Wednesday July 6, 2005
Modern Advertising
Doesn’t it seem that sometimes marketing execs try too hard to appeal to young people? I can’t help but feel that sometimes they are trying so hard to be “hip” and “cool” (used with quotes because I’m sure the marketing team uses these terms, complete with air quotes while pitching their latest ideas).
Take McDonald’s for example. They are trying so hard to be “hip” that I feel like I am completely out of their demographic. There are commercials with country music, people rapping, and a bunch of inner-city youths. Since starting their new campaign, I have yet to see anything that I could even remotely identify with.
Another instance of advertising that sticks with me whenever I see it is for Lay’s potato chips. They use the phrase “Get your smile on”. Undoubtedly, some middle-aged exec heard someone used the phrase “get it on” or “get your groove on” or some variation of the “get…on” phrasing. Despite the fact that these phrases have been in existence for some time, like most popular slang, it is slow to reach those outside the youth demographic. Of course, this doesn’t stop the execs from using these phrases as if they were just invented—after all, the sayings are new to them!
I don’t know, it’s probably just me. No one else probably finds it odd, but I guess I just think it’s strange when I come across advertising that attempts to mimic the terminology of youth speak.
Or maybe the fact that I don’t just accept the message and instead analyze it to death means that I am no longer “hip” (if indeed I ever was!).
Posted at 8:25 PM |
Ok, MAYBE you’re right. Except that even the McDonald’s commercials with white people don’t appeal to me now. And that potato chip commercial I saw had a bunch of white people in it too—I’m sure it’ll come on again, but I don’t think it was a minority ad.
And hey, white people are underrepresented (read: pretty much nonexistant) in minority publications! ;)
I dunno, advertising is a strange business!
2 | Posted by: Jennifer
on July 07, 2005 @ 9:10 AM
MacDonalds has a long history of specifically targeting a black audience. Take for example their most recent slogan, “I’m lovin’ it.” As our respected Web Goddess can tell you after four grueling years of being and English scholar, this phrase from a grammatical standpoint is not, if one wants to be highly technical, correct.
A different reason might also be found on the back of a Lucky Charms box which informed me that minorities tend to watch more tv than white folk.
3 | Posted by: Ronald McDonald on July 07, 2005 @ 1:12 PMHehe is it sad that I have indeed had an issue with their latest slogan? Although it’s not so much the slang-like nature of it, or even the vagueness of what it refers to (because indeed, what exactly are they referring to? The food? The restaurant? Sitting on swing in a park? What??), so much as the fact that they attempt to translate the slogan into a dozen different languages, but it doesn’t quite work.
For instance, “Ich liebe es” or “Me encanta”. Now, technically yea, sure, they get the point across. But really, I’d interpret those phrases as merely “I love it”, or in the case of German, where if you have implied a time context (ie. have made it specific that you are referring to the present or future) then that phrase could technically be “I am loving it”. But the problem still remains that this translation is pretty formal, and to me does not convey the sort of informal youthful slang that targets their particular market.
In English, if you said “I love it”, “I am loving it”, or “I’m lovin’ it”—while they are similar, there are ever-so-subtle differences in the meaning and to whom you would use this phrase. I think this subtlety is lost in translation.
But then again, I might be the only one pondering that—perhaps they never intended their target audience to question the nuances of various languages. Hmm, at least someone might learn how to say “I love it” in a bunch of languages, right? So it’s not all for nothing!
4 | Posted by: Jennifer on July 07, 2005 @ 2:17 PM
