Recently, my class and I have been discussing different advertising techniques that people use for the purpose of appealing to us consumers and attempting to persuade us to either start or continue taking action about a certain idea or product. Usually, these companies narrow down to a specific target group, like a certain age group, or even a certain gender. And what advertisement would be a better example of one with a directed gender group than one of Clara Lee's commercial films (CFs)?
Clara Lee is a Korean model and actress that has been hailed pretty much as a sex symbol. Even her ceremonial first pitch at a professional baseball game was pretty... over-sexualized (but perhaps unexpected would be a better choice of words, especially because it wasn't necessarily sexual, but just not normal for the setting) from her choice of clothing to the pose she took to throw the first pitch.
..for Sprite.
Her Sprite CF is what I'm going to be analyzing in this blog post.
As the commercial begins, we see the backside of a woman in a bikini. She's walking towards a gigantic soda dispenser of Sprite. The first advertising technique that goes through my mind is definitely sex appeal. We get a close up of her butt, back, and breasts at the very beginning of the commercial. She walks over to the machine and stands under the dispenser part of it and gets drenched in the liquid (whether it's soda or Sprite, I have no idea). If this isn't blatant sex appeal, I don't know what is. She's pushing her hair back and taking selcas as the camera pans to guys becoming distracted and wide-eyed as they stare at her. In the middle of the CF, Clara turns to the camera and says something along the lines of, "Would you like to shower with me?" Also, because Clara is pretty much known for being a sex symbol, many CF producers would want to utilize this characteristic of hers.
As Clara takes a sip from the Sprite bottle, we see a horde of people running towards her. This could possibly be the use of association, as we see everyone having fun, dancing and drinking Sprite, all under a Sprite shower.
There is a definite use of repetition as well. We see the Sprite logo and symbol "tattooed" on the top of her left breast and her lower right back, and she's also wearing a green bikini. The Sprite logo and symbol is also on the machine at the top, as well as the background of the dispensing section and a surfboard. Although it's in black and white and in Korean, we recognize the colors and the design (outside border) of the logo. It has become something that we just know at first glance now.
Up until the very end, the Sprite logo is advertised, and Clara, along with the Sprite bottle, is centered. The advertisers definitely tried to use Clara in order to influence consumers to buy the soda. Although the product itself has nothing at all to do with anything sexual, sex appeal is heavily relied on to brand loyalty to the brand itself. It holds a lot of weight in our culture and stands out to us.
The marketing professionals that came up with this Sprite advertisement also used the marketing technique of transfer/association. While everyone is having fun under a Sprite shower and drinking Sprite, the scenery is at a beach during the summer. The Sprite product is associated with making us feel cool during this hot season. All of these people having fun at the beach is already a desirable thing for us, and so we associate this product with it and project our own feelings onto it, believing that by drinking Sprite, we'll be capable of having the same fun time that everyone else is having.
Personally, I would probably never buy this product, but not necessarily because it wasn't convincing enough for me (I just don't drink soda). Regardless of my actions, the techniques that the advertisers for Sprite were definitely put to good use. It's a very common thing nowadays to use sex appeal to advertise for a certain product, even if it's completely out of place. It was a way to break through the clutter, to get our attention, but now, they're so common and we've gotten so used to it. Using Clara Lee was also a good choice in using sex appeal, too, because of her reputation of being sexy.
As Clara takes a sip from the Sprite bottle, we see a horde of people running towards her. This could possibly be the use of association, as we see everyone having fun, dancing and drinking Sprite, all under a Sprite shower.
There is a definite use of repetition as well. We see the Sprite logo and symbol "tattooed" on the top of her left breast and her lower right back, and she's also wearing a green bikini. The Sprite logo and symbol is also on the machine at the top, as well as the background of the dispensing section and a surfboard. Although it's in black and white and in Korean, we recognize the colors and the design (outside border) of the logo. It has become something that we just know at first glance now.
Up until the very end, the Sprite logo is advertised, and Clara, along with the Sprite bottle, is centered. The advertisers definitely tried to use Clara in order to influence consumers to buy the soda. Although the product itself has nothing at all to do with anything sexual, sex appeal is heavily relied on to brand loyalty to the brand itself. It holds a lot of weight in our culture and stands out to us.
The marketing professionals that came up with this Sprite advertisement also used the marketing technique of transfer/association. While everyone is having fun under a Sprite shower and drinking Sprite, the scenery is at a beach during the summer. The Sprite product is associated with making us feel cool during this hot season. All of these people having fun at the beach is already a desirable thing for us, and so we associate this product with it and project our own feelings onto it, believing that by drinking Sprite, we'll be capable of having the same fun time that everyone else is having.
Personally, I would probably never buy this product, but not necessarily because it wasn't convincing enough for me (I just don't drink soda). Regardless of my actions, the techniques that the advertisers for Sprite were definitely put to good use. It's a very common thing nowadays to use sex appeal to advertise for a certain product, even if it's completely out of place. It was a way to break through the clutter, to get our attention, but now, they're so common and we've gotten so used to it. Using Clara Lee was also a good choice in using sex appeal, too, because of her reputation of being sexy.
I agree with the statements you make. I find it to be ironic too how they're using the sex appeal, perhaps even the sweet dream of having a smokin' hot bod like Clara Lee, yet Sprite makes people fat. Just like how bread makes people fat.
ReplyDeleteCherple, you say you wouldn't buy the product, but does that stop you from looking at this "sexy" lady whenever she appears in the adds you see?
no it does not stop me from looking at ku ra ra lee
Deletei vow to search for more of her ads to analyze because the techniques used are very easy to explain because those producers keep using her s line to attract more and more people to buy those products that no one really needs
I don't know of many CFs that she has filmed--I've only seen two of hers (and both of those have something that accent her body).
I find it ironic that they use her sex appeal to sell the Sprite. Yes, I do agree that she looks beautiful but they didn't have to target this commercial towards sex appeal. Other appeals using Clara would've been fine. Personally, I wouldn't buy this product if they targeted it towards sex appeal.
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