Making Money, Making Monsters Advertising Human Images

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Making Money, Making MonstersAdvertising Human
Images

• The Monsters We Make
• Spring 2005
• Stacey Jean Barron

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Basics of Advertising

• Ads persuade the buyer to
• get the good (Acquisition)
• keep the good (Protection)
• avoid the bad (Prevention)
• get rid of the bad (Relief)
• Persuasion is a mutual transaction between
  benefit-promisers (the ads) and benefit-seekers
  (the viewer).
• Persuasion need not be explicit or rational.

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The Basics.

• Ads follow this formula
• Hi (attention-getting)
• Trust Me (confidence-building)
• You Need (desire-stimulating)
• Hurry (urgency-stressing)
• Buy (response-seeking)
• Ads are everywhere, created by hundreds of
  people, and are not going away.

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Analyzing Ads

• Analysis (deconstruction) careful and close
  examination of a pieces explicit and implicit
  meaning(s).
• Analysis need not be expansive.
• While analyzing an ad look at
• gt images gt emotional appeal
• gt shape color gt value judgements
• gt placement gt juxtaposition
• gt size gt text

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Analyzing the Harm of Ads

• Harmful effects of advertising can be
• indirect
• delayed
• cumulative
• Ads can be
• Intrusive (too many ads, ads in inappropriate
  places)
• Deceptive (bad downplayed, lied about, ignored)
• Offensive (negative images of/toward
  people/groups)
• Prob. Inducing (increase debt, stress, poor
  self-image)

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Questions to Ask

• What is the product?
• Who is being targeted? What text, images, etc.
  lead you to this conclusion?
• What is the subtext?
• What values are expressed?
• What tools/techniques of persuassion are used?
• In what ways is this a healthy and/or unhealthy
  message?

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Example

• Image nude woman in plastic, man w/gun, corner
• Placement man hidden, womans face hidden, woman
  as focus
• Emotions fear, anger, abuse, vulnerability

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Exercise

• Pick an ad from www.genderads.com, print it out,
  then answer these questions
• What is the product and who is targeted?
• Whats explicit? Implicit? Explain.
• What are the emotions and values? Explain.
• Is this ad harmful? How? Explain.
• How does monstrosity figure into the ad?