The commercial that I have chosen is a Magnum Ice Cream Commercial. If you know not which advertisement I speak of, follow this link ----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ol6DPePsA
The commercial is labeled on YouTube as Magnum Ice Cream Commercial for the company has no public upload of it. It was created by UNILEVER Ice Cream called Magnum and was released in 2011. It features a woman, Rachel Bilson, stuck in traffic, in a convertible BMW, on a seaside road. It's sunny and hot so she decides to take off her high heels and runs across the tops of cars to a Magnum Ice Cream delivery truck. The man driving the truck then gets out opens the back and gives her a bar, to which she indulges herself in. The ending title reads "For Pleasure Seekers". On a larger scale it portrays the deadly sin of gluttony which is over-indulgence and over-consumption as well. She is living the high life with an expensive vehicle, nice clothes, close to the sea, and when she goes to get what she wants, she receives it with no hassle and spoils herself in its cold relaxing pleasure.
I believe the target audience would be for those who love to pleasure themselves in the luxuries of life. Their socio-economic background would be of upper middle class or upper class because they would have to be wealthy enough to indulge in such. The cultural knowledge of the intended audience would have to be that indulging yourself is good and you should sometimes , in fact, go out of your way to seek it out.
The commercial is made in a way so that you mouth waters at the sight of the first delicate bite of the chocolate ice cream bar. This persuades the viewer into wanting a piece of the "high life" and to buy Magnum Ice Cream.
I love how you said that "she receives [what she wants] with no hassle and spoils herself in its cold relaxing pleasure" because that truly shows what the ad was trying to get across and it enforces people to be more like her. Did you consider the way the narrator was describing the ice cream? To me, it felt like the ice cream was a rare delicacy of some sort and the authors soothing voice also helped shape the advertisement as a whole. I'm a little surprised that you chose to say that this ad was based on gluttony but I really understand why now after I read your response. While I was watching the video I was sure you were going to say lust or envy because the girl was lusting after something she couldn’t have and then everyone was envious of her and followed suit or something along those lines. But, I completely see how you resulted to gluttony which is a lot more obvious than I first thought. Your response was well written and I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the ice-cream is presented as a luxury only the upper class could enjoy. I mean it's ice-cream, everyone can eat ice-cream. But, the truth is your right, the commercial does portray it as this luxury, which I find intriguing as a magnum ice cream bar is not at the same level as an item like a Ferrari. Going along, upon watching the commercial more closely, I noticed some aspects you might've overlooked. First, did you notice that one of the cars she steps over is a police car? Maybe this symbolize an idea that to get what you want sometimes it's okay to step above the law. What do you think? Also did you notice that the truck driver, looks nothing like what a real truck driver would like. Maybe his appearance adds to the desirability of the ice cream bar. Overall, I think you did a great job at analyzing this commercial and I agree with your assessment that the commercial utilizes gluttony as a selling point.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you tied this ad into gluttony. I think there were more obvious things to hit on, but you chose a less obvious one and gave me more insight to the ad (not that I see this ad on tv and start thinking about which deadly sin it is, but still haha). I agree with you about the target audience, but do you think it could also be intended for people who don't think indulging themselves is good? Almost like the ad is a more persuasive one?
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