Wednesday, 25 February 2015

OUGD401 | AdBusters Research

AdBusters describes itself as a "magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces [...] Ultimately Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment". 

The magazine (and others who submit work) create spoof adds, which are either comical or serious, either way they prove very strong points about the products being advertised or the people featured in them. I want to analyse some of the techniques used by AdBusters to see if this can inform my own practical work. 

I took some of the spoof ads that inspired me most from the website. Each and every one is just as hard hitting. Firstly, a spoof add for cigarettes with the caption "If it wasn't for cigarettes, I wouldn't have cancer" a women poses innocently in the background. What is interesting about this ad is that the words can so easily be changed to a positive"if it was for THIS PRODUCT, I wouldn't have THIS BENEFIT". If the slogan changes, the same picture can be used with the same effect. This illustrates the power of photography, but more so the power of how a slogan effects the way we read an image.


A similar technique is used in this fast food spoof add, whereby the slogan completely changes how the image is read. Typically, the caption would be boasting of flavour, ingredients and taste, however here we see this replaced with a shocking statistic "52% fat" which is instantly off-putting.  The brutal honesty has a strong effect on the viewer. 


This Absolut Vodka add has a similar honesty to it but it edits the name of the brand rather than using a slogan, this was part of a series which replaced the word vodka with a consequence of drinking, and illustrated this in the shape of the product e.g. here we see a noose in the shape of the bottle itself. This is effectively replacing the product with the truth. 


Moving on to a more fashion focussed spoof add, for Calvin Klein. Playing on the words that could or are used for perfumes and aftershaves. Firstly "Reality" this could easily be used as a perfume name, however paired with an unattractive hairy chest, the advert isn't quite so convincing! My favourite spoof ad had to be "Escape...from Calvin Klein", the play on words here is really successful in that it has humour but also delivers a strong message to keep away from the tricks of designer branding. 


To gain a greater understanding of Adbusters, I analysed the latest copy of the magazine in the library. The visual theme of the issue was an arrangement of scribbles across the content. As well as some very brutal articles. The theme here seems to be honesty and facing the facts in order to encourage others to change the state of the world. The magazine itself was quite heavy, using a very thick matte stock, I found this quite unusual for a magazine but I liked how the issue seemed to break the rules. In terms of graphic design the magazine continued the rule breaking in a post modern style, comic sans even makes several appearances. The approach of the magazine as a whole was very useful to me in that it has shown me a new approach to my own practical work in relation to my essay. 






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