An Adventure with Target

            Over the past few weeks, I have noticed that Target has launched a campaign for fall.  This is one of the first seasonal specific advertisements that I have seen.  Yes, there are the typical shopping "seasons" such as "Back to School", "Spring Cleaning", etc., but rarely do you see an advertisement for a seasonal type of clothing and house goods.  Obviously, I was intrigued.

            I thought that not only was this type of advertisement something that isn't all that common (advertising a season), but it was just a creative commercial in general.  It shows how seamless, simple, and fairly easy the transition from summer to fall can be.  And this specific transition is typically thought to be not all that exciting because it is the end of warm weather, the end of summer break, and the end of family vacations.  Though I am already a lover of fall, this commercial made me love it more.

            Being in creative brief mode, I was curious as to what it might have been to result in this commercial.  Were they looking to not only create interest for fall clothes and house wares, but also the season?  And maybe show that Target can make the fall season fun, not something to dread at the end of the summer. Whatever their creative brief was, I think it succeeded in the idea that I am now more than excited to go shopping at Target for all my fall needs.

An Adventure with Bud Light

            I was watching television the other day and this advertisement came on.

            I am a pretty superstitious person, even though I currently don't play for any sports team (I just enjoy watching them).  I have a few superstitions when it comes to Hokie football.  I paint my nails the same way the night before every game.  I have to wear the same hair bow.  Those superstitions don't stop with Hokie football.  I have special routines before exams and other things in my life.

            "Its only weird if it doesn't work."  Sometimes those rituals or routines before an event don't work.  But I don't necessarily consider my superstitions weird.  I think they give me more confidence while going through the event.

            I thought this ad was pretty successful (at least in my eyes) because even though I am not a crazy NFL fan nor do I drink, I was able to relate to the commercial.  It caught my attention and kept my attention, and in today's world of DVR and multi-tasking, that's a pretty good thing for a TV advertisement.

An Adventure with Axe Body Spray

            In class on Tuesday, we were assigned to bring in an "ethically questionable" advertisement.  One of the first advertisements that came to mind was basically every Axe advertisement.  I'm pretty sure that any of their advertisements has left me feeling taken advantage of as a woman.  Okay, maybe that's a little extreme.  But I can tell you their advertisements sure don't make me feel good about myself as a woman.

            On my search for one of the advertisements that I had seen, I came across some pretty crude ones.  This website had so many to choose from, but of course none of them seemed appropriate enough to bring to class.  Most of them aren't outright appalling, but they allude to some pretty sexual things.  Though I did not choose any of the ads from this site, it gave me the reinforcement that I needed to keep looking for one of the Axe advertisements that I have seen that was appropriate enough to show to class.

            This is the advertisement that I ended up selecting (which I have seen on network television)...

            Still pretty inappropriate, but I figured it would be okay to show in class.  The main idea is that hair is the first thing women notice in men, and breasts are the first thing men notice in women.  I would like to believe that for the most part, this is not true.  This particular advertisement is pretty subjective to women, and men too (but not nearly as much).  Definitely "ethically questionable" in my opinion.

            In my search for an "ethically questionable" advertisement, I came to the realization that there are quite a few out there.  And Axe is definitely a culprit.  I do realize that shock value can sometimes be a factor in advertising, but I think Axe needs to tone it back a bit.  As a girlfriend, I'm not sure I would be comfortable having my boyfriend wear Axe, no matter how good it smells.