A. Name of the magazine or newspaper where the ad was found.

Christian Music Planet (discontinued magazine) I found the ad in the magazine a couple of years ago, and it left such an impression on me that when this assignment came up, this was the first thing I thought of. So I internet searched the ad and found this one, and many others like it, that I have seen in magazines before.  
B. Issue date of the magazine or newspaper

April/May 2007
C. Size of the ad (full page, half page, etc)

Full page
D. Product featured in the ad

Guitar

1. Techniques of Persuasion:

·         Identify and describe visual images, symbols, and simple techniques of persuasion (flattery, humor, fear, hyperbole, the use of power words, distortions of fact and/or lies, repetition, testimonial, name calling, simplification, appeals to "scientific evidence," nostalgia, bandwagon everyone's doing it)

This advertisement is an example of hyperbole. The guitar is portrayed as being the size of large buildings. The crane in front of the guitar effectively puts its size into scale, because many people associate the use of cranes with large architectural builds.

The guitar casts a shadow on to the buildings behind it, creating an image that it is larger and more powerful than its surroundings. The buildings surrounding the product are fancy, but the guitar still sticks out among them.

The sun is coming up behind the guitar, shining its light onto the product, creating a spotlight effect to draw your attention directly to the guitar.

·         Are there any "soft sell" or "hard sell" techniques being used in the ad? (soft sell and hard sell are discussed in the reading packet)

There are no people in the advertisement, so there is little, if any, soft or hard sell techniques.

2. Techno-Effects and Subliminal Images:

·         Ask - How is the scene framed?

The buildings on the side of the advertisement frame the picture, there is small text and a logo at the bottom of the page and the actual product is located on the right side.

·         What camera angles and lighting techniques are used and why?

The “picture” is taken from slightly below the guitar, portraying it as superior to the audience. The sunlight puts emphasis on the guitar and shadows create a superior tone.

·         Where is the viewer positioned?

The viewer is at the bottom right corner of the ad, looking up and over at the guitar, staying true to the superiority of the product, and almost creating an “out of this world” effect by making it seem almost distant, but still attainable.

·         What possible computerized effects are used?

Obviously guitars are not that size, so the picture is blown up considerably. The scene looks realistic, however, and the guitar blends in with its surroundings enough to convince the audience that it belongs there, yet stands out enough to catch the audience’s attention.

·         How do all of these effects contribute to the ad's power?

The audience’s attention is grabbed initially by the size of the guitar, since guitars are not that large. However, after looking at the ad more, the audience not only accepts the size, but gets sucked into believing in the superiority the ad is trying to convey.

·         Do you see any possible “subliminal” imagery being used.

The shadows the guitar casts on its surroundings, characterizing it as stronger and more powerful than even the large skyscrapers around it.

3. Emotions and the Story:

·         Identify the story the ad is trying to tell. Keep in mind that print ads are a point in time. Often times the scene being shown has a before and after and we naturally deduce these from the scene without even thinking about it consciously Imagine the scene being a point within a movie. Now think about how the before and after might make the ad effective or more effective.

From the buildings surrounding the guitar, I think the ad is telling a story about being in the city. When people think of cities, they think about the busy hustle-bustle of everybody, cars honking horns, music playing from stores, billboards and advertisements everywhere; a lot of noise. The scene takes place at daybreak, when everything is the quietest and sheds light on a new hope for making yourself heard above the noise of a busy city.

·         What "problems" if any will the product solve?

The words “Big Sound For A Big World” addresses the problem that many of us face in a big, busy, noisy world; that we can’t always be heard. A larger than life guitar will obviously solve that problem.

·         What are the associations the ad makes with the product?

The ad associates itself with confidence and superiority, standing out the world

·         What are the advertisers trying to get you to believe?

The advertisers are trying to get you to believe that by buying their guitar, you’ll immediately become more important, more powerful, stronger and louder than everything around you.

·         What messages is the ad trying to send?

It creates a concept of dominance and power, and who doesn’t want that?

·         What emotions does the ad appeal to?

It appeals strength, confidence, ability, talent, superiority and dominance.

·         What is the "logic" behind the ad?

The logic could be that a really large guitar can make a huge amount of sound in a really busy world. Someone with this guitar would not go unnoticed.

4. Intended and Unintended Effects:

·         In print ads the scene is a "staged" moment. Nothing in the picture is by accident - especially today when anything can be added or deleted from the picture with computers. With that in mind - look at everything within the "moment". Observe all aspects of the scene - color of clothing, props, location, graphics, etc.

A lot of the colors are the same: brownish, silver, with a little bit of green. I’m actually surprised that the creators chose to make the buildings along the same color scheme as the guitar instead of creating a stark contrast between the guitar and its surroundings. I guess the fact that it’s a guitar makes it stand out more than anything. The nature around the scene is that of daybreak, a new dawn shedding light on a newer, brighter idea.

·         Look for anything unusual or out of place - believe it or not this is sometimes done on purpose so that you subconsciously remember the ad.

Obviously the guitar is out of place, and that definitely makes you remember their ad. Taylor has a way of doing this; other ads include a guitar being a support beam for a bridge to “bridge the gap between two worlds” or a guitar in a jar to “contain the pure sound” etc.

The sun seems to be coming up behind the guitar, because the brightest spot of the picture is located right behind the body of the guitar. The light, however, seems to be coming from in front, which is why the shadow of the guitar is cast on the buildings behind it. Another gleam on a separate building suggests that the source of the light is coming from the top left of the picture, but everything else is in darkness. This lighting effect is illogical.

·         Look for elements in the picture that may have been used to grab your attention or bring the focus to the product (person with the product may be the only one in light colored clothing, etc).

The light is directed to the guitar

·         Analyze use of special effects - transitions, graphics, sound effects. What does it add to the advertisement? How does it enhance the product? Is it realistic (could you expect the same from your use of the product)?

Obviously expecting a guitar the size of a skyscraper is a little unrealistic. However, the point that the advertisers are trying to get across is that the sound the guitar makes, even if it is only the size of a regular guitar, is a larger than life sound. From this ad, you would expect such results from buying their product.

·         Human nature is to start at the top left area of a print ad and then scan across the top then down and then off the page to the right. We generally have the same patterns in "scanning" an ad. This is true unless something on the ad influences us to look or focus on certain part of the page. Is there any attempt to influence where we focus our attention?

The guitar is located in the right area of the page. Because the guitar is so out of place, and because the light shines a spotlight on the product, readers are automatically going to be drawn to that side of the page. As their gaze shifts left, they realize that everything surrounding the product isn’t as important

·         Where the person(s) in the ad are looking can draw our attention to some aspect of the ad. Where are the people in the ad looking and why?

There are no people in the ad.

5. Marketing Strategy:

·         Try to identify the strategy of the ad. Try to figure out what the ad agency who created it were thinking - trying to achieve.

Obviously the Taylor Company designed the ad.  Many of their advertisements have this same concept communicated in their advertisements, one way or another. They’re trying to achieve the concept of making their products seem larger than life and dominant of other competitors.

·         Why is this ad running? How long has it been running?

Taylor Guitars has been around since the mid 1900’s. I suspect that ads such as this one have been running for the past decade maybe. Obviously this ad is running to persuade musicians to consider the Taylor Company for their instruments.

·         What does the corporation running the ad hope it will do for their public relations or product "image"?

An ad like this is actually quite impressive, and it shows the sophistication of the Taylor company. This ad will be remembered fondly when musicians go to a store to purchase equipment.

·         Who is the target audience for the ad? How do you know?

Obviously musicians. I found this advertisement in a music magazine, so anyone who likes music, whether they play guitar or not, would find this appealing. I am a musician and I play guitar, so I found this ad really appealing.

·         Imagine a wide spectrum of audiences response to the ad (what would a woman think, what would a man think, what would a child think, etc). What meanings could different audiences construct from the ad?

My non musician friends really appreciate the computer generated image of a huge guitar. Even the ones who aren’t as into music, or who don’t play any instruments found it really cool. My dad, who’s a geophysicist/engineer found it appealing mostly for the message it was communicating about a big sound. My mom thought it was pretty funny, but she wasn’t convinced that it made Taylor the best company to buy from.

·         If a print ad - where was it run (what magazine, newspaper, billboard, etc)?

I have seen ads such as this one everywhere. This particular one I found in a magazine called Christian Music Planet (which is discontinued now) and then internet searched the ad and found the exact one.

6. Overall Impressions

      (some of these are redundant from those already mentioned in 1 - 5)

·         How does the ad make you feel?

I liked how they portrayed the large sound that the guitars are capable of making. I wasn’t particularly impressed with how it made me feel almost significant in comparison, but overall I really liked the ad and others like it.

·         How does it make me feel about the product?

It definitely made me consider looking into Taylor Guitars for my next purchase.

·         Does the ad use humor? Why do you think humor was used to sell the product?

There’s not a whole lot of humor in the ad. There’s a lot of irony considering that guitars aren’t normally that size.

·         Who are the main characters? How are they relating to each other?

There are no characters in the ad, just the guitar and the building, but they relate to each other. The guitar is obviously the dominant object in comparison to the buildings, because the guitar is lit up and large, casting all the surroundings into shadow.

·         Is there enough information in the ad to make an informed buying decision?

There’s very little about the price or reliability of the product. The only thing that the audience can expect from such an ad is that Taylor Guitars provide instruments that have a full and bold sound. I’m not quite sure how true this implication is. But this ad does not contain nearly enough information to make an informed buying decision, especially when it comes to a musical instrument.

7. Ask Questions:

·         The key to deconstruction of an ad is observation and asking lots of questions. There is not magic formula or set of questions - just start asking anything that comes to mind.