Tuesday Lectures

So the lecture with Peter was about image and how the different elements of the image effect it. From the lighting, composition, cropping of the image, the space in which its in, its context, the angle of the image, contrast, and framing etc. He showed us lots of examples of different images and the different ways they can be used for different advertising. He drew upon the fact that images of products and lifestyles are often sexualised to encourage consumers into buying into a 'utopian' lifestyle. The orientation of an image is also important in changing the feel of it. For example rural natural landscapes are often shown in a horizontal format to evoke gentleness whilst urban landscapes are often shown in a vertical format to give a dynamic and dramatic feel the the image. It is something which is pretty obvious but which I'd never thought about before...

For next week I've got to take two photographs of a common household object. One photograph has to projec the image dramatically, whilst the other should be softer and have a more romantic feel about it. I'm thinking of using hairbrush. I don't know why, it just popped into my head.

Later we had contextual studies with Vishua and he explained the basics of our essay which is due in at the end of term. We have to discuss the interpretation of images and texts, and how the context of these images and texts affects their meaning. We also have to discuss how the two elements work seperatley and together. For some reason me and Natasha (we're doing the presentation together which accompanies the essay) thought of using rabbits. I don't know why. We just both like rabbits. It started as a bit of a joke but then we actually started to come up with some good ideas. How the image of a rabbit is used in various ways; from a childhood symbol to something much more adult and sexualised with the playboy bunny. How rabbits are used in film and litereature to give across these different meanings as well as to promote social messages, i.e. in the Novel Watership Down. Later today I was drying my hands and found that the name of the hand dryer company to be 'bunnie hand and face dryer' with a rabbit as its logo. This gave me the idea of the image of a rabbit being used to symbolise efficiency and speed. So what started off as a bit of a joke might actually end up being the focus of our end of term presentation and essay. Vishua did say to be as creative as possible....

Business cards

This morning had a lecture with Peter and we gave in our business cards. I wasn't too happy with mine but gave them in anyway. The first one was just a simple format, using heirarchy to display my information. The second one reversed this heirarchy so that the most important piece of information i.e. my name was at the bottom of the card. I also used a font with this one which played with the spacing of the letters and words. The final card again played with spacing and used a format that went against conventional alignment...

Amy McCraith

BA (Hons) Advertising London College of Communication

amy.mccraith@yahoo.co.uk   

07784305722

01707886856

01707886856

07784305722

amy.mccraith@yahoo.co.uk

BA (Hons) Advertising London College of Communication 

Amy McCraith 

Amy McCraith

BA (Hons) Advertising London College of Communication

                                    amy.mccraith@yahoo.co.uk        

 07784305722

                                          01707886856

Tate Modern

After the morning lecture we all headed down to the Tate Modern. We were supposed to be there for a piece of performance art, however unfortunatley it had finished at the weeked. So instead we viewed a new installation exhibition by Korean artist Sung Hwan Kim, whose work is "a form of subtle and engaging storytelling that interweaves recent personal experiences, Korean culture, folklore and history. 

Sung Hwan Kim is one of the key artists of his generation working in an interdisciplinary way with video and performance art. At the heart of his new installation for the Tanks is a series of haunting films, narrated and performed by the artist himself."

(taken from the Tate website)

The work was really interesting and engaging, and at the same time slightly haunting and eerie. It made us all think about how advertising is better when interactive and emotional. Because our agency is just all about performance and interaction, the exhibtion was perfect for us. We also saw an installation piece by British artist Lis Rhodes. 

"Lis Rhodes' installation, Light Music, recreated for The Tanks at Tate Modern, is an innovative work, experimenting with celluloid and sound to push the formal, spatial and performative boundaries of cinema.

As light beams from two film projectors positioned opposite each other, abstracted forms of light and shadow are created. Through this dynamic, the audience are encouraged to become active participants, moving through the beams and creating new forms. Rhodes describes the work and her motivation in creating it."

I enjoyed Rhode's installation even more than Kim's. It was interactive, fun and playful and encouraged the audience to go past their boundaries and perform amongst the lights. This is exactly what our agency is about.

For next week we have to choose three found images and place our agencies logo against them and then explain how the ethos of our agency changes the meaning of the pictures. This was linking back to the lecture with Bruno in the morning, in which Toscani would often take found images and use them in Benetton's advertising, completley changing their meaning in the process.

United Colors of Benetton

Had a really interesting lecture with Bruno this morning about the brand 'United Colors of Benetton', previously just 'Benetton'. The Italian brand established in the 1960's who were known for their colourful jumpers and sweaters. Their advertising at first was pretty conventional...





But in 1982 they enlisted the help of controversial photographer Oliviero Toscani.  The adverts became more about the fun and youthfulness of it and by having so many people from different ethnic backgrounds in the pictures the word colours was meant in more than one way. It celebrated diversity.

The ads continued to play on this concept, and developed the slogan 'United Colors of Benetton'. This eventually became the name of the brand and the brand itself
The adverts then started to divert away from advertising the product and became more about advertising the concept of colours..

This period is the period of time in which Benetton's advertising is, in my opinion, its best. It's clever, playful and funny and compeltley puts across the ethos of the brand without saying much more that 'United Colors of Benetton'. 
They then started to become slightly more controversial, playing with taboos and historical contexts..

Not only do the above adverts touch on the taboos of breast feeding and criminality, but they also both in my opinion have implications with the slave trade and the persecution of black Americans during the 1950's. In this time period, it was not uncommon for a white woman to give her baby to the black housemaid to be breastfed. At this point in Benetton's advertising, they are to me still clever and interesting, however less playful and more serious. They started to become even less about the product, and now started to raise awareness for cultural and social issues through their advertising. 
During the 80's when the aids epidemic came about, Benetton's clever advertising started to raise mass awareness for the disease. They promoted saftey and precaution with their ads and succeeded in making Aids less of a taboo and something which could be talked about and addressed in society

The above ad still also managed to keep the playful side of Benetton's ethos whilst at the same time promoted a serious message about Aids and other STI's to the public.

However, towards the end of Toscani's partnership with Benetton, the adverts to me became more about causing controversy and exploitation than raising social awareness. Toscani started to use found images, which to me sometimes didn't even have a connection to the brands ethos, for example the below ad which uses the image of a man in his last hours, dieing from Aids. The photograph in its orignal context succeeded in painting the dark serious portrait of Aids and promoting its awareness and seriousness. However when Toscani used the image for Benetton it was turned into colour and for me is just a little sickening. He is at the end of the day, using the image of a dying man and his traumatised family to sell sweaters.

One of Toscani's final ads for Benetton was the one below which caused mass uproar around the world, as it played on something that was very raw at the time and still is today. War effects people so seriously, that for me I don't think it can be used to advertise products, i.e. knitwear

For me, it is such a shame that Benetton's advertising went so downhill. Toscani's advertising throughout the 80's and 90's was to me,genius. It was clever, funny, playful but at the same time helped raise awareness for different issues. From race and gender issues to aids, it gave controversial messages to the public which made them stop and think about Benetton's ads. It made them memorable for the right reasons. However, as Toscani, in my opinion started to lose the plot, it became more about causing controversy and being risky, and for me that risk didn't pay off.