Ads Commentary, Adobe Illustrator and Upcoming Projects

This weeks update relates to making commentary about certain types of ads. The point is to

find one example for each heading.The list of requested types of headings are as follows;

1. Shock

2. Disruption

3.Engagement

4.Empathy

5.Humor

6.Surreal/Weird

7. Nostalgia (not an old poster, but one that uses nostalgia to seel a modern product)

  The first example as it relates to shock is an ad for an erotic accessory store. The is predicated on the saying "Make love, not war.", but turns it into a pun. It ties it into their store's product line. The ad is shocking with it's use of sexual imagery. The work done in merging the dildo with the gun is well done, though in my opinion it comes off as crude and overpowering. It's simple enough, yet I feel like this ad could be been approached more subtly without being too ambiguous. 

     For the disruption example I decided to comment on this ad in particular. It is called  
"Ninseikan Karate School: vs Porcupine" and it's an advertisement for a karate school. I like how it catches my eye. It really threw me for a loop for how random it seemed at first. It takes on favored Japanese archetypes of the over sized monster and it gives the impression that the karate student is taking on a formidable opponent, but it can initially appear vague in it's theme. Perhaps they could photoshop a karate band around the porcupine's head to make the theme seem more tied into karate.

 For a good example of an engaging piece I chose this advertisement. It's advertising Celebrate Bandra, which is a cultural festival. I find the use of color to be very intriguing. It's eye grabbing because of the vivid color that is contrasted against a black background. The use of color also ties into the theme of a cultural festival because color implies diversity. Diversity is a big part of cultural festivals.

       The ad I chose as an example of empathy was this ad for the Institute of Mental Heath. It's theme in particular is of anorexia. This ad brings to attention a serious issue by displaying a picture of a severely emaciated young girl. The ad is obviously attending to garner empathy from it's viewers by associating the picture to what we normally think when faced with an existentially nerve racking issue. We can feel the deep visceral emotional pain of the young woman as she struggles to fight her feelings of bitterness towards her self image. As a result we are necessarily moved to pity this girl even if we can't see her face. I emphasize with her condition because I can relate to having a culture judge who you are  because you fail to meet their expectations. The gray scale definitely sets the mood to accentuate the downtroddeness of the girl.

         The next example is an advertisement that uses humor. I chose this ad for noise canceling headphones because it conveys humor in a way that is both witty and relevant to the nature of their product. Mimes are suppose to be silent, thus, you would not hear them. The headphones are suppose to cancel out any and all noise around you so that you will not be disrupted. The mime ties into the effectiveness of the product. The ad is cleverly designed and is eye grabbing. Whose eye wouldn't be caught by a baby painted up like a mime? 

An example of a surreal advertisement is this awesome homage to the surrealist painter Salvador Dali for Volkswagen. This takes advantage of visual elements unique to Dali, including melting objects like the gas gauge hanging on the tree.  Others include deflated objects hung on sticks, repeating patterns of sequenced images that are slowly morphing and disproportionate figures. All of these objects relate to Volkswagen in some way, shape or form. The disproportionate figure is a mechanic and the deflated object is a gasoline tanker. Interestingly enough they attempt to make sense out of a seemingly absurd juxtaposition of real objects  portrayed in a surreal way. Their slogan is that the Polo BlueMotion has "Absurdly low consumption". This implies that the consumption of the car is as absurd as the advertisement. This imitation of Dali is captivating to look at. It strikes me as odd looking, yet strangely beautiful.

     Last, but certainly not least we have an example of a nostalgic advertisement and what other kind of example could we use other then the "This is your brain on drugs ad"? This advertisement among others was part of a string of ads that they showed in the 90's. The point of these ads were to keep young teens from using drugs by the use of an analogy; an egg  and a frying pan. The pan is suppose to symbolize the drug and the egg frying is suppose to be your brain. The effect the drug has on you is not necessarily always compared to frying. The most famous rendition of these types of ads had to do with a commercial they played on television. In that rendition a young woman, uses this symbolism and proceeds to smash the egg under the frying pan. She then starts to smash the dishes and everything around her while telling the audience that this is your life on drugs; your relationship with your friends, your family and irrevocably your relationship with the drug itself.  She then ends her polemic with the phrase "Any questions?". They attempt to press you into realizing that you should stay away from drugs if you don't want that to happen to you. Even though this is the most famous rendition of the campaign, they also used a string of other media outlets including magazine advertisements, and billboards. The picture I have above is a picture used in magazines for this campaign. Much of the same analogy is used along with the phrase "Any questions?" at the end of the ad. The advertisement's analogy comes off clear, concise and to the point. The concept is simple, the design works for the theme and the message is powerful. This is why it got so much attention for it's time and while it's still remembered as a nostalgic advertisement.

Along with this critique I was instructed to work on a tutorial that talks about how to trace in illustrator. I decided to do the tracing of a character drawing that I am making for my other class "Video Game Design". The picture came out looking decent for the most part. The program turned out to be easier to use then what I previously thought. Finally I will wrap this up by summarizing the things that I have to do for next week. I have another tutorial that I must complete, which ties in both adobe photoshop and illustrator. Along with that, I also have a project due in April. The upcoming project is a poster redesign project. I have to make my own poster of a popular movie. I'm suppose to change the theme. I could make a minimalist version of a slasher movie, or perhaps even a German Expressionist version of a popular contemporary film. I have to make four different types of redesigned posters. Updates for how I'm doing for these projects are on the way.