Structure:
Anti-Realist
Series
Style:
Surreal
Humour
Techniques:
Emotional response or association
Describe and explain the structures of the advert:
This advert is from Cadburys, it is advertising their Dairy Milk
chocolates. The adverts duration is around 90 seconds. I chose this advert as
it seemed like something you wouldn’t ever expect to see when you think of an
advert for a chocolate.
The advert consists of the Dairy Milk logo on a purple background
(the colour for the chocolate), the camera then pans to an extreme close up of
a gorilla. The gorilla is shown getting ready to do something by stretching and
breathing heavily. There is then a long shot which shows that the gorilla is
sitting in front of a drum kit. The gorilla then begins to play the drums in
sync with the soundtrack. After which the chocolate is shown to end the advert.
During the advert Phil Collin’s In The Air Tonight plays as the gorilla plays
the drums in sync with the song.
The advert is anti-realist as although it isn’t impossible, it
would be quite difficult to train a gorilla to act and play the drums in sync
with the song. There is another advert similar to this advert making it a
series, in which the gorilla plays the drums to Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse Of
The Heart.
This is a surreal advert is a bizarre concept, when thinking of
chocolate people don’t immediately think of a gorilla playing a drum kit. This
may be why it is so popular along with the humour. The surreal aspect of a
gorilla playing the drums gives the advert a comical aspect to it which would
only help the advert get more recognition.
The advert is all in high key lighting and is primarily shot in
front of a purple backdrop which is the official colour of Dairy Milk
chocolate. The advert seems like it may contain animation however the gorilla
is actually a suit and is controlled through a man sitting inside of it along
with animatronics controlling the facial expressions.
Describe and explain the techniques of the advert:
I feel that the advert aims to get an emotional response out of
the audience by making them laugh or confusing them. The viewer may be laughing
at the surreal nature of the advert or may be wondering if the gorilla was
real, whether it is a man in a suit or whether it is all animated.
I didn’t feel there was any other
technique implemented into this advert as the whole advert seemed surreal and
random. There wasn’t a message that the advert was giving the viewer in an
overt manner or hidden manner.
Who is the target market? How are they targeted by the advert?
The advert would appeal to a mass
audience because of the nature of the advert. It could be taken as a funny
advert with a gorilla to children, who would want their parents to purchase
that particular chocolate because of the advert. It would also make older
viewers want to eat chocolate purely from seeing the logo or the chocolate bar
in the final seconds of the advert. I don’t feel the advert was aimed at a
particular gender as there was nothing that implied the advert was aiming
towards men or women alone.
In terms of social class I feel the
product itself is aimed more towards the lower middle class (C1) and middle
class (B). I feel this way because there are a variety of brands of chocolates,
this chocolate isn’t considered high class and luxurious as others are for
example, Galaxy. I also think that any social class below the lower middle
class would prefer to purchase a cheaper brand of chocolate, even though Dairy
Milk isn’t considered expensive, it is still quite pricey for the amount of
chocolate. There would be cheaper alternatives for example the supermarkets own
brand of chocolate.
Identify and explain the characteristics of the product or service:
Cadburys was in trouble before this
advert was broadcast with various food related fines. Cadburys felt they needed
to become more reputable in a good manner as opposed to their bad reputation at
the time. Therefore they went to the same advertising agency as the ones that
created the Sony Bravia Paint advert which was extremely popular.
One of Cadburys most well-known
products is Dairy Milk, it was known to have a higher proportion of milk than
other chocolates at the time therefore giving it a unique taste. The popularity
of the product meant that Cadbury would introduce variations of the chocolate
for example Fruit and Nut. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is one of the United Kingdom’s
well-known chocolates.
There are many similar products to
Dairy Milk for example Galaxy which is regarded more luxurious than Dairy Milk
however still remains in competition as it is essentially the same product,
smooth milk chocolate. Dairy Milk may also compete with other budget chocolates
such as ASDA’s brand of milk chocolate.
As far I know the ASA didn’t receive
complaints about this advert however if they did receive complaints it would
probably be because the gorilla is shown looking quite angry at the start of
the advert which may scare younger children.
