Analyzing Television Commercials

1
Analyzing Television Commercials
Chapter 9
2
Mini-Video or Film Dramas

• TV commercials are much more complex than print
  advertisements
• They can have many more elements in them
• Such as narrative, dialogue, music, various shots
  and editing techniques
• TV spots or CXs store much more information
  than do print ads with photographs
• Each frame or image in a TV spot is, in a sense,
  similar to a print ad

3
15 Questions to Ask about TV Commercials

• Plot of the narrative?
• Characters are in the CX?
• Describe their faces
• What do they say to each other?
• Where does the CX take place?
• Are props used?
• How is color used?
• Describe the lighting

• How is sound used? Is there music? What kind?
• What kinds of shots?
• Editing techniques?
• Are there intertextual references? References to
  other works? Parodies, well-known characters?
• Does the CX rely on background knowledge?
• What role does the product have in society?

4
Apples 1984 Commercial

• Aired once and only once during the 1984 Super
  Bowl, this 60 second CX is considered one of the
  best and most complex ever
• Apple founder/CEO Steve Jobs unveils
  never-before-seen commercial prior to the Super
  Bowl (here)
• Ridley Scott discusses directing this commercial
  (here)
• Apples iconic 1984 ad- 25 years later (CNET
  article)

5
The Text and its Imagery

• Orwells 1984 book
• Repression
• Storm troopers
• Heavy boots
• Prisoners/Inmates
• Uniforms
• Brainwashing
• Marching Zombies
• Blond woman in white
• Sledgehammer
• Broken television screen
• Big Brother figure
• Heroine as mythic figure battling a monolithic
  monster

• Big Blue IBM as the enemy
• A big explosion
• A short, simple message at the end
• On January 24th, Apple Computers will introduce
  Macintosh and you will see why 1984 wont be like
  1984.
• Implies this new computer has enormous political
  and social implications
• It has the power to save us from ending up like
  prisoners, victims of a totalitarian state

6
Clever Marketing Strategy

• Apple and the Chiat/Day ad agency that designed
  1984 took an unusual approach
• It focused not so much on the benefits derived
  from using a Macintosh but instead on the dangers
  inherent in not using one
• The ending implied in the 1984
• commercial focused on the avoidance
• of something hateful rather than gaining
• something desirable
• Not a huge success in sales- 17,000 sold first
  day well below expectations, but a brilliant
  brand launch which put Apple and its Macintosh
  more in the home computer conversation in a
  unique and positive way for the company
• And the rest is.history!