Commercial advertising is a dynamic and influential tool, which advertisers use to their advantage everyday when bombarding consumers with flashy graphics and attention grabbing scenarios, all in an effort to attract and entice consumers into purchasing their products. Everyday television commercials are often meant to evoke an emotional reaction in viewers in an effort to connect those feelings to the product being sold. Advertising can also contain underlying contexts that convey messages to viewers about everything from politics to gender roles and sexuality. In "On Reading a Video Text," author Robert Scholes lays out his theories regarding commercial advertising and the underlying messages it sends. Some of the concepts Scholes discusses can be seen in an Herbal Essences commercial from the 1990's, which serves as a good example of ways in which advertising can convey a subtle yet powerful message regarding sexuality. Intrinsically, advertising is an exercise in coercion, a means of persuasion however subtle or overt it may be. While advertising in its most benign forms may not be harmful, it is useful to think critically and analytically about the hidden messages that modern forms of advertising may contain.
Works Cited
"Herbal Essences." Youtube. 04 September 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAXtXyydzPA>.
Scholes, Robert. "On Reading a Video Text." Literacies. 2nd ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 619-623.
2 comments:
A good integration of both sources. However, I would suggest to indicate more precisely which concept of Scholes is going to be discussed in the paper and which of them is present in the commercial. In my prospective, the main idea of the paper is still not clear, probably there is too much said about all aspects of advertising. Try to concentrate on on one thing, so it is more understandable to the reader what you are arguing and why.
You did a great job of showing the reader both sources. The only thing I didn't like very much was the you had to many broad topics in your intro. Pick a couple topics your are going to talk about and be more specific. It's a very good start it just needs a little touch up which is to be expected.
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