It has come to my attention the importance of producing
advertisements that resonate with a specific culture. Out of curiosity, I
picked up a tabloid magazine at the newsstand called “Ok!.” The United States
has several versions of this magazine in the form of “People” or “E News.”
Flipping through the pages, a couple advertisements caught
my eye. The first one that really piqued my interest was an ad for Mitchum Ultimate which is a deodorant brand. The information given
about the brand shows that it protects for 48 hours and it contains
‘revolutionary Oxygen Odour Control Technology that targets and destroys odour,
neutralizing it all.’ Therefore, we should all switch to Michum.
However, the more interesting portion of the advertisement
shows a picture of four friends; two boys and two girls. They are about 21-25
years old, attractive, and all very different looking. It is nighttime and it
looks like there is a concert going on in the background of the low quality
picture. You can assume that the people in the picture are smiling and having a
great time from the “selfie” that is the image. The layout of the print ad
looks like an instagram post from ‘Laura’ where she geo-tagged the location as
“London” and the caption is “Good Sweat is a night out with the crew.
#Goodsweat”. Then, the tagline of the ad states, “Great moments in life make
you sweat. Share them.”
Now, from what I know about American women, I would say none of us would
be turned on to the idea of sweating. American deodorants are mainly
antiperspirants and the concept of sweating is not acceptable among younger
populations. American women even go to the extreme in removing their sweat
gland from their armpits to avoid sweating all together. To make a long story
short, this advertisement would not be successful in the U.S. but the campaign
is quite successful in the UK. According to a study done in 2012 by the International Conference on Communication, Media, Technology and Design, research proves that advertising is linked with societal norms.
In the United States, the product equivalent is Secret Deodorant and Antiperspirant which is currently using a hashtag campaign as well. Instead of instagram, the brand shares its new scents through videos that feature a different scent inspired by a different designation such as Paris, Brazil, and Hawaii. The words used to sell the product are quite different from Michum's hashtag of GoodSweat. Secret is using #Epic48 Hour Adventures and words like "Gorgeous" to describe how the product makes the females feel. This is a very simple example of how a subtle difference in word choices that would resonate with a target audience among a different culture.
I sort of disagree about this not being successful in the US. I feel like girls might actually like the idea that the brand is acknowledging that sometimes--whether you like it or not--you're going to sweat. Especially at a crowded concert with body to body heat and lots of dancing. I think that's the whole reason behind making the distinction between "good" or "bad" sweat. Most girls are embarassed by sweating (as you pointed out, they'll even have surgery to prevent it) but the brand is trying to say "hey, it's okay. It was worth it." At least in my opinion. I think they're trying to say that their brand has the product that not only makes it alright, but worth it because they've got your back. You won't smell while you're having such a great time! But I completely see your point, nobody really likes to sweat; unless you're working out!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking into some of the history on British advertising and I learned that the UK didn't have television commercials until the 1950's. American ad agents for the most part created many of the ads here during this time. During the 60's and 70's British advertising began to evolve into its own entity and I believe that is when the barrier between UK and American advertising really came into play. If you pay attention you notice that humor in ads is targeted to a broad audience while humor in ads at home are more specifically targeted to younger, better-educated individuals. Saying that, I think that is why some of the jokes in media seem a little more "out there" and cheesy to some of us. The ad you described is a little strange to me too. I think I would say the same thing about the promotion of sweat if I were a UK native as well. I see that Brits spend more time reading and digesting ads here (unlike us at home who skim quickly over information) and for there to be language that is more or less a turn off is not a successful campaign in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about there being a difference in ad campaigns between here and the U.S. We are simply two countries with a different set of morals and societal norms, which is why one ad would be more successful in one country over the other. I think that this ad wouldn't do well in the U.S. because we as a society try really hard to appear "perfect" like we don't need deodorant and such because we are naturally beautiful, but not really. Ads like this are made to cater to their audience, which in this case would seem successful because again the view of aesthetic factors such as this are different in every country.
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