Big Bang 1986 removal restrictions London stock exchange.
Growth in the finance and service sectors

Social context
"Unemployment topped three million in 1982"
The january 1982 figure of 3,070,621 represented 12.5 per cent of the working population

New identities
Boom mid 80´s
Yuppies 1986 bang (young upwardly mobile professionals)
They had lots of money and was a well used target group when it came to marketing products.
"now in their fifties and sixties but the rampant materialism shows little sign of abating" (reporter, 2010)
Early 80´s caused an ad boom
"it lined the pockets of all kinds of creative companies, designer brand thinkers and, of course, advertising. it was the decade that embraced the value of brands as a competitive necessity"

New man, New woman, New sexuality & New romantics
The man was portrayed as more androgynous. He was showing this softer side that was looked at as less masculine. The calvin klein ad from the 1980´s show a man posing with a child that was new. The new woman became more confident and in fashion this was showed with the famous Armani power suit. There was more women working in banking and finance - high powered jobs (UK&USA). After the hard imagery of the late 1970´s punk, Vivienne Westwood created her nostalgic, neo - romantic Pirate Collection from 1980.

from lecture presentation

Post modern creaive ads:
- 1984 Apple Mac Chiat/Day Grand Prix Cannes.
- Twister
- VW.
- Sleepy time 1989

Global tv & language
Music television launched in 1981
MTV American cable and satellite television channel (viacom) New York City.
24HR Music videos
MTV was one of the first truly global TV brands.
Music videos crossed global borders
Global language - audience; youth
The 80´s gave rise to the MTV generation
Brands looks, voice reached global audience
BBH´S work on levis meant that we were at the forefront of this blobal phenomenon
Two implications:
1) Brands targeting youth audience `could now be fun from one place`
2) The need to think beyond the borders of the UK.

from lecture presentation

OUCA401

Shape - shifting 70´s

Aim for the seminar: Understand cultural, aesthetic and economic contexts of the 70´s and define contextual influences upon ads in the 70´s. Also compare contextual influences upon ads in the 00´s. 

Social & Cultural

The DIY culture emerged from the subculture Punk. Many fashion labels especially Vivienne Westwood took inspiration from the subculture into their fashion. The brand had a fashion line called Let It Rock that was influenced by New York Dolls. Subculture style "offends the silent majority". The meaning of this style reflected attitude of youth movement towards a system that offered "no future". 

Economic & Political Context

Unemployment in 1972 was above 1 million, and that was the first time since the 30´s. 

1977 was the protest era. 

Union Strikes

Women´s liberal movement

National Women´s Liberation Movement

This was prompted by the civil rights in USA. 

100´s conferences resulted in legislation 1970 Equal Pay Act.

Specifying equal pay for equal work was implemented in 1975.

Ad campaign - The Makethempay (2014) campaign created by the the advertising agency Mother London was created to bring the issue of equal pay for equal work. 

Another Best Ad Ever (1969)

"His (Jeremy Sinclair) idea not only answered the brief brilliantly, but also became a symbol of changing sexual attitudes throughout the 70´s and the impetus for the launch of Saatchi & Saatchi... not bad for a bloke with a cushion stuffed up his jumper" 

- (Hegarty, 2011,p26)

More ad classics:

- Collins

-WCRS

- The Ultimate Driving Machine Series For BMW

- I Bet He Drinks Carling Black Label

Saatchi & Saatchi

Opened its doors in 1970. 

Hefarty 26, Maurice (Writer campaign) 23, Charles 28.

Charles: Creatively- led agency.

Hired Ron Collins "a gifted but flawed art director" from Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP)

Always in the ad magazine Campaign.

S&S had no account men

They created some award - winning work

Hegarty left S&S in 1973 and became Creative Director at TBWA.

1975 Labour Isn´t Working AD

This ad has become a part of the political history of the UK, re - engaged the agency with its creative spirit. 

"We where out to change not only advertising, but also business of advertising" 

- (p137, Hegarty, 2011)

SUMMARY 

Social & cultural context was a reaction to greater economic and political turbulence. 

70´s younger generation created subcultures visually distinct subversive and satirical. 

Postmodern architecture ads 

Sculpture - stretched. 

Tv advertising entertaining against gloom

OUCA401

Wonderbra ad research for essay

Created in 1994
Model: Eva Herzigova

I wanted to use this as considered research for my essay as it touches on feminism and beauty in the 1990´s. I thought this would be relevant for my chosen topic on notions of beauty and class in advertising. The ad was not made to degrade women, but empower them. The model is portrayed as a woman that is knowingly playing with her sexuality, not becoming a sexualised object.

"My Wonderbra campaign empowered women. It didn´t degrade them like some said or say. It was controversial at the time, sure - but it made waves and you can see its influence still today. It was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history and i am so proud to be a part of it." - Eva Herzigova

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/eva-herzigova-wonderbra-ad-empowered-women-9875267.html 

The 1990´s & United Colors of Benetton Ads

These two adverts by the fashion brand United Colors Of Benetton is two good examples of creating adverts with a strong meaning and works for globally. I wanted to publish them here on my blog as examples on how you can make strong visuals work for an international target audience. This relates back to the creative brief. 

The meaning behind these ads might not be as understandable today due to their context. They only had impact in the time they where made. The one with the baby was created during the Gulf war (1990 - 1991), and the second one shows a man dying of Aids that was the number one cause of death for us men 25- 44 in 1992. These was huge social issues and happenings that the majority of people knew of and by "commenting" on these real life events showed that the brand was socially conscious. 

Both the ads show something that can be understood by everyone. Everyone is born and will have an encounter with death or someone close dying. 

Created by: Creative Director Oliver Toscani

 OUCA401

Liverpool Trip - Tate gallery

This is pictures i took of a interesting piece i saw when visiting Tate gallery in Liverpool 15th February, 2017. This is a piece i found in the Tracy Emin and William Blake in Focus exhibition. 

I wanted to document my finding here on the blog so that i could consider it as research for my essay on the topic discussing notions of beauty in advertising. 

"In each of these works an image from a women´s fashion magazine is framed alongside a photograph of the artist. Her actions and poses appear to mimic those in the found magazine pages, but the photographs are in fact pictures that existed in Ivekovic´s personal collection, often taken months or even years before the magazines were published. Part of a series called Double Life, originally published as an artist´s book, these works comment on the invasive effect mass media imagery on women´s lives while also commenting on the disparity between such images and the rituals and interactions that compose everyday life. " (Figure 4)

Mass media / Sexuality / Cliché

OUCA401

Deconstruct an Ad

Client: Colgate Dental Floss
Agency: Cerebro Y&R, Panama

What you see in the adverts are two kinds of different fruits that normally carry small seeds. However, in this ad the seeds has fallen out of the fruit and is placed right in front of it. The product that is advertised for is small and placed in the corner so that the focus is on the fruit. The advert is strongly based on art direction because there is no copy in the ad. The image gives out a strong message without using any words.

Image of Kiwi - Signified
Word Kiwi - Signifier
= Sign Kiwi

The denotation of the ad is the seedless fruits Kiwi and strawberry that is represented in the ad. The connotation of the seedless fruits is that fruit is a symbol of something healthy. This fits well with the client, Colgate Dental Floss which represents healthy teeth. They have also decided to use fruits with tiny seeds that is quite hard to remove if you tried, and that is why the seeds gives the ad meaning. The fruits and their seeds stand for what the product does.

Overall, what you understand from the ad is that the product which is Colgate Dental Floss is so good that it can remove the tiniest bits of any food in your mouth without any problem.

OUCA401