This is a print ad by the Red Cross to urge the donation of eye balls to help treat the blind.
According to communication theories, the process of perception comprises of 3 elements integrated together to form a meaningful perception of the world around us, namely: selection, organization and interpretation.
Good print ads work by allowing us to first "select" it amidst all the communicative "noises" that shrouds the environment we live in and also obscure the print ad. It plays upon our qualities of selection: frequency, contrast, intensity and novel stimuli.
Let's peer into this particular print ad to have a look at how these elements manage to turn eyes.
First of all, this ad can be found along the corridors and notice boards of the hospitals in the country that this ad is from. This increases the frequency that a random individual will be exposed to the ad. After many times of exposure, the familiarity increases and when he or she finally slows down and observe the surroundings, this ad will stand out due to its uncanny familiarity that strikes the individual.
We also notice the bold method of the blatant use of gore in the ad (if you notice, these are actually eyeballs, mounds of them, in a dumping ground). This makes the ad stand out amongst the other "normal" ads by creating a contrast in terms of the level of boldness, which then seizes the attention of passers-by quickly.The mounds of eyeballs and the level of rot that some of them are in brings the level of gore to an extreme intensity. Also, this is a new concept to us and our reaction to this is not expected, thus due to the novel stimuli, we're coerced into thinking about an appropriate reaction to this ad and at the same time ponder about the ad.
Only after these processes, will we organize these raw info and attach meaning to it based on our own interpretations. These will be other factors that will lead to the overall success of the ad. But through the use of these qualities of selection to draw our attention, this ad has taken its first step towards its success.
6 comments:
eww, gross.
this is a very good example of using shock in advertising. other examples will be the mouth cancer patient TVC for the anti smoking campaign or the pouring of crude oil over boy by NEA's banned TVC.
in this case, the use of shock is well played as value has been added. in adding value, shock in advertisements should bring positive values across to the viewers; show the ugly truth, as it is.
i personally feel that shock advertising is a good way to bring across an urgent message to the masses. (i do believe you donate the cornea instead of the eyeball.hahahs)
at the same time, it might not necessarily work in today's context because what is shocking is a subjective isssue.
these days, we are constantly exposed to gore and what not on the televsion screens as well as handheld games.hence,there is only a certain limit as to how these ads can affect us.
ultimately,for urgent causes, the ads must be able to relate the urgency and the need and arouse emotions within the masses to achieve desired results.
Initially when I saw the picture I thought it was about supporting the cause of recycling by an environmental agency until I clicked to enlarge the picture. Then I noticed the sign 'Thai Red Cross'. I was eating a cookie while looking at it then I got a shock when I started noticing the eyeballs. Haha are those real?! This also shows how it is easy to omit or distort information when we do not select the details properly.
Anyway, I do agree that that's a very good shock advertisement, atleast I was shocked haha (:
i do feel that shock ads work both ways, they could either totally disgust the receiver before he/she could fully decode the message being conveyed, or that they could bring the info across very clearly as exemplified by the mouth cancer ad.
of course, by using novel stumuli, our attention has already been grabbed and that is, as you said, the first step to success.
Seriously, at first I have no idea what the ad is showing and when I read on to your post about the need for eyeballs for the blind, I decided to enlarge the picture and...eww!!!!
It is a really smart move for the Red Cross to use shocking images to make a more lasting impression to the audience. It certainly did to me but I think it will only last for a short time, like say, 10 seconds. I agree with one of the comment that in today's society, we are already more exposed to such gore and disgusting images that most of the time, it doesn't make much of an impact to us. Thus, I feel that the Red Cross or any other such organizations that needed desperate help from the public should use a different approach, something new at least so that we can remember it much longer.
-susu-
Oh gosh. I really cannot imagine that. And till now, I cannot really figure out what's in the picture!
But, this is definitely a way to capture attention, to increase the level of awareness in the public. However, my concern is, how many of them would actually react to this advertisement they saw? I guess not many.
One downside of this advertisement would be that it will scare the kids! Reminds me of the recent TV ad on anti-smoking!
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