For my entry on visual arguments, I chose to
analyze an ad campaign that ran in Germany in 2007. The campaign was for a
company called "Jobsintown". There are 10 different ads that ran on
the sides of machines such as ATMs, instant coffee/ice cream machines, jukeboxes,
washing machines, and even airport security x-rays. The ads showed extremely
realistic images of people cramped into the space of the machine working to
produce whatever the machine provided. For example, the advertisement that ran
on the side of the jokebox showed a man with a guitar and a microphone, and the
ad on the side of the washing machine showed a woman handwashing clothes. The
only words on the advertisement are "Das Leben ist zu kurz fur den
falschen Job", or in English "Life's Too Short For the Wrong
Job" with the company's website.
The advertisements definitely evoke a strong sense of pathos in
the people who see them. In all of the ads, the person depicted looks exhausted
and miserable while doing their job. People are likely to sympathize with the
people in the advertisements because everyone understands being tired,
especially at work. The realism of these advertisements are probably the
biggest reason that they are effective. The pictures look so lifelike that
viewers would probably feel pity for the worker shown on the ad even though
they know that there is not actually someone inside the machines! The ability
to evoke pathos in viewers is one way to tell whether or not the advertisement
can be considered successful, and by that standard these ads would definitely
be considered effective.
The ads would especially resonate with people who are not
completely satisfied with their own jobs (this is after all the point of the
campaign). Because they are so relatable, the ads do a great job at evoking emotion
in onlookers and in conveying their intended message about bad jobs. They also
cause people to reconsider their own jobs because of the emotion the
advertisements evoke. This is very significant because this is the entire point
of the ads. If the ads successfully make people reconsider their own jobs, then
hopefully those people will then proceed to visit the website of the company.
If those people do indeed visit the website, they will be generating traffic to
the website and will hopefully use the website to find a new job. This will
increase the revenue of the company, and the company will know the
advertisements were effective. These advertisements actually were very
effective as the company's website actually did see a dramatic increase in traffic
after they were produced.
The tagline itself also does a good job
contributing to the overall visual argument. This advertisement obviously
relies mostly on the image of the worker in order to convey its message.
However, the tagline is necessary in order to explain the purpose behind the
image and to show the reasoning of the advertisement. The company decided to
keep the tagline short, which was an excellent idea because it contributes to
the image instead of distracting from it. In only 9 words the company is able
to make the reader consider their own job, which is really impressive because
it is such a simple phrase. I think the combination of the simple tagline with
the realistic, extremely creative image has a significant effect. The viewer
takes a lot away from only one image and 9 words. It is one of the best
advertisements I have ever seen, because it is able to present a creative
visual argument that makes the viewer think.
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