In the 21st century, it is common place to be bamboozled by a myriad of quirky advertisements in our daily lives. Mediums like the television and The Internet are constantly drawing in tons of revenue from this lucrative business and consumerism is sharply on the rise because of their successful campaigns.
Looking at the commercials in terms of verbal and non-verbal communication, it can be seen that many conclusions can be drawn. Producers of these commercials often try to come out with alternative views to sell their product in the 30 sec segment they have. Professional studies have shown that if the audience does not get the message within 10 sec the image would be discarded by the brain subconciously. Hence, the advertising world is aggressive, and attempting to be more creative.
Having said this, I feel that some commercials don't really click with the audience. How many of you have seen the recent KFC fish zinger advertisement? I was taking the bus home with one of my classmates recently and we both scoffed at it's unintelligent marketing approach. It shows a young guy doing stunts to point out the correct direction to a tourist afer he takes a bite out of the fish zinger. Where is the logic? Maybe it wasn't meant to be logical. Maybe it was supposed to be using kinesics (hand signals) to communicate with the target audience. Personally, I feel it is nonsense.
Macdonald's eat healthy campaign is also insidiously creating itself an anchorpoint in an age where people are starting to become more health conscious. Did you notice that on the right side of your meal tray there is this table where they attempt to list out the nutrition value of each item you are eating? I'm not sure if that has a psychological effect on people, as it consoles them that the Big Mac they are eating has XXX calories and XXX energy value. That it is OK to eat fast food since it can benefit you in this fashion. If people are buying this idea, I guess Macdonald's has won its war in keeping loyal customers.
I'm sure we will constantly see new marketing campaigns from the fast food industry, and it is likely we will see new creations to draw in the business. What do you guys think? Share your views!
http://www.mcdonalds.com.sg/
http://www.kfc.com.sg/
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13 comments:
Within 30 seconds, it is quite hard to properly advertise a product and explain why one should buy it. I think the aim of most commercials is to grasp the attention of the audience and ingrain an image that sticks with them. The content of the advertisement may have nothing to do with the product or and may even be completely inane but its main aim is to create a lasting impression that links common things to the product. For example, soccer has nothing to do with beer, but for some when they think of soccer, Carlsberg beer comes to mind.
I'm always so entertained by the supposed 'nutritional values' on the Mac tray paper. It's preposterous that eating a pack of fries and a burger could give you enough fibre and energy for a day. How can a pack of greasy, salt saturated fries be remotely beneficial to your health, unless taking oily stuff on a regular basis is healthy.
Regarding the KFC ad, I too can see no relation between the burger and the movements by the guy in the ad. Maybe they're suggesting that the fish burger induces some sort of break-dancing state, with effects as powerful as drugs? Some geek takes the burger and becomes a really cool guy. AMAZING!
I will have to disagree with amp on this one as I have seen really powerful 30 second ads that struck a really lasting impression on myself. The Apple 'Mac VS PC' series is just one example.
With regard to the advertisements by the fast food joints, I believe that their main purpose is to portray a different image since everyone is all about being health conscious now.
However, they are not excatly being successful now as the mindset that fast food is oily and unhealthy is very deeply ingrained into our minds. And as you said, the KFC ad running now is just pure rubbish, it actually has the opposite effect of turning me off.
McDonalds(McD) are in a league of their own when it comes to marketing the brand. Theyve got hello kitty, pokemon, speed racer,and the list goes on. And what does kfc have? As far as i can remember, Chicky.
The latest fish zinger ad is indeed nonsense and so are the ones before it. Let's not ask what the fish is the fish doing in kfC.
KFC's gotta find a new marketing team. But then again, perhaps theyre contented with the profits they are generating presently and do not see the need to attract more customers.
And McD's doing well in retaining consumers who are getting more and more health conscious. By having those nutritional value table, they are renderring a great service by informing consumers of what they are eating.
Consumers become more aware of what they eat and thus, the onus now lies on them when it comes to choosing where to have their meals.
McD has evolved so much over the last 10 years. 24 hrs, delivery, McCafe, i'll be amazed if they can take the brand to another level.
Because I have recently decided to stop killing myself and lead a healthy lifestyle, I have stopped responding to fastfood adverts. But for the rest of the people with less willpower, I think what matters is still the food itself. If they allow themselves to be tempted by a deliciously juicy hamburger flashing on the tv screen, advertisers can put bullcrap on tv and still push the sales. People hunger for fastfood because it is nice. That's the big fat truth in my opinion. =)
i agree that the marketing/advertising industry is a real competitive world of its own.but which industry isn't?
anyways, if you're comparing mac vs kfc, mac wins hands down for their advertising. all kfc commercials are crap. and the food always,always doesn't match up to the 'yummy' images on tv etc.
lesson learn:never trust what you see on tv.esp fast food ads!
Actually, in response to greengrapes, i think that KFC could try having a theme like mac's healthy lifestyle, or something to market their products. Although i haven't thought of any viable solutions yet, i believe that should be the direction they are headed to
Well, my say is that KFC has succeeded. The essential role of advertisement is for the public to remember whatever product they are advertising, no matter how retarded it gets, and here we are condemning its fish. If they are actually making this attempt then they have more or less succeeded, otherwise, you should think twice eating KFC considering the people behind making it.
Regarding Macdonalds, if putting a list of nutrition values of how much a juicy and oily and consequently yummy Mcchicken will give you how much energy value or calories for the day is going the health conscious way, i'd put the same list on a bottle of soya sauce. Other than the fact that it provides details on their food, but if this is their take of a healthy campaign then i say that list is crap, or in a more refined manner, its hypocritical. If it isn't, there will be no fat people in the USA.
The advertising world is highly competitive. If you can't leave an impact then you have failed. I reckon we will see more of the likes of scantily-clad musclesmen or maybe a KFC hybrid of a chicken-fish. Who knows yea? =D
hey hey. I always think that this commercial are evil.They only show you the good side of things but forget(purposely i suppose) to portray the down side. It is like some fraud lar. anyway, i think that kfc commercial is stupid too. but since it give u a deep impression i guess, they succeeded. haha
Advertising to me is just about making an impression in memory. So ya I agree very much with amp. The fact that you can recall the advertisement in your mind with the directions and then linking it back to kfc already says that the ad worked. It doesn't matter if the ad made you wanna try it or not, but at least you're aware of it now.
As for mac's nutrition menu thingy.. I don't exactly live the healthy lifestyle but it helps to know that those info are there if in any time I might suddenly be enlightened and decide to count my calorie consumption. Sort of makes mcdonald seem like a healthier choice as compared to the other fast food joints.
an advertisement cannot be evaluated on its own. you must evaluate the entire marketing campaign as a whole and ascertain its objective first. most of the time, this is to successfully persuade.
the time-limit turns the ad into a zero-sum game. if you aim for an all out logos (aristotle's pyramid of persuasion model) push, you'll have less ethos and pathos. so depending on what strengths you already have, your actual televsion ad will have a different goal. if you have extreme brand recognition (apple's ipods), you just go for nonsensical shadows dancing about and only a apple logo without text, if you want people to know about features you incorporate text. the goal of an ad might not even be to advertise the product but the brand (ibm and sony). a good example are the iphone ads, the first few ads are all about features of the iphone. the latest ones, (the iphone 3g one) is to announce that there is a new model.
Easily I acquiesce in but I dream the brief should prepare more info then it has.
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