I am going to analyse two radio advertisements that appear in the game ‘Grand Theft Auto’. The styles of all the ads are humours due to the nature of the game; however each one uses typical radio ad conventions.
Grand Theft Auto – Military Ad
Styles
This ad is a recruitment ad for the Armed forces. It used a lot of repetition of the slogan ‘In the Military’ which is usually used after a persuasive statement such as ‘be No.1, Turn your life around’ this makes the military out to be the best thing the audience could be doing with their life, this is enforced by the use of patriotic slogans and music, suggesting that the audience will also be benefiting their country. The ad also makes use of facts, making a seemingly straight forward ad seem much more sophisticated, that glamorise the military. As the target audience is typically working class, young, unemployed (or unhappy with work) men, theses ‘facts’ are more likely there to overwhelm and impress, rather than to prove a point.
Cultural codes are used effectively to appeal to certain demographics. A Mexican accent can be heard talking about how they had turned their lives around, this helps the ad appeal to different cultures and races. The language used in another vox pop refers to collage and the confusion it brings (with the answer to such confusing being ‘I’m always right, in the military’) again opening the ad up to a large demographic of people; students.
Purpose
As conscription is no longer used to fill the armed forces ranks, the Military has been turned into a ‘brand’ and is being advertised as one. The extreme consumerism and increasing pressure on national pride in our society makes the advertising world a perfect place for the Military to recruit. This advert uses excessive persuasion such as ‘a career when you are always on the winning team’ and ‘what could be more exciting…’ to further the message that the military is an absolutely amazing experience.
The idea of special offers is used by highlighting the befits that soldiers receive ‘Only in the military would a teenager be given responsibilities such as; driving a nuclear submarine…’ Again, this serves to show the military in a different light, opposed to the one that is heard about in the news. Since the ad is being used along side ads for products the opposing messages about the military are not obvious and thus it is easy to emphasize one or the other, an effective way of manipulating public opinion.
Radio Stations
An ad of this sort would be broadcast on local and regional stations. This way, the military can target a certain demographic and design their ad around a certain audience. In this case, working class, unhappy with work/unemployed men are being targeted through use of social codes and persuasive slogans. This is probably due to that certain demographic feeling frustrated with the current situation, and more susceptible to the messages being put across.
Grand Theft Auto – p.421 Smoking Kills
Styles
This ad it too raise awareness for the mock Proposition 421, which puts a ban on smoking. However, the serious tone of the ad is overridden by the hilarious vox pops and fallacious facts. The serious tone of the ad is built up through use of a slow, dramatic piano music bed and smooth informal voice. Shocking ‘facts’ are used to add to the tone and shock the audience into agreeing with the ad. ‘Facts’ such as “If you are around a smoker, you will die” are very serious and add to the overall tone, but due to the obvious misconceptions it is humours. Lastly, the aggressive language used by the speaker emphasises the shocking and serious tone.
The style used is very simple as it is their too get a quick message across, plus as this ad is for the long term change in laws; it needs to get across to as many people as possible. A quick, simple and shocking ad is perfect for these reasons.
Purpose
This ad is being used to change the public’s mind to get a majority vote on a certain proposition, thus its primary purpose informal and persuasive. Phrases such as ‘lets move up the food chain’ suggest that people who vote in favour of the ad are somehow better than those who don’t, also the signification of the phrase brings about ideas of evolution. It could suggest that this is the next evolutionary step for humans.
Radio Station
As this ad is for a certain proposition, it would only be broadcast within regional boundaries as that is where the vote and subsequent change in law would be taking place.
Toyota – Meeting Ad
Styles
The Toyota meeting ad is heavily based on humour, as it relies on a funny situation that, in some way, ties into the product. For instance, in this add, two office workers are imitating a client who has a strange, high pitched voice, the couple continue to make fun of the man voice as he enters the room. The situation that is created, along with the voices then men use are humours. The situation is then linked with the product with a tagline ‘Toyota Aventis, with electronic traffic avoidance system; be careful, you might get there too early’.
The audience kno
w that the two are officers workers due to a unique language register used, and the atmosphere which is created using sound effects. They talk about a ‘client’ and refer to meetings whilst phones ring in the background. This creates an atmosphere which is essential in delivering the comedic value, as the audience can relate to being in an awkward situation within a professional environment.
Purpose
This ad is clearly informational, as it is anchored towards the release of a new Toyota, and its features. It is more than likely part of a series of similar advertisements focusing on other main features of the new car.
Radio Stations
This ad, and others in the series, will have been broadcast nationally as Toyota will sell cars all across the country.
‘Cost-Per-Thousand’ or CPT decides the price of advertising on Galaxy radio. The sales team compare the stations listening figures and how often the ad will be played to generate the cost. A person listing to the ad is know as a ‘Impact’ in the industry, when comparing listing figures and the ad timetable, it can be estimated how many ‘impacts’ they will get. CPT is cost per one thousand impacts. From thus, Galaxy use what they call a ‘Rate Card’ which is the benchmark price for ads, regardless of who is being advertised. This price is negotiated from the benchmark depending on different variables. The price range on average is quoted as ‘As long as a piece of string’.
New advertisers to Galaxy are advised to broadcast their ad for three months. It is said that an ad takes a few repeats before it sinks in; it needs to build a reputation and stick in the audiences mind. For three months airtime it typically cost £4000. However, that is just for the space to broadcast, not the commercial itself. 15% of the cost of airtime is added into the total cost for production of the commercial by Galaxies’ creative team. Not only do Galaxies advertise through commercials, but through sponsorships and ads on the Galaxies website. Other mediums such as publications or letters sent out by Galaxy bring in another source of advertising revenue, theses ads can be bought for as little as £500.
Voice over provide ads with a personality, a link between the audience and the advertisers, someone to deliver the ad in the way it needs to be delivered. Various voices have many different connotations that can benefit radio advertisers. Simple examples would be a soft, slow female voice for a beauty product and a loud, fast and eccentric voice for an upbeat commercial that is trying to get a message across, and too stick in the audience’s mind.
Another example would be a beer commercial, aimed at local (Yorkshire) working class men. For this specific ad, I would choose the ‘Yorkshire Voices – Female’ section, which contains various voice over’s from women with a Yorkshire accent; either one would be a perfect candidate. A women’s voice usually connotes trust and ease, so the audience will trust that this beer is THE beer that they want. Also, by using a voice actor with a local accent, the audience can relate to the ad, this is an example of the ‘Personal Identity’ aspect of the uses and gratification theory. Furthermore, using a female voice to sell a beer is an attempt to emulate the typical bar atmosphere with a women bartender who the male punters typically flirt with.
http://www.thevoiceovergallery.co.uk/gallery.asp
The ‘Many voice over’s’ VW ad is a perfect example of why and how voice over’s are used and to the extent they are used in radio ads. It cleverly uses ‘Britain’s most well know advertising voice overs’ to sell the product, however it is done is such a way that it highlights what each voice over brings to the ad. For example, a women’s voice is used and says simply “I’ve been brought in to highlight the fact that it will appeal to women instead of men”, until the end of the ad the audience are unaware that they are referring to the car. Due to this, the voice over’s spelling out why their certain voices are used, rather than advertising the car. The actual point of the ad only come at the end, when another well known voice over give out a tiny bit of information. Which again is interpreted in a humours way by the final lines of the ad. Whilst being very comical, the ad does more too advertise the use of voice over than it does the actual product. However, the scale of the ad and its innovation will be what is remembered and this is what will help sell the product.
Before their alliance in 1997 royalties for music artists were collected by two separate organizations; the ‘Performing rights society’ and the ‘Mechanical-Copyright protection society’. An artist would have to join either organization to be paid whenever their material is used. However, their merger in 1997 meant that royalties could be paid out by one organization the ‘MCPS-PRS Alliance’
The radio has been a constant medium since its golden years in the 1930’s. It’s seemingly invincible lifespan, coupled with the fact that analogue radio appears in the majority of homes and DAB digital radio is on the rise, points to the undeniable benefit of radio advertising.
“DAB digital radio in 50% of UK households by 2010”
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dab-digital-radio-in-50-of-uk-households-by-2010-forecast
Our purpose with this production was too produce an professional quality radio commercial that appealed to a specific target audience, in this case OAP’s. Personally, I believe that we achieved this too a tee. Every aspect of our ad was catered towards the target audience, making the whole ad relatable.
