Tuesday 1 February 2011

Who's looking at who?


Recently i've noticed the phenomena of ad that self-critique or intentionally highlight their own construction. Adverts which open a dialogue with the audience in a 'How am i doing?' manner.

In particular the Volvo ad with the an 'obscure product metaphor' made me chuckle. These ads consciously nod to todays 'ad savvy' audience; ad savvy this, ad savvy that..



It seems to me this approach has a number of potential effects:

Humour: 'It's funny cos it's true! I've noticed that about ads!' Creatives have used established advertising conventions/techniques as comedy fodder. Good humour is almost always based in genuine observation and it's a compliment to the audience's intelligence that they too have observed the ageing, tacky ad techniques. 



Trust- The ad has pointed out that ads try to persuade, some say 'trick', but this one's on your side. How refreshing to see so honest an ad. (is the audience reaction)

But they've given away the game! The smoke and mirrors are revealed? Not really, this ad is running commentary on the death-in-progress of bad, conventional advertising. You can only take being a target (audience) so much before you start to fire back. 

Instead of trying to find an angle around the 'target audience' it's now more important than ever to open innovative, direct dialogue with the 'customer'.

If you believe in all that…
Ultimately it's about respecting the viewer's intelligence, giving an element of control, a feeling of choice and people love giving their opinion.

And what this means and how it'll play out is the topic for another time.

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