Colorful Advertising

    As our American Studies class moves further into the topic of media and advertising I found myself intrigued by certain trends within this area. Mr. O'Connor mentioned in class the other day the irony behind BP's (British Petroleum) logo and how they advertise themselves as being a "green" and an environmentally safe company. Besides the catastrophic oil spill they caused in 2006 and the fact that they are one of the worlds leading oil and energy suppliers, I guess you could scarcely make a connection between BP and the color green. To my surprise the next day while watching television I stumbled upon a commercial for the new healthy and "natural" sports drink Greater Than. What immediately caught my attention was the use of that same shade of green that BP utilized in their corporate logo. Green is often associated with the environment and a sort of natural aura, which is what both companies were aiming to display. Below is the BP logo and a short version of the Greater Than commercial.

    After doing some research I was able to find a very interesting case study done by students at Stanford that dealt with the association of colors and advertising. For example, in a case study regarding 

Alcohol advertisements these students found that different shades of black and blue were dominant in advertisements for clear liquors. The reason for this they concluded was that, "Blues evoke a cool, clean, smooth sensation that vodka companies may want to associate with their products". The cool, clean, and smooth drinkability are all traits that appeal to the senses and "evoke" or bring out certain moods and emotions. It is because of these familiar moods and emotions that these companies are able to target what appeals to the audience. This same idea can be seen with certain brands of beer. Rich shades of brown and amber are all colors that are associated with beer. The richness of the colors can be used to display a sort of dense and flavorful theme. Spread throughout are a few examples of hard liquor and beer advertisements, as well as the link to the Stanford case studies. http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_13/colors.htm

What are some other strategies that advertisers use to make their products more appealing?

False Advertising?

      We had just finished discussing the working conditions for employees overseas, and also listening to Mr. Daisey's trip to the "Foxconn" Apple factory in China, when I saw this Droid Razr commercial on television. Before you watch it I would recommend first listening to the shortened version of Mr. Daisey's trip to the "Foxconn" factory here:http://anamericanstudies.posterous.com/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory-this-american.

       I am sure that I can speak on behalf of most students in the class that Mr. Daisey's narration of his trip to the Apple "Foxconn" factory truly struck a chord in all of us, and made us think. How are things changing? What are these companies doing to ensure their workers are safe? I was shocked by the conditions these people worked in, and also the fact that hardly any of them had even seen the finished product. This being said, I was disgusted to see this commercial for the new Droid Razr. Clearly staged in China as seen by the opening setting, a small child whispers into a sleek white man's ear. The irony of this opening scene really struck me as ridiculous, because after listening to a stunningly horrid and detailed description of a Chinese technology factory, to paint this false picture of where the phone comes from is absurd. Like action movies we know that this isn't where the phones come from, but it almost mocks how the phones are actually manufactured, and diverts viewers to an all to familiar action adventure. It is also interesting to think about the relationship between worker and consumer as depicted in the commercial, and the actual relationship in real life. In reality the consumer is oblivious to the conditions of the factory and the worker has not even expirienced the final product. In the video, it would seem that the small boy whispers important details about the phone to the consumer showing a close knit relationship.

    This type advertising is definitley not uncommon, especially with products relating to technology. These big mobile phone companies love to pitch the new sleek design and futaristic technology. What they also do in return is paint these false pictures of how the phones are made, and where they come from.

As seen on T.V.                                                                                      Reality









How are these phone companies supposed to advertise their phones if the reality of their origins disgust customers?
Does this fall under the title of false advertising?