Print Ads

While pondering over what I should write about humorous print advertising, I decided to browse through some magazines to see what I could find. I quickly realized that the only magazines I had in my apartment were from a project I did earlier this semester, and they were rejects from the Rexburg Public Library. Not so up to date, but they still worked. The first thing I noticed about the advertisements in most of the magazines I browsed through (including Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Field & Stream, National Geographic, People and Sports Illustrated) was that most of the print ads were more informative and direct, rather than story telling.

The lack of story, or plot, differed a lot from radio and television ads. Print ads need to have their information all on one page, and so it is much more difficult, in my opinion, to evoke the emotion of humor in a one page print ad. But then I came across a four-page spread for Citi. Each page has a picture of one person on it with a small caption describing an item they had purchased. But placing violent and suggestive video games on the same page as a middle aged Asian woman seemed a little out of place, so I had to chuckle, I continued smirking as I turned the page to see a rather hefty man with a caption that read, “I had $23,000 worth of liposuction.” Two pages later the info comes, and finally the ads make sense as Citi explains their identity theft protection that comes with a Citicard.

Although I found this and several other humorous ads while perusing my array of magazines, the most commonly used forms of advertisement seemed to be sex appeal, and the use of celebrities to promote a certain brand or product. Was I shocked by this? Not at all. With the little space for words and plot, a familiar face, or bronzed body seems to catch the eye faster than a cleverly placed punch line.

I even found that there were a few ads that were carried over from television into a still frame of a familiar commercial or ad. This I thought was clever because it brought memories to the readers, not a new concept. I didn’t have to concentrate so much on what was happening in the ad, because I already understood what it was about, and could then read the “meat” of it. Even though some print-ads were humorous, I think that they are better suited for radio and television.

-Devin Graves

2 Sonic Guys - Click here for funny video clips

Humorous Advertising

Humor on the radio

I listen to Z103.3, and it's geared toward teen and young adult listeners. I think it has a great deal of humor, both by the Deejays and by the commercials they run. Whether or not it's well executed, that's a different story. I think in order to have a good audience base, with people consistently turning to that station, there must be a good mix of humor and seriousness. In order for a medium to survive, it must appeal to first a target group and to a broader audience within that target. For example, Z103 targets 13-25 year olds. Not all 13-25 year olds listen strictly to what Z103 plays, but the ones that do don't all have the same personality.

I enjoy humor, and not just on the radio. I think as long as real thought was put into the commercial or whatever, it'll be more appealing to the audience. And that's what it's really all about, right? Appealing to your consumers.

Kim Clawson

Justin Wood's 4 paragraphs

I thought this project was particularly interesting in the fact that it had changed my attitude tremendously from the time I started until the end of the week. I thought it was very interesting the shear amount of my time that had been dedicated to spending time on the media, either by the internet, TV, or textbooks. Especially textbooks, but I guess that comes with the territory of being a college student.

But this exercise really put things in perspective for me when I looked back at it and noticed that I have a very scheduled day without me even knowing. I have a routine that I seem to follow to the T when it comes to checking certain websites. And all of the sites were sites that you would be purchasing items from. One of my favorite sites is called whiskeymilitia.com. Now don’t let the name fool you, it’s not a liquor store online. But this is a site that sells one item at a time; it might be a watch or some snowboard bindings. But the thing is you have to check it to see if you have any good deals on there since you don’t want to miss them. The same thing goes for craigslist and eBay. Its not that I’m crazy or anything, I just don’t want to miss a good deal, even though I might not necessarily need it. I have this routine though and it seems to be the same about everyday of the week. I come home from school or work and I sit down with my lunch and watch TV for about an hour. Then I start on my homework with the occasional break to see what is on my list of sites. Then back to work for the necessary time.

My wife and I are very avid movie watchers and we get all of our movies from Netflix, which is really an amazing site. So we never have to go outside and deal with the lines and people that are associated with going to the rental place. When watching movies you are bombarded with product placements or some kind of promotions for just about everything. And it really gets kind of upsetting; you just wish you could watch a movie in peace.

This spreadsheet though made it clear that some types of media are more prominent in my life than others and that I rarely use other types of media. The internet has all but taken over the spare time in my life, catching up on cougarfan, the news or whatever.