This (hilarious) ad by Durex promotes safer sex by using their brand name condoms. As you can see, the words in white read "I HEART PHIL," but if you look closer, the darker letters in the background completely change the sentence to "I HEART SYPHILIS." Through the use of the darker letters this ad conveys the fact that syphilis is hard to recognize or diagnose. It is, after all, the "great imitator." This is also emphasized by the small caption in the bottom right hand corner of the ad, "Love is blind." I don't really see a use of fear in this ad, except for the all black background and use of shadows; this ad uses humor and pop-culture to get the point across. Because of the trendy wording/use of symbols (the heart), this ad is probably aiming its message at teens and young adults. It seems as if the ad assumes the viewer is knowledgeable about syphilis, and so no other information about this STI is displayed. Because of its creativity and minimalism, I think that this ad gets the point across (practice safer sex to avoid syphilis--and other STIs) in less than 5 seconds. It's definitely an effective way to reach its target audience, although perhaps more information about the particular STI would've added more oomph to its message.
I think that general advertising and the media play very large roles in the prevention of STIs. Whenever I see a commercial about an STI, there's usually one person in a relationship admitting that they have an infection but keep their partner infection-free by using certain treatments and/or safer sex methods. In this way, television commercials (and ads as well) promote safer sex methods that prevent transmission, while also educating the public on available treatments. I don't see the use of fear that much in the media, from what I can recall. Hopefully, by now we have come to realize that stigmatizing STIs and the people infected with them will not help in getting rid of these infections.
This ad is pretty original. I've never seen one like it in a magazine or anything. It definitely does use pop culture to draw in it's target audience of teenagers and people in thier young twenties. I agree that this ad does not use fear messages, but I do believe that there are many advertisements out there today that do use fear. However, I think it's a, ecuational fear and not a stigmatizing fear. People need to know that there are many STI's out there today and it is quite possible to get one if you are participating in sexual activity. I think thats the fear that current advertisements are using.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great ad! I've never seen this ad around but it needs to be. It is true that it doesnt use fear, but it does use the whole pop-culture theme and slight humor which seems to be popular today. I believe it may not be as effective as fear, but it is a great way to reach a young audience.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media plays a very influential role in STIs and STDs.
I really like this ad. It is simple and to the point. I would also agree that it uses pop culture to get the message across to what is clearly a young adult audience. i didn't think about the possible meaning of the black background until you mentioned it though.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great ad, it seems very creative and interesting. You have some great points about culture and advertising, especially about the need to minimized ad space and the use of humor. The use of media and advertising is something I never thought about with STDs, so it was interesting to see the various methods used to get information about STDs out to the public.
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