How Different Viewers Make Sense of TV Ads

Philip Moran

plm@aber.ac.uk

http://users.aber.ac.uk/plm/

Conclusions derived from studies in the social sciences are rarely mathematical in nature and can be difficult, therefore, to quantify. The research detailed here is heavily dependent on interpretation and any conclusions, therefore, will inevitably be subjective at some level. Television advertisements require an interpretation with which those given by others may be compared, and even the assignment question itself needs elucidation. ‘Open-ended’ I have taken to mean ‘allowing more than one possible interpretation’, and with respect to the advertisements themselves I compare other points of view relative to mine. I do not claim that my own judgement is absolute, only that, having been able to watch each advert many times and in slow motion, my account of what can be seen and heard is probably more reliable than the people I interviewed. Where I ascribe meaning to any clips I give the caveat now that ‘my’ meaning does not necessarily equate to the ‘true’ meaning, although where possible I do justify my position.

Two 30 second adverts were used, both of which are described in the appendices. I have broken them down into a series of clips for which I describe what happens, what is said, who the main characters are, as well as what it means. Where appropriate I also mention sound effects, colour, or anything I believe to be significant in contributing meaning to the advert.

‘A sign is quite simply a thing - whether object, word, or picture - which has a particular meaning to a person or group of people’ (Williamson, 1978: 17)

Williamson’s book refers mainly to posters or magazine advertisements. However, television adverts also contain objects, words and pictures which have meaning and can, therefore, be analysed in the same way.

Each advert as a whole refers to a mythological system, or referent systems, defined as the external ‘reality’ referred to by the collection of signs (Williamson, 1978: 20). The systems are quite different in each advert. In advert 1, the product being sold is a CDROM, whereas the popular film series Star Wars, and all that the films represent, are used as the referent system. In advert 2, the system is a boxing match that occurred two years ago between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, in which Mike Tyson bit his opponent’s ear off. Star Wars (itself a sign) represents a universe entirely created for the purpose of telling a story, whereas the boxing match did actually occur in our universe. Such distinctions are in many ways arbitrary in advertising, however, and we can consider the main difference as being the use of signifieds as currency. Star Wars, as a popular well-known brand name, is made to be interchangeable with a computer game of the same name. On its own, a computer game has only limited value, but when it becomes interchangeable with Star Wars, its value is dramatically increased. The second advert, however, does not use the Tyson/Holyfield boxing match to give value to the product; it simply uses the referent system to make us laugh.

One other striking difference is the use of ‘Totemism’ - where the subject watching the adverts becomes that which is signified by them (Williamson, 1978: 45). By playing the Star Wars Playstation game, the underlying claim is that you can become imbued with the power of the ‘Force’ that will enable you to mind-control others and get into night-clubs wearing trainers. However, unlike many adverts where they create an ‘ ‘alreadyness’ of ‘facts’ about ourselves as individuals ’ (Williamson, 1978: 42), the Playstation advert directly asks the question "Is the Force with you?" The viewer might potentially answer this question – No – thus destroying the attempt to make the subject as signified. Nevertheless the tactic works, as the question is quite clearly rhetorical – of course you have the power of the force. The words are presented in the form of the narration at the start of the first Star Wars film where we are informed of the story so far. In the same way the wording in the advert informs us that we already have the power of the force. Equally, the intonation of the voice over is rhetorical, and just to ram home the point, immediately afterwards we have clips of the computer game where we ‘see’ the use of the ‘Force’ in action.

Advert 2 employs totemism by drawing us in to the universe of the narrator rather than the universe of the characters on screen. With the words "Going to be getting hungry?" we identify with the narrator having a laugh at the joke going on in front of us. We, with the narrator, are waiting to see what will happen - will the boxer fight? Or will he go home? Either way, whilst we are waiting to find out, we can eat a Snickers bar. The advert makes us laugh, then assumes an ‘alreadyness’ about us sharing the joke with our good friend the narrator.

Each advert employs the tactic of letting us have to ‘decipher their code’, a process known as hermeneutics (Williamson, 1978: 71). Of course, all television viewers need to decipher a code to make sense of the order of clips, but I shall refrain from mentioning ‘obvious’ clues.

Advert 1 is littered with references to both Star Wars and Playstation, all of which are mentioned in the appendix. (Even so, some people in my study were still unable to determine the product.) Advert 2, on the other hand, has only one major clue to be deciphered; that it relates to the 1997 Tyson/Holyfield boxing match. The advert initially came out shortly after the fight, and it would have been interesting to see how many people understood the joke in 1997. It never specifically refers to either Tyson or Holyfield, and so fits in with Williamson’s analysis of jokes requiring an absence, ‘what is absent is meaning’ (Williamson, 1978: 72)

Fifteen people were interviewed in total, and each were asked the same 8 questions detailed in appendix B. The questions can be split into two parts; the first part, questions 1 to 4, refer to the characters, whereas the second part, questions 5 to 8, refer to the product and the way it is presented. The first question does not specifically ask about the characters, but as Williamson says, ‘In television ads, everything is sold at the level of the signifier-people’, (Williamson 1978: 175)

The aim of the first half of the questions was to look at the way different people identify with the characters in the story. Many adverts function on the level of a day-dream (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 117), but the psychological mirror is only appropriate for certain subsections of society - usually the subsection that the advert is aimed at. The first advert shows the usual utopia of youth and leisure (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 122), but also shows how to deal with the oppressive moral conventions (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 133) that do not allow people wearing trainers into nightclubs. My original thought when I saw this advert was that it would appeal to pre-adult teenagers who would identify with the desire to get into places (such as pubs and night-clubs) that they are usually barred from. This idea is not backed up be the data, however.

Gender and race are other issues to consider. There are only three speaking parts in the first advert, all of whom are played by men. This in itself does not necessarily make the advert sexist, of course, but further analysis casts more light on the matter. The advert begins with only women standing in the crowd. A man walks past leading a woman away from the nightclub after an attempt at entry. The hooded man then enters the scene and uses the power of the force over the bouncer - the man who was previously in control of the female crowd - so that he may lead the crowd into the club. In both these parts it is the man who leads the women. Not only that, but the women seem to have been waiting all along for a man to come and lead them.

A less concrete case can be made for racism. The bouncer may have conformed to a stereotype of what bouncers are like (hefty blokes in dinner jackets wearing flashy jewellery), but there is not enough information to say much more than this. However, it is a white man who uses the power of the ‘Force’ in order to gain control over him. In the film ‘Star Wars’ this is only possible if the person being controlled has a weak mind. Is the advert suggesting that black people have weak minds?

The first advert is likely to be directed at boys and men, as the connotations of what is signified are generally to do with power and control; in other words, the ideal of masculinity (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 104-6). Whether females actually spend less money on computer games is unknown, although Vestergaard’s and Schrøder’s analysis of magazine advertisements showed the profile in men’s magazines was heavily dominated by ones for technological toys. Women’s magazines, on the other hand, had very few adverts for such things (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 74). Their study was carried out in 1985, however, and may well not be representative of the younger population now. My own anecdotal evidence is that present day magazines produced specifically for people who play the Playstation often tend to feature semi-naked women in them - suggesting they are targeted at men and boys.

The second advert also uses men only. Not only that, but each of them are stereotypes; a black American as the boxer, a black American as his manager and a fat, balding, middle aged down town New Yorker in a vest as his coach. Whether one regards this advert as either sexist or racist depends perhaps on one’s definitions, but I personally do not consider the stereotyping as negative in this case. Whether the ad is targeted at men or women is difficult to determine. As shown later, the results generally show that men understand the joke and women do not. Perhaps this suggests that men are more aware of sporting events, but does it mean that they are more likely to buy Snickers bars? A more likely scenario is that neither sex was targeted, but the advert makers were unaware that women were less likely to understand the joke.

Social economic group, or class, may also feature as an aspect in the workings of the adverts. My questions about identifying the class (and occupation) of characters was more intended to see if the viewers modelled their view of the characters in their own image. This, incidentally, is why the definition of class is largely irrelevant in this study. However, the use of class may be present in the adverts and the subject is worth a short mention.

Advert 1 gives a mixed message, as it has ideas of both ‘us and them’ and an ‘aspirational response’. Vestergaard and Schrøder mention the idea of ‘us’ and ‘them’ as being a feature of adverts for a working-class audience (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 113), whereas the idea of an aspirational response features in adverts addressing a middle-class audience (Vestergaard and Schrøder, 1985: 112). ‘Us’, of course, refers to the working-class and ‘them’ refers to the middle/upper class. This would suggest that the hooded man in advert 1, with whom we are supposed to identify, is working class and the bouncer is middle/upper class; yet there is no particular evidence to indicate the class of either man suggesting the ‘us and them’ scenario is not class related here. The advert clearly inspires us to overcome adversity and get what, or in this case where, we want. Equally, the suggestion that we have the power of the ‘Force’ when we play the computer game sets us aside and makes us special as individuals, another indication of it addressing a middle-class audience.

The second advert features an ‘us and them’ situation between the boxer and his manager. It must be remembered, however, that the viewer is with neither of them; the viewer is with the narrator, looking on. Class, therefore does not appear to play a part in this advert either, although the narrator does have a northern accent. This, perhaps, is an attempt to plug into some national stereotype of northerners being working-class.

Results

Tables 1 to 4 attached show the results of the analysis. To help analyse such a large amount of data, I have ‘digitised’ the results into discreet answers, many of them simple yes/no answers, some of them more varied. For example, question 1 involves a description of what happens in each advert. No doubt a detailed analysis of individual responses would be interesting, but for this study I have simply ascribed labels to their type of description as being linear, segmented or thematic (Liebes 1988: 281, from Chandler 1998). ‘Linear’ involves a sequenced account of the clips shown, ‘segmented’ involves describing the action from the point of view of particular characters and ‘thematic’ involves describing the underlying meaning of the action on screen. The linear method is self explanatory and quite easy to determine. With regard to segmented and thematic descriptions, generally if a viewer quoted a character and explained their point of view, I recorded it as segmented, whereas if they gave more emphasis to general story-lines such as the ‘Force’ or the ‘boxing match’, I would record it as thematic. This analysis involves some subjective judgement, of course, and this is complicated by the fact that many people described the events in all three ways. In such cases, I binned the data into the categories for which I consider the method to be most dominant.

Table 1 shows the data for the first question. The results appear to be completely random, and there does not seem to be any link between the method of retelling the story with the gender, ethnic origin or age of the viewers.

Figure 1 gives an example in tabulation form how the data is analysed with regard to gender.

Figure 1

ADVERT 1

 

Male

Female

Total

Linear

3

4

7 (47%)

Segmented

1

0

1 (7%)

Thematic

5

2

7 (47%)

Total

9 (fixed)

6 (fixed)

15 (fixed)

ADVERT 2

 

Male

Female

Total

Linear

2

1

3 (20%)

Segmented

4

3

7 (47%)

Thematic

3

2

5 (33%)

Total

9 (fixed)

6 (fixed)

15 (fixed)
 

Neither advert shows any particular difference between men and women, although ADVERT 1 does suggest that giving a segmented account of the story is not favourable. Indeed, a statistical analysis shows that, assuming the use of linear, segmented or thematic methods are equally probable, the results in ADVERT 1 are significant at 5%. Caution should be taken with such results as the whole of this study involves a number of similar analyses. The more comparisons that are made, the more likely it is that an apparently significant result will arise purely by accident. It is also worth mentioning that this study involves a comparison in interpretations between gender, age and ethnic origin and not between the adverts or aspects within each advert.

Similar analysis of age shows no significant results. Age was split into roughly equal groups defined as ‘young’ and ‘old’. The dividing line was arbitrary, and came out to be 30 years simply because approximately half the viewers were younger and half older than this. Previous research on cross-cultural viewing has shown significant differences between sections of society with different cultural backgrounds (Chandler 1998). A comparison of results involving different cultures was not possible here, however, as 3 non White-Europeans was not a large enough statistical base.

One final point to mention is that of modification of the story when recounted. Every person’s account of the adverts involved levelling, sharpening, modification and importation (Allport and Postman 1945: 88-96 from Chandler 1998). Examples of each are as follows: -

Missing clips and dialogue.

 The use of the phrase ‘Obi-Wan Kenobe style’ when describing the use of the ‘Force’ in advert 1, for example.

 Recounting black people as white or white people as black.

 Referring to events and people that are not specifically mentioned - such as Mike Tyson in advert 2.

 Table 2 shows how each viewer remembered the main characters in each advert. The intention was to see if viewers moulded their memory of characters to be more like themselves. This was the purpose of including the occupation and social economic group (SEG) of the viewers. Most people were unfamiliar with the newer way of categorising society in term of letters and numbers (A, B, C etc.), so only the terms working, middle and upper class were used. Obviously this gives rise to problems of definitions, as some people link class to income, some to job, some to background or upbringing. However, as mentioned previously, the purpose was to compare perception of characters with the viewers, so an absolute benchmark of class is unnecessary as people will presumably judge other’s and their own class in the same way.

The data does not show up any bias in the way people estimate ages. They are just as likely to overestimate than underestimate – over and under determined relative to the mean of the age estimated for each character by the whole group.

The same outcome is true for guesses at social economic group and occupation (which turned out to be too subjective to measure). Remembering the ethnic origin of characters turned up some interesting anomalies, however. Some people remembered all the characters in advert 2 as being black, and one viewer (number 7) remembered all five of the main characters as being black. Whether this is anything more than ‘levelling’ as mentioned earlier is not known. Interestingly, there is one case where someone remembered black characters as being white, viewer 13. They did it in both adverts; the bouncer in advert 1 and the manager in advert 2 were remembered as being white. Whilst one might argue that remembering all the characters as being of one ethnic origin is a way of compressing the information to make it easier to remember, this is clearly not what happened when viewer 13 remembered advert 2. This person was also one of the few people who regarded the second advert as being racist, as shown in table 3.

The results in table 3 are fairly clear. Most people thought the hooded man in advert 1 had control of the situation and the boxer had control in the second advert. Very few people considered either advert as politically incorrect. Those who did express an affirmative view all said the adverts might be considered racist. Anecdotally, neither of the Asian viewers (14 and 15) considered the adverts racist, but viewer 14 was one of the few people who did mention the possible underlying suggestion that the black man in advert 1 had a weak mind. On balance, however, he decided that the link was too tenuous to consider the advert racist.

It is interesting to note that nobody mentioned the possibility of sexism, for which, as I stated earlier, there is probably a more concrete argument than for racism.

Finally, table 4 shows the results of the second part of the study, identifying the meaning of the adverts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, everybody managed to identify the Snickers bar as the product in the second advert. The first advert was not so easy, however, especially as it seemed to mix so many different products. Everyone below the age of 30 understood it, whereas everyone over the age of 40 did not. Home computers and computer games have been around for perhaps 20 years now, so we would expect a cut-off somewhere between the 30 and 40 mark. The trigger that brought home the message in each advert tended to be the product being shown. Two viewers, both male, spotted visual clues such as the ringed hand in advert 1 (there were no particular visual clues in advert 2). This is insufficient data, however, to be able to determine if men have a better aptitude at spotting such clues than women. The trigger for the second advert was a mix between the voice over, the logo and the product. Most people understood it when they saw the product itself. There does not appear to be any link with gender or age.

The claim made by each advert was rather difficult to determine - if indeed they existed at all. As mentioned earlier, adverts tend to assume you know already the claim to be true, which means they never explicitly state what it is. 7 people agreed with my interpretation of the first advert, the claim being ‘if you play the Star Wars computer game, you will receive the power of the ‘Force’’, whereas 5 thought there was no particular claim. The latter tended to be the older section of viewers interviewed, although one was only 28 years old.

In advert 2, my own personal view was that there was no claim made. However, 7 people disagreed with me and their stated claims ranged from Snickers keeping you going, or Snickers being a comforter to Snickers being a whole meal in one bar. Whilst I can see a possible link in some of these sayings, mostly I can not. I think it is likely that people expect there to be some sort of message with adverts and if it is not apparent, they do their best to make one up. This happens with advert 1 too; some people make up claims such as ‘playing Playstation will make you get a life’ which do not, I feel, really fit. It is noticeable that the older viewers tend not see a claim being made in either advert. Perhaps this means that younger people are more pro-active when watching television.

Finally, the cultural references in each advert show interesting results. Virtually everyone spotted the Star Wars theme of the first advert – except for two of the older viewers. However, this was not the case for the second advert. 6 people linked the advert to the Tyson/Holyfield boxing match, all of whom were men. The fact that all 7 of the women interviewed did not understand the link makes this result significant at the 10% level.

To conclude, therefore, this study has two particular results. Firstly, that age is significant in the understanding of adverts; either because older people become less pro-active when they watch television, or perhaps because the present younger generation is more pro-active than the older generation ever was. Secondly, assuming that the result in the last paragraph is correct, that advert 2 is aimed more specifically at men. This may be a conscious or subconscious act on behalf of the advert makers, although it is hard to see why they would wish to exclude half the population when advertising such a universally appealing product as a chocolate bar.

Although some interesting results have emerged, this study has been extremely broad. Many of the possible results have not had a good enough statistical basis. Further studies should try to home in on the possible results highlighted. To determine whether the change in viewers’ engagement with television varies between generations or changes in individuals as they age requires several studies carried out over many years. As for the second finding, it would be interesting to investigate the extent to which a person’s susceptibility to an advert’s persuasion depends on whether they understand it, rather than just understanding what the product is.

PART 1 Table 1

Question 1
           

Form of retelling

Form of retelling

Notes

 

Gender

Age

Occupation

Ethnic Origin

SEG

(class)

Ad 1

Ad 2

 

1

M

23

Student

W.E.

W

L

L

 Includes virtually all clips in either ad.

2

F

35

IT Trainer

W.E.

W

T

S

 Quotes lines impersonally - "‘trainers are cool’ was said" for Ad 1.

3

F

31

Student

W.E.

M

L

S

 

4

F

23

Student

W.E.

M

T

S

 Misquotes narrator with other ‘advertising speak’ e.g. "Are you hungry? Then have a Snickers"

5

M

25

Physicist

W

South African

M

T

T

 References to Star Wars that are not explicitly mentioned in advert 1. "Obi-Wan Kenobe style".

6

M

47

Electronics technician

W.E.

W

T

T

 Took a long time to remember the gist of first advert.

7

F

39

Secretary

W.E.

W

 

 

 Unwilling to answer this question.

8

F

50+

Secretary

W.E.

M

L

T

 

9

M

57

Physicist

W.E.

M

T

L

 Coloured guy was impressed by clothes worn by punters which is why he let them in the club.

10

M

16

Student

W.E.

M

L

S

 

11

M

14

Student

W.E.

M

L

S

 Asserts that the boxer is due to fight Mike Tyson.

12

F

30

Physicist

W.E.

M

L

T

 The bar of chocolate satisfies his hunger and then he is raring to go.

13

M

23

Student

W.E.

M

T

S

 Mimics the lines that the boxer says.

14

M

39

IT Manager

Asian

W

T

T

 

15

M

28

Student

Asian

M

S

S

 Mimics the lines that the boxer and the manager say.

16

F

50

Physicist

W.E.

M

L

L

 Found it difficult to follow both adverts because of limited grasp of the English language.

 

 

 

 

W = White

W.E. = White European

W = working

M = Middle

U = Upper

L = Linear

S = Segmented

T = Thematic

 

PART 1 Table 2

 

Question 2

 

Ad 1

Ad 2

 

Bouncer

Hooded man

Manager

Boxer

Trainer

 

Ethnic Origin

Age

SEG (class)

Ethnic Origin

Age

SEG (class)

Occupation

Ethnic Origin

Age

SEG (class)

Ethnic Origin

Age

SEG (class)

Ethnic Origin

Age

SEG (class)

1

B

30

M

W

20-25

M

 

B

40-45

M

B

25-30

M

W

 

 

2

B

30-35

W

W

22-26

M

Teacher

B

40-45

M

B

35-40

W

W

55-60

W

3

B

25

 

 

 

 

 

B

30

W

B

20

W

?

35-40

W

4

B

25

M

W

25

M

Artist

B

35-45

M

B

25-30

M

W

50-55

W

5

B

28-30

W

W

22-23

M

Banker

B

35-40

W

B

25

W

B

30

W

6

B

30

W

W.E.

20-25

W

Office worker

B.A.

40-50

U

B.A.

30

U

 

 

 

7

B

35

W

B

20-25

M

 

B

40

W

B

30

M

B

45

 

8

B

30

W

W

30

M

Computers

B

40-50

M

B

20

M

W

50

M

9

B

35

 

 

 

 

 

B

35

M

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

B

25

M

W

25

W

Student

B.A.

35-45

U

B.A.

20-23

U

W.A.

25

M

11

B.A.

25

M

W.A.

20

W

Sportsman

B.A.

36

U

B.A.

33

U

W.A.

 

 

12

B

35

W

W.E.

30

M

Artist

B.A.

50

W

B.A.

30-35

W

B

40-50

W

13

W

 

W

W.E.

28

M

IT consultant

W.A.

35

W

B.A.

26

M

W

40

M

14

B

20

W

W.E.

20-25

W

Builder

B.A.

30-35

M

B

20-30

M

B

40-50

W

15

B.E.

 

M

W.E.

25

M

Office worker

B.A.

35

U

B.A.

30-35

U

B.A.

40

U

16

B

20-30

M

W.E.

20-30

M

Office worker

W.L.A.

40-45

M

B

20-25

W

W

40-50

M

B = Black

B.A. = Black American

B.E. = Black European

W = White

W.A. = White American

W.E. = White European

W.L.A.= White Latin American.

PART 1 Table 3

 

Question 3

Question 4

 

Ad 1

Ad 2

Ad 1

Ad 2

1

H

M

N

N

2

H

 

Y

Y

3

 

B

N

N

4

B

B

N

N

5

H

B

N

N

6

H

B

N

N

7

 

B

N

N

8

H

B

N

N

9

B

B

N

N

10

H

B

N

N

11

H

B

N

N

12

H

M

N

N

13

H

B

N

Y

14

H

B

N

N

15

H

B

N

N

16

 

B

N

N

 

 H = Hooded man

B = Boxer

M = Manager

B = Boxer

T = Trainer

Y = Yes

N = No

 

PART 2 Table 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

Product

identity?

 Trigger for

identity.

Claim

made?

Cultural

reference

 

Gender

Age

Occupation

Ethnic Origin

SEG

(class)

Ad 1

Ad 2

Ad 1

Ad 2

Ad 1

Ad 2

Ad 1

Ad 2

1

M

23

Student

W.E.

W

Y

Y

VC

NA

Y

N

Y

Y

2

F

35

IT Trainer

W.E.

W

Y

Y

L

P

Y

Y

Y

N

3

F

31

Student

W.E.

M

Y

Y

P

L

Y

Y

Y

N

4

F

23

Student

W.E.

M

Y

Y

P

NA

Y

N

Y

N

5

M

25

Physicist

W

South African

M

Y

Y

P

NA

Y

Y

Y

Y

6

M

47

Electronics technician

W.E.

W

N

Y

 

P

Y

Y

Y

Y

7

F

39

Secretary

W.E.

W

N

Y

 

L

N

N

Y

N

8

F

50+

Secretary

W.E.

M

N

Y

 

P

N

N

Y

N

9

M

57

Physicist

W.E.

M

N

Y

 

L

N

N

N

N

10

M

16

Student

W.E.

M

Y

Y

VC

P

Y

Y

Y

Y

11

M

14

Student

W.E.

M

Y

Y

P

NA

Y

Y

Y

Y

12

F

30

Physicist

W.E.

M

N

Y

 

P

N

Y

Y

N

13

M

23

Student

W.E.

M

Y

Y

L

P

Y

N

Y

N

14

M

39

IT Manager

Asian

W

Y

Y

L

P

Y

N

Y

Y

15

M

28

Student

Asian

M

Y

Y

P

P

N

N

Y

N

16

F

50

Physicist

W.E.

M

N

Y

 

P

N

N

N

N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Is the product correctly identified?

Includes both Playstation and Star Wars for Ad 1.

 VC = visual clue (such as shapes on rings in Ad 1)

NA = narrator

L = Logo

P = product shown (clips of the computer game in Ad 1)

N = no claim made

Y = claim made

Y = ‘incorrect’ interpretation of claim (i.e. that which does not match my interpretation

Y = Yes

N = No

Do they ‘get’ the reference to Star Wars in Ad 1 and the Tyson/Holyfield boxing match in Ad 2?

 

Appendix A

ADVERT 1

Product:

‘Star Wars - The Phantom Menace’ computer game for the Sony Playstation.

  1. 3 women, smartly dressed and wearing lots of make-up, stand looking around the place as if waiting for something. The shot is a medium close up (MCU) and the background is dark suggesting it is late evening time. There are 3 clips, each less than one second in duration, which jump from one to the other although the actual motion in each is filmed in slow motion. An eerie music can be heard which has no particular melody.

  2. A man (the actor Anthony Daniel who gives the voice of C-3PO in the Star Wars films) dressed in a gold jacket walks past the camera and turns back to the woman he is leading and says "this is madness" (part of the first spoken sentence in the first Star Wars film.)

  3. A very close up (VCU) shot of the face of a woman with green eyes. She turns to the camera.

  4. Medium close up of someone’s feet walking through the crowd. The feet are wearing trainers. A low thumping sound can be heard in the music – in time to the steps that the feet take.

  5. Cut to a close up (CU) shot of the person’s head as they walk through the crowd. They wear a hooded top so that their face is hidden.

  6. Wide shot (WS) from behind of the crowd, being led by the hooded person, walking toward the entrance to somewhere. A tall black man comes forward to meet them. He is smartly dressed and seems to be a bouncer of some sorts.

  7. MCU shot from the bouncer’s point of view (POV). The hooded person at the front of the crowd pulls down their hood, to the sound of a hatch door opening, to reveal a young man of about 20 years old with short blond hair.

  8. WS from side showing just the bouncer and the hooded man. Another bouncer – white, with a large stomach - walks into the shot to back up the black man. The black man shakes his hand and says "no trainers".

  9. CU of the hooded man. He lifts up his hand and flicks it across his face. There is a buzzing sound as he does so. The sound of the music quietens as he says "Trainers are cool", emphasising the word ‘cool’.

  10. WS from behind the hooded man. He is looking up at the bouncer who is standing to the right of him. The bouncer looks straight ahead, shakes his head a little and appears to go into a trance. He repeats the words "trainers are cool", but emphasises the word ‘are’.

  11. We cut to the reaction of the crowd (WS) some of whom shake their heads slightly in disbelief. One woman is blowing a bubble with some gum and it pops to the sound of a cymbal. We hear the voice of the hooded man again; "So you’re going to let us in."

  12. CU the bouncer who is still in a trance. He repeats the words "so I’m going to let you in".

  13. Cut to a CU from behind of the hooded man’s right shoulder. The bouncer’s hand is placed on it, revealing four large rings, one on each finger, which have stone encrusted shapes on each of them – a square, a triangle, a cross and a circle. The bouncer pushes him forward and says "go ahead".

  14. WS from behind the hooded man. Another bouncer opens the door for him and we hear the music get louder again. This time the music has the theme tune from the Star Wars movie on top of it.

  15. WS side view of the black bouncer as he watches people enter the club.

  16. Cut to a non location shot. There is a black starry background and the words "Is the Force with you?" in the foreground. The letters move up the screen and get gradually smaller from bottom to top – as if they are moving into the distance. This mimics the introductory wording of the first Star Wars film. A narrator with a voice sounding like the late Alec Guinness repeats the words that are written.

  17. Cut to three action clips of the computer game being advertised. Darth Maul fighting people with his two-pronged light sabre. The final clip is a WS from behind Darth Maul as a space ship flies off into the distance – very similar to a clip in the Phantom Menace film.

  18. Cut to the logo of the film, ‘Star Wars – The Phantom Menace’.

  19. Cut to the logo of the Sony Playstation with the words "Do not underestimate the power of the Playstation" written underneath it. The music comes to a climactic ending at this point.

 

Appendix B

ADVERT 2

Product:

Snickers chocolate bar.

  1. WS in some sort of corridor. It is quite crowded with people standing along it leaning against the walls. The sound of a large crowd of people cheering and clapping can be heard in the background. Centre shot there is a black American, smartly dressed in a suit and tie, aged approximately 40 years old, banging on a door. He says "Come on out of there now champ". We hear a reply, presumably from inside, "No". He says again "Come out of there now". Again we hear the reply "no" from inside.

  2. Cut to a WS of what seems to be a dressing room. There is a large punch bag hanging up and the room is painted the same deep red colour as the corridor. There is a door in the background and we still hear the sound of thumping. In the foreground there is a large black American, aged approximately 25, wearing a green dressing gown and boxing gloves, sitting on a massage table with his hands over his ears. A white, balding, middle aged American, wearing a white vest and a towel over his shoulder, stands behind the boxer giving him a shoulder massage. He, presumably, is the coach. The camera moved in slowly as the boxer complains "Man, I ain’t going to go out there and fight this guy man." In the background we hear thumping and the muted voice of the man outside (presumably the manager) shouting "come on out of there". The boxer continues, "Those pay per view people, they can just go and find another sucker –"

  3. We cut to an MCU of the boxer as he talks. "- cos I ain’t going out there".

  4. Cut to a CU of the coach. He talks with a Brooklyn accent. "Tommy, he’s a changed man, he’s had counselling."

  5. Cut to the corridor again. Were the manager stands chewing some gum for a second and then begins to bang on the door again. We hear the boxer from inside saying "I ain’t going out there man –"

  6. WS of the boxer and the coach. The boxer continues talking, "- that guy will eat me alive. I ain’t going."

  7. CU of the coach who tried to pacify the boxer. "6 weeks of training, what are you kidding me?"

  8. CU of the boxer. The coach continues talking. "You got nothing to worry about". When he hears this, the boxer takes his hands down from his head and looks up, revealing that he has very large ears that stick out. "What do you mean I ain’t got nothing to worry about?" he says.

  9. We hear a narration – British accent (northern). "Going to be getting hungry?". Cut to WS of the manager outside, who says. "Everybody’s waiting, you’re hesitating." A small ‘Mars’ logo appears in the bottom left hand side of the screen.

  10. CU of the boxer. This time he has an unwrapped chocolate bar in his gloved hand. "They can just find somebody else" he says before taking a bite of the Snickers bar. The narration continues; "Grab a snickers –"

  11. Off location shot of the inside of a Snickers bar. There is a pink satin background and toffee oozes out of one end. The narration continues, "- cos nothing handles your hunger better."

  12. Cut to MCU of the manager pacing up and down outside. "Come on out of there" he shouts.

  13. CU of the boxer chewing on his Snickers bar shaking his head.

  14. Cut to a black screen with a Snickers bar in the middle of it with a caption underneath ‘Hungry? Why wait?’ The narrator repeats the caption.

Appendix C

Questions

  1. Please describe what happens in both adverts.

    2. This allows an investigation of what people deem salient to retelling of the story.

  2. How many main characters were in each advert? Describe them, including details of their gender, ethnic group, age, occupation, social economic group.

    3. Obviously it is impossible to know the answer to some of the questions here, but they might shed light on the way people identify with characters. The same is true for question 3.

  3. Who is the strongest character in each advert? By which I mean the person who is in control of the situation, rather than the best actor or the person with the most lines.

  4. Do you feel that either advert is in any way politically incorrect? Either racist, sexist, ageist etc.

    5. This question is asked last (for this part) so that the earlier questions are free of any desire to be politically conscious.

  5. What was the product and the brand being sold?

  6. At what point did you realise what was being sold?

    7. Do different people have a trigger that makes them understand the advert?

  7. Some adverts make a claim that may be true or false. For example the impulse body spray advert used to claim that if a woman wore it she would have men running after her to give her flowers. Do either of these adverts make a claim – either a true or a false one? What claim do they make?

    8. This is a leading question deliberately. An example is used, so that people understand exactly what is required in the answer.

  8. Some adverts refer to something else in mainstream culture that is not linked to the product being sold. Do either of these adverts do this? What do they refer to?

This question basically confirms whether or not they understand the point of the advert.

 

Bibliography

Ó Copyright Phil Moran 1999

November 1999