Introduction To Advertising

 

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Introduction to advertising blog tasks'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54  (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. You may also want to re-watch the Marmite Gene Project advert above.

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) How does the Marmite Gene Project advert use narrative? Apply some narrative theories here.

The advert creates contrast between people who hate and the people who love marmite. This is binary opposition (Levi Strauss) and the audience then purchases the item to place themselves on a side. 

2) What persuasive techniques are used by the Marmite advert?

The advert has a different type of approach as its advert is different from other ads as it acknowledges people hate it or like it. It shows they're aware that people are 50/50 of their product and not everyone enjoys it.

3) Focusing specifically on the Media Magazine article, what does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

Advertising's aims are to make us dissatisfied with our current selves and lives so they promote the idea that we can buy our way to a better life with their product.

4) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

We fall into lifestyles both subconsciously or consciously, and realise that adverts influence us as it presents it as an ideal life. We could link this to 'expert opinions' as the ideology that experts have it all figured out or know what's best is in the audience heads so whatever they suggest would influence our purchases subconsciously even if people know its a marketing technique.

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

Zippy from the children’s television programme Rainbow is a good example. In 2007 an 18-month, £3m campaign featured the 1970s cartoon character Paddington Bear.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

High culture is royalty, opera and high class paintings whilst popular culture is more mainstream trends and music.

The strapline ‘By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen’ alongside the royal crest. Unilever has spoofed this approach, with the Marmite series of advertisements, typifying the irreverent nature of their product – breadsticks form a crown and the Queen’s corgi dogs replace the lion and unicorn.

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

It makes the audience feel special and then this makes them liking marmite become apart of them and their image.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Mr. Marmite. Love him or hate him; you can’t ignore him’. Since the 1990s, Unilever’s campaigns admit that not everyone will want to buy their product. Companies normally try to maximise their potential consumer-audiences, so to admit that this is a targeted niche product might seem to be against conventional advertising wisdom. Ultimately, the evidence for the success of these postmodern ads remains sales of the product.