Advertising and Marketing: Key conventions

 1) What key conventions of print adverts can you find and what are the connotations or deeper meanings of each convention? For each convention, write about how it communicates meaning to the audience. See the Maltesers advert above for an example of how to do this.

In the advert for skittles the ad shows a skittles packet high up in the sky with a rainbow behind it. In the advert the rainbow is made out of skittles this represents that the brand contains all colours of the rainbow in their candy furthermore it connotes that skittles is a delightful candy and that its flavours can bring you over the clouds

2) What is the USP (unique selling point) for Skittles and how do you know? Does the advert use any of persuasive techniques listed above?

Look at the Maltesers example above if you are unsure how to complete these tasks.

The USP of the advert is the Rainbow made out of skittles as it highlights the brands slogan and the different flavours of their candy 

Part 2: Advert Research

Use Google images to research classic adverts. Find examples for the following and add them to your blog:

1) An advert with a clear brand identity

2) An advert that uses shock tactics or a controversial idea

3) An advert that creates a a strong emotional connection to the audience

Bonus: Can you find an advert that shows women or men in a way they don't normally appear (this is an example of representation in media - subverting the typical representation of gender. We will be studying this next week!)

Extension tasks

If you have completed an in-depth analysis the Skittles advert and some research into classic adverts, do some additional research into creative or powerful print advertising. 

Task: Find an example of a print advert for EACH of the following:

1) An innovative or ‘different’, subversive concept (e.g the porcupine advertising VW car)

2) A foreign advert that you can understand despite the language barrier

3) An advert that subverts gender representations