Television

Advertisemen
ts
Structures: Form and Style

Different forms are used in advertising in

different ways. Depending on the audience and
product or service, the form of an advert will
vary.

Form

Animation
The term animation encompasses a wide range of
techniques from 2D images all the way to CGI. Animated
images are often used in television advertising so that
more fantastic or impossible scenes can be used.
Examples:
Guinness - Evolution
Milky Way - Red Car, Blue Car
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Form

Mini Fictions
Many ads present mini fictional narratives, including a
main character with whom we are asked to identify, and
a little scenario/situation within which they successfully
operate to overcome some problem or issue.
Examples:
Yellow Pages
Lynx End of the World
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Form

Documentary
Documentary style adverts are used to suggest real
people who are using the product. They borrow from
the trust we have in documentaries to tell the truth.
They may also involve celebrity or expert
endorsement.
Examples:
Bob Monkhouse- Prostate cancer
The Salvation Army 19 Christmas appeal

Come up with 1 of you own examples

Form

Talking Heads
Following on from documentary, the celebrity or
expert may be presented as a talking head, usually
addressing an implied interviewer. A talking head may
also be a satisfied customer saying how much they
love the product.
Examples:
Yasmin Oral B
Pampers Baby Dry

Form

Come up with 1 of your own examples

Stand Alone ads Versus Series Ads

Most ads are stand alone ads, which advertise a

product or service and do not link with any
existing advertisements for that brand, product
or service.

Examples (stand alone):

Think! - Slow Down
Cravendale - Cats with thumbs
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Form

Series Ads
Some ad campaigns use a series of adverts to promote a
single brand, product or service. Sometimes the adverts
differ slightly in the content but it can also result in a
progressive narrative over a long period of time and over a
number of singular commercials. Occasionally these series
last for many years.

Examples:
Nescafe Gold Blend - Antony Head
Daz - Cleaner close
BT - Infinity
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Form

We have now explored the different

forms of existing advertisements,
now we will be focussing on style.

Style

Humorous
Can be tongue in cheek, silly or cute
Usually harmless and stick in our minds
Frequently used in alcohol ads

Examples
Have you got a WKD side? - WKD
Nanas knit Shreddies - Shreddies
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Style

Surreal
Audience are not too sure what the product is
Plays on being different and away from the
norm

Examples
David Lynch - PS2
Bellys gonna get ya - Reebok
Kevin the hamster - Levis (banned)
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Style

Shocking/Dramatic
Gets our attention and makes us feel bad/sad
Shock tactics to appeal to softer/kinder side and
we feel empathy
Examples
NHS - Give blood/stop smoking
Think! - road safety
Bob Monkhouse - Prostate cancer
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Style

Parodic/Intertextual
References existing texts and makes fun of the
original subject matter
We feel smart/glad to get the parody/homage

Examples
The A-Team - 118 118
Wacky Races - Vauxhall Corsa
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Style

Nostalgic
Plays on our sense of nostalgia/fondness of the
past
Audience remembers older days/adverts
Examples
Through the ages - Hovis
Through the ages - Bisto
Through the ages - Fairy Liquid
Come up with 1 of your own examples

Style

And finally TECHNICAL ELEMENTS

When analysing ads, just like when analysing
any other moving image media text, youll
need to make sure you cover the technical
elements of the text:
Camera use (angle, shot, movement,
composition)
Mise-en-scene/iconography/lighting
Editing
Soundtrack (sound effects, music, dialogue)

Style