Btec L2 Creative Digital Media Unit 3.A&B

‘Urban Net’ A assignment 12th October- 23rd October 2015.

The reason as to why I decided to use the “f**k the poor advert, is because I think that it is a very good representation of a promotional advert, which gives me room to analyse the key features of a promotional clip, such as things like: demographics, psychographics, viral buzz etc.

First of all, I think that this promotional advert appeals to certain demographic and psychographic groups of people. I think that the demographic of people that this advert is aimed at would be the working class because I get a sense that it is rush hour and the clothes that most of the people are wearing are quite formal or carrying bags, and also seem to be in a rush somewhere.  After watching the video back again, I realised that this video isn’t just aimed at working class people who would have money to donate, but there is also a homeless guy in that video who confronts the guy with the banner and to be homeless, you’re most likely going to be in a low demographic group.

The problem with trying to analyse or identify what demographic group a certain clip is aimed or targeted at is the fact that demographics are not necessarily always accurate because it is difficult to isolate a whole group of people to one demographic.

Since we have now established the fact, demographics are not really accurate in all instances and does not always give a detailed insight into the target audience. The only other way of sorting this problem and being more accurate, would be the use of psychographics and the use of psychographics is more effective because now I’m not looking at how much you earn and the difference with using psychographics is the fact that an advert can be targeted at more than one psychographic group and psychographics looks at one’s lifestyle and personality. This advert is a very good representation of an advert that can be targeted at more than one psychographic group because I believe that this ‘f**k the poor’ advert is aimed at reformers who are people who want certain things to change and are also not very happy by status and make certain decisions based upon their values and I think that this advert is aimed at reformers is because, if I was to be a reformer and I was on my way to work and I saw that I would be personally obliged to stop and have a go at man who is putting up that banner saying ‘f**k the poor’ because based upon on my values I would think that what he is doing is wrong. Another psychographic group that this advert maybe targeted is the mainstreamers, this may be a bit weird but the reason as to why I say mainstreamers is because there are people who would see such a banner and not really be phased by it and really not care although it may sound unbelievable, there are actually people that would not be bothered if they saw that but for example if I was his/her friend who was a reformer and I started to have a go at him, my friend who is a mainstreamer would most likely going to join me even though he doesn't really care, but the reason as to why decides to join his/her friend who is a reformer is because as a mainstreamer, ones personality indicates that, that person likes to follow the crowd.

The reason as to why I personally think that this promotional advert is a great advert is because of the persuasive/emotional appeal used, but the thing is that emotional appeal is used in most promotional adverts where the audience is being asked to donate money but what makes this advert different?

What makes this advert different is the fact the obviously know to use emotional and persuasive techniques in their advert but the key thing is when and how they did that because they did not just start the advert by showing a poor person and telling the audience what that person has been going though, so the fact that the advert did not start in that manner but started with such a bold statement would capture people’s eyes, but I think that the director of this advert obviously did not want anyone to think that this was advert and the fact that this advert did not come across as an advert in the first half as well with a statement that would have shocked a lot people is one of the biggest reasons as to why this advert even went viral. Now going back to how the persuasive/emotional techniques have been used in a different way is the way the directors waited for the audience to get so angry at that man standing there with that banner because what he is doing is obviously so insane but then the audiences emotion almost instantly changes when there is a plot twist and now the audience now sees how people react when it is something normal that everyone sees and the technique the director used here is emotional manipulation but I also think that he used emotional manipulation as well was using some of the six elements of buzz because even though the director made the audience feel a number of different emotions he still had to in-corporate the outrageous to be able to get our attention but then slowly reel the audience into the main message of the advert which is to obviously help the poor. At the end of the advert there is website link that can be clicked on where the audience can also make their own contribution and by making this advert

interactive with the audience, people are most likely going to donate at that point especially if maybe they feel guilty at the end of that advert because you know that you would say something if you saw ‘f**k the poor’ banner but when you see ‘help the poor’ you act like it’s nothing.

In this Skins trailer, there are a range of different things that need to be evaluated such as, stereotypes, being able to establish different characters through behavioural methods etc. In programs such as skins, there’ll always be the sarcastic self-aware, the juvenile delinquent/rebel, popular one, the reclusive troubled outsider and geek and these features are things that make a good teen drama.

 

 

 

In this clip I personally think that this screen grab is a very good representation of the rebel, because I know that he is the one that is starting the trouble, also like the popular attractive one I know that this also his aim to come to the pub and do this, also with this screen grab because of the everything being rude it puts off a very negative vibe and energy, the screen of him holding the bat while fighting also shows his causing trouble but most importantly re-assures me that he is the leader of the whole group. This girl is also a rebel as, I discovered that she is an adolescent so she wants to be really mature, go to pubs, drink but at the same time doing things like this are also very childish.

 

This image shows the popular attractive one because, for him to be doing this with a girl obviously shows what his priorities are and I know that as the popular attractive one, getting off with a girl is probably his main reason for coming out with that group of friends and also being that they took pills earlier on in the clip also shows that he is somewhat of a rebel. The camera is also of blurred on purpose because the director is trying to place the audience in the scene by blurring them a bit, to show that they are high off of the pill that they took.

 

My last example is the sarcastic self-aware one because is they both know exactly what they are doing as they both have made a conscious decision to behave in that way because, they know that if they behave in that way then, it’s going to irritate the adults more than they are already because first of all for them to invading on those adults personal space in the way that they did. Also the fact that they are taking as a joke when going to pub and socialising is one of the adult’s only ways having a break away from stressful things like work, paying bills etc.

In conclusion to some of the points some of the points I just made, these characters conform to their stereotypes because it is an easy way for me to identify who is who but also for the audience to be able to connect with certain characters as they may have similar personalities and in reality, we know that some of the things that happen in skins or in teen dramas are a bit over the top but the main reason as to why the directors choose to over exaggerate characters and make it a bit unrealistic is because they know that even though they aren’t always portraying the exact qualities of those types of teenagers.