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