three ads: diapers
I chose to look at the diaper industry.
In this ad, the voice-over
is a woman, and there aren't any men in the commercial at all. The overall vibe
of this is more relaxed and peaceful. The babies are the main part of this
advertisement and the woman is just in the background with three seconds of
screen time. The advertisement isn't funny or exciting, but just nice to look
at. This short ad is an example of role-product congruity, since traditionally
childcare has been a women's job, so it makes sense to the audience to have a
woman advertise it. Using this traditional stereotype, the diaper company can
quickly get to the right demographic, which would be in this case, parents and
more specifically women. In this case I find the babies to have a more active portrayal
since they are wearing the product. The one adult in this, has a more
decorative role, she is basically giving context to the ad.
In this pampers ad, the
baby is again the focus of the whole advertisement, with a female voice over
and a woman playing the role of a mother, again with no lines or very much
screen time. Which makes sense! This is a commercial for diapers, for babies,
of course it should focus on the baby. In this ad the adult women sort of takes
on a more decorative role in the advertisement, the woman just sits and picks
up a baby. This advertisement represents the society as comfortably wealthy. The
setting alone gives off this vibe; the big white bed, with the clean sheets and
the big window, with a classy jazz song playing. All this scream comfortable
and wholesome. It says taking care of your kid isn't hard, it’s so simple! See!
This advertisement is different.
Here, there aren't any women, and the voice-over is a man. The overall vibe
contrasts greatly with the other two. This ad isn't shot in a peaceful bedroom
with giggles and smiles and white sheets, instead it’s in a public park. The
goofy and exaggerated voice over makes the ad more humorous and gives it more
of a story. The main character is the man. The fact that there aren’t any women
in this ad, and the idea that the man is taking care of the kid may make the ad
seem slightly caught up with the times. However, the ad cancels itself out by
playing into the stereotype of the bumbling father that struggles with basic
childcare, such as changing a diaper in public. I feel that, because this ad
tries to rebuff that role-product congruity by making it about a dad instead of
the traditional mother, it doesn’t seem like it’s advertising the product,
rather its advertising the idea that men can be equal caregivers more. The ad doesn’t
say many features of the product, it lets the acting and the context sell itself.
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