Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to the following persons
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- Part one- answering the research questions
SynthesisThe synthesis will contain three parts. This division is made in order to clarify the results and make the understanding of the paper easier. Firstly, we will try to answer our research questions. Secondly, we will summarise the results. Thirdly, we will make some reflections on the results. Part one- answering the research questionsIn this part of the thesis we will try to integrate our findings in the focus groups with the research questions and answer them. The discussion will be divided in two parts, where each part focuses upon one question at a time. Is post-modern advertising perceived by the audience in a different way than traditional advertising, if so what do the people in our focus group think is more positive or more negative with the post-modern ads? It is clear that the consumers in our focus groups perceive post-modern advertising differently than modern advertising. We will try to answer the question by dividing the question in two parts, one concerning the thoughts of post-modern advertising, and the other about modern advertising. The discussion within the two types of advertising will below be done with the help of some themes, which surfaced during the discussion, and which the participants thought of when discussing their perception of post-modern as well as modern advertising campaigns. One thing that clearly surfaced was that the post-modern ads seemed to gain greater credibility than the modern advertising. This was done by using different types of techniques that will be discussed below. The articles we used in our theory clearly argues that there has been a significant shift in the consumer's mind, especially the younger ones, towards a much more critical attitude towards advertising. The post-modern consumer do not want to be manipulated. He or she wants to be in control and make the decisions. In addition to this, consumption of today has a hyper-real component; which means a lot when purchasing a good. The consumer add value to the product that has no real justification outside his or her own mind i.e. it is hyper real. Advertising that is taking all this into account is said to gain credibility among young consumers. How true was this within our focus groups? When analysing the focus group it was clear that some of the ads we selected as post-modern had taken the step from manipulation to empowerment, as discussed above. Also, some of the ads seamed to appeal to the search for something primal among the focus group members. Above all , two things in the ads we presented as post-modern seamed to give credibility to the message. This we believe is because the audience is empowered and is experiencing something primal in the ads. Firstly, the use of humour seamed to give credibility to the ads. The courage to risk their image buy using the not-good locking, but funny India-Elvis in the Diesel ad was seen as cool because Diesel did not try to manipulate the audience by some fairytale that was impossible to believe. By using humour, both in this ad and in the Levi's ad with the transvestite, the brand risk something by letting real outsiders promote their product. This gives some power of judgement to the audience. The company is not seen as a symbol of power, but as a player on an equal level, who has the integrity and credibility to use self irony. In fact, by using self irony and humour in the ads, the companies we selected avoided ALL the criticism of the ad being manipulative or containing models, or a story, that seamed too perfect to be believed. Secondly, the concept of integrity, seemed closely linked with credibility in our study. The transvestite's confident act in the taxi is seen as a demonstration of integrity. Despite the reaction from society, represented by the taxi driver, he/ she makes no attempt to hide his/ her way of life. The integrity cool is replacing the macho cool. Even though the focus group members did not identify with the transvestite as a physical person, they did mentally. The dancing India-Elvis also posses integrity since he acts out in a non shy way although he is not the most fit dancer. The message is clearly, you can do what you want. Do not care what people think. This message seamed to be very positively perceived by the group members. Finally, the Bennetton ads with disabled kids caused mixed feelings among the groups. While some simply viewed it as provocative advertising, others saw it as a sincere attempt to use outsiders in society as fashion models and thereby giving them the dignity the so often lack. Taking this view, the Bennetton ad uses something primal to gain credibility - the equal value of each and every person. It is important to withhold that the themes that surfaced during the discussion were perceived as being both positive and negative, consequently the themes will be divided under these headings. The perception of post-modern advertising Positive funny; the fun part of commercials is well exploited in the post-modern era, the participants in our focus groups saw this as the main and most important ingredient in a commercial. According to our participants humour is seen as a good way to get peoples attention because everything feels so down to earth. Since the message is received in a common situation, from a person with some fun characteristics, everything feels more honest and straight. Playful; the post-modern commercials are a mix of everything, the creators do not follow any thumbs of rules nor do they fear the forbidden. The only weapon needed is a great fantasy. The participants loved the way Diesel uses a Indian Elvis in their commercial, and the way Benetton uses disabled children in their commercials. The people in our focus groups believed that it was easier to be receptive toward a message when not so perfect, but ordinary people with some special characteristics are used in commercials. This due to the fact that they thought it was easier to identify one self with the persons in the commercials. Also the message is felt as more honest and personal. Negative unconnected; the commercials are very often hard to grasp sense they do not always focus on the product being commercialised. The commercials are sometimes perceived as being strange and confusing, which makes them far too unconnected with the product and the commercial. Confusing; in the sense that one have to think to be able to understand the message of the commercial. Sometimes the message is not manageable at all. In some commercials we showed , for example the commercials of Levís with the old man and his possessions, the message do not have any thing to do with the product. This is not very appreciated by our participants, it is perceived as confusing in a negative sense. A commercial being confusing in the beginning can though be positive, as long as the message in the end is perceived. As a sum up the participants want to be moved by the commercial, but by a normal portion of oddity, so that the message still reaches the observer. The perception of modern advertising Positive straight; The modern advertising is perceived as being more straight in the sense that it puts the product in focus. Further on the participants believes that the message is easier to understand, due to the fact that it is more connected with the product being commercialised. Since the focus is put upon the product the risk of getting confused of what is being commercialised is less. The participants in our focus groups also believes that the message is more trustworthy when the focus is put upon the product. Easy concept; Having a easy understandable concept in a commercial is by our participants felt as both positive and negative. It is positive in the sense that one seldom get confused, the message is often clear. The negative part about having a easy concept is that the message in the end can be boring, annoying and pathetic. The participants felt that the optimal solution is when a commercial uses a message that has a normal portion of oddity so that the concept do not get lost. Though it is important that the commercial is not too basic and easy. Negative Boring; A commercial with a too simple and obvious message is by the participants felt as pathetic. The theme are most often the same and very predictive. The atmosphere is also far too perfect. All these elements in the one and same commercial is perceived as something or someone trying to make a fool of oneself. The participants believe that if these elements are to be part of a commercial it should be done in a more natural, and not so glamorous way. According to our focus groups a commercial should be informative in a intelligent way, everything do not have to be so obvious that one feels stupid. Stereotypical; The participants in our focus groups felt that modern advertising more often uses stereotypical roles in their advertisement. The female character is for example always a housewife - doing the dishes, cleaning taking care of the children etc. The male character is always illustrated as a businessman. Since these roles are not a reality the participants felt that these kind of commercial very often gets pathetic and exaggerated. Can the theories we present explain the statements and discussions by the consumers within our focus groups? Do the participants reason along the lines of the theories? The theories we use claim the young consumer of today have a "post-modern mindset". If the theories are an accurate description of the consumers, we expect the focus group participants to favour the post-modern ads over the modern ads. Furthermore the theories should help us explain why they favour the post-modern ads. We have tried to analyse the post-modern conditions to see if the theories can explain some of the reasoning and statements within the focus groups. Do the participants in the focus groups reason along the same lines the academics claim they do? The headings below are taken from the table by Fuat, Clifford and Shultz in the theory part. Since not all of the post-modern conditions in this table did apply to our focus groups, we have chosen to base our analysis upon the relevant ones presented below. Disorder and chaos In the focus groups, the acceptance of disorder and chaos in the advertising was not high. The Levi's commercial featuring the middle aged man with seven wives, odd interests and monotone music was perceived in a heavily negative way. It showed that the reason for the negative feelings was the chaotic and non-comprehensive content. The lack of meaning and logic made everyone annoyed and irritated. Some of the participants felt that Levi's was trying to create an image that was cool in a chaotic and unpredictable way. Since this was far too obvious, the effect was not the intended excitement, but simply a feeling of manipulation and boredom. We believe that a large part of the negative feelings towards the Levi commercial in question was due to the fact that the disorder and chaos felt constructed and not natural. In the Diesel commercial staring an Indian Elvis, the situation is quite chaotic. The main character is performing a sexual aggressive dance, while surronded by beautiful women. The music is loud and there is no real story. Also, the message of the commercial was very much open to debate in the focus groups. This ad is perceived in a much more positive way. Freedom and coolness is what comes to mind when the focus groups watch this commercial. The chaos and disorder feels natural and believable. Moreover it is served in the portions of the right size. The combination between the fat Elvis and the beautiful women creates a and funny atmosphere, which in turn gives the participants a positive impression of the brand. In contrast to the Levi's commercial, discussed above, this commercial did not give a artificial impression. On the contrary, most participants liked and believed the chaotic mix of glamour, retro, ethno, music and beauty. Openness/Tolerance Most of the participants in the focus groups were open and tolerant to new type of figures in advertising. Although the traditional characters with good looks, rebellious style, and success with women still work very well, since people easily can and want to identify with these characters. Due to this the classical commercials of Levi's was easily comprehended and also perceived in a positive way. These commercials really focuses upon success and rebellious living. People in our focus groups are open toward advertising that uses a normal portion of oddity, a manageable message, and also special characters. As long as everything feels natural and not overworked with, it can be tolerated. People in the focus groups were also open and receptive toward unpredicted happenings and playful advertising. The Levi's commercial with a transvestite in the taxi as the main character created a lot of laughter. The sudden sex change in the commercial made people like it a lot. Levi's here plays with the brand in a self confident, natural and surprising way. The message is direct and easily comprehended. There were no negative feelings towards the character because of sexual orientation. No one of the male participants believed they would be considered a transvestite or homosexual if they used the product. The identification in this case was not with the physical character but with the spirit of rebellion and self confidence. The Benetton sunflower campaign was met with some suspicion. As discussed before Benettons record of provocative advertising polluted the current campaign since some participants felt that the children were being used in a pure speculative way by Benetton. The idea of using disabled models stood out as an exception to the participants. They did not perceive the handicapped models as equals, or as there sister or brother. Participants who liked the ads saw it as a statement for disabled children more than cool or trustworthy advertising. Hyperreality It is obvious that the participants do neither believe in the characters nor the stories in the commercials. Despite this people tend to extend the impressions from the movies to everyday life. The fairytale-like commercials, where the characters demonstrate unbelievable good looks, self confident/ rebellious behaviour, glamorous style and an exceptional magnetism on the opposite sex, seem to appeal mentally to the participants. Sometimes, advertising where these values are manifested are thought of as rather false or manipulative. Despite this people choose the product since they like the image of the brand. Some participants said that if they had to choose between two brands of a similar product, the brand with the highest profile and best perceived image would be chosen. No matter if the quality of the low profile brand is as good, or even better than the high profile brand, do some of the participants chose the high profile brand because they feel good consuming it. The image of the brand is what is being consumed. No matter actual qualities of the product, and sometimes even the design of the product, the consumer chose a brand that she or he perceives have some extra value. This value is nothing but hyper real since it has no other justification than what has been added through advertising. It shows that the participants often favour products that has not better quality, but according to them, better perceived image among their peers. The so-called hyper-reality values can of course also be seen as means to obtaining social status. Paradoxical juxtapositions In the commercials showed to the focus groups, the most important ingredient in order to make a positive impression was humour. The kind of humour used was that of the kind where an unusual character takes surprising and unexpected actions. This creates a tension that is often released through laughter. For instance: the transvestite in the taxi cab was seen as very funny. In this specific commercial, the fun part was the surprise and the paradoxical personality of the passenger in the taxi. It starts out like a normal commercial, but suddenly everything changes. The cab driver, and the audience, is challenged to question their immediate reaction toward the transvestite. The transvestite is first viewed as a female sex-object. Then everything changes and the character is recognised as being a male. This contradiction resulted in laughter and excitement. The juxtaposition of opposites was in this case seen as an intelligent way to promote the brand as being for people with self-confidence and integrity. Diesel also plays with juxtaposition of opposites when mixing ethno, retro, glamour, ugly and beautiful in the same commercial. Elvis, who is the symbol of the USA in the fifties and western culture, is being mixed with an ethnic Indian. This is an obvious juxtaposition of two opposites. The result is that the film is perceived as intelligent and funny by the audience. The impression of the brand due to this commercial is that it is a brand for self confident and fun people who are ready to go out and get what life offers, no matter what others may think. What conclusions can we draw the reasoning above? The ads that we presented as containing post-modern ingredients were positively perceived and seen as more credible. But this does not mean that the focus group members was not receptive towards the more traditional ads. The Levi's classical ads was very appreciated and even though the group members did not believe in the stories used they liked to watch beautiful people having success with the opposite sex, or simply look good. Almost everyone claimed they could buy the product in these kind of ads, even though they were aware of the fact the company was trying to manipulate them. The traditional advertising has according to the participants a strong advantage due to the fact that the product is highlighted. It is easy for the consumer to imagine how the product would look when used. The identification factor, despite the criticism on a fairytale-like environment, was still very present among our groups. It is hard to claim that the post modern mindset, as described in our theory, is overall determining on how an ad is perceived. Within our groups all people liked some of the post-modern ads, as well as some of the classical ones. Download 201.4 Kb. Share with your friends:
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