Marketing Communication of PETA Miss USA Queen - Essay Example

Marketing Communication Introduction Animal Protection Advert: PETA Miss USA Queen, and the Condon Advert: Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself, are two different advertisements seeking to deliver the protection message to the audience, with one advert, ‘PETA Miss USA Queen’ seeking to urge people to protect animals by stopping wearing clothes made of animal fur, while the second advert, ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’ is urging the audience to avoid taking chances with sexually transmitted diseases, through the use of condoms. While the two adverts are speaking to the same theme, the way they have been presented is totally different, with the ‘Condom Advert’ being presented in the most hilarious manner, where a naked man is either fighting between soldiers or firefighters who are already in their respective full gears. This scenario is very catchy, considering that it is one of the most creative way o f delivering messages to an audience that knows the risks involved in unprotected sex too well, but they still engage in it. On the other hand, the ‘Animal Protection Advert’ has opted to deliver the message in the most romantic manner possible, through applying four top models who were Miss USA Queens, to deliver a message that humans are beautiful as created, and thus they do not need animal fur products to make them attractive. Sociological Perspective Semantics The signs, symbols and words used in these two adverts simply stand for protection. According to the linguistic theory, semantics is the study of the relation between symbols and things (Silverstein, 1972:352). The only difference is that one advert speaks to the protection of animal lives, while the other one speaks for the use of protection against sexual transmitted diseases. The ‘PETA Miss USA Queen’ stands for the protection of animal lives through advocating for the stoppage of killing animal for their fur and skin, used in making products such as coats, jackets and other accessories. The symbols used in the advert are four very beautiful women, who are definitely beauty queens, posing naked, to stand for beauty, and to prove that humans are created beautiful, and provoke the thought and feel of natural beauty. The symbols deliver the message very romantically, yet complemented by very stern terms, ‘Say No to Fur’. The ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’ advert applies both fire fighters and soldiers as the symbol to stand for well-protected risk handlers on duty, contrasted with a naked man in-between them representing lack of protection, joining in the war or the firefight. The battle front or the burning fire stands for high risks in life, such as Sexually Transmitted Diseases. These symbols represent the contrast of protected and unprotected lives, delivered in the most open and straightforward terms, ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’. Syntactics The communication theory provides that syntactic provides for the rules that govern the relation of words and phrases to form a well structured sentence (Posner, 1992:37). The well-formed structure of the language in adverts depicts a formal structural relation between the signs and symbols applied, with the language used. The two adverts use complete and formal structures, with the ‘PETA Miss USA Queen’ advert using the sentence “Feel beautiful in your own skin, and let the animals keep theirs”. This formal sentence delivers the message in a straightforward way, well complemented by the symbol of the beautiful women. In the ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’ advert, the language applied similarly has a formal sentence structure, complementing the fire risk or the battlefront risks of death, with the need to stay safe, which is the reason people need to use condoms. Pragmatics According to the communication theory, the contexts and setting under which some communication is made has some bearing on its meaning and how it is understood (Rapaport, 2001:22). The contexts in the two adverts contribute to the meaning of the advert perfectly. The Condom advert, ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’, is in the context of firefighting or a battlefront setting, which represents the risks that are equated with the risks of STIs, considering that all of them are high risks causing death in equal measure. These contexts serve to deliver the message to the audience perfectly, even where no words are added to supplement the message. Similarly, the Animal Protection advert, ‘PETA Miss USA Queen’, presents a context of beauty and romance, to elicit the feeling of love and admiration, which is the essence of the advert seeking to have the audience appreciate that people are created beautiful, and thus lack the need to complement the beauty with animal products. Marketing perspective Ostensive versus covert communication According to the theory of relevancy, there are different ways that a message can be passed on to the audience (Williamson, 1878). The method selected to deliver a message to the audience can either be through directly pointing out things that the speaker wants understood, with a clear emphasis that such things are important, or the unpredicted and unusual way of presenting things, which attracts the audience because it comes a surprise to them (Sperber & Deirdre, 1987:702). The theory of advertising provides that the unconventional techniques of delivering a message is referred to as the covert communication, while the predicted and the direct pointing out of things by the speaker for the audience, is referred to as the ostensive communication (Schudson, 1984:27). The Persuasive Advertising Theory requires that an advertisement message should apply persuasive and interesting language, combining the direct meaning with surprising paradox, to catch the attention of the audience (Fetzer, 1994:12). In the two adverts above, the most applied communication method is the ostensive communication technique, where the advertisers are pointing out things directly for the audience, such that the audience is quick to understand the message that is being delivered. In the condom advert, the advertisers are applying the battle front context where the soldiers are engaging in a war, and the burning fire context, where the firefighters are fighting the fire to directly point out to the audience the STD risk, which is equated to the war, or the fire risks. Similarly, in the Animal Protection Advert, the advertisers are using direct contexts of naked women to represent beauty, thus urging the audience to value the beauty of natural creation, at the expense of beauty derived from wearing products manufactured from animal products such as skin and far. Additionally, the written messages are using very open and straightforward language, such as ‘Say No to Fur’ and ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’ in the Animal Protection and the Condom Advert respectively, to deliver the protection messages, without the need for the audience to keep thinking about what messages the adverts are meant to deliver. The extensive application of ostensive communication in the two adverts emanates from the fact that; the message being delivered to the audience is serious and significantly affects both human and animal lives, thus calling for direct means of delivering the messages. Nevertheless, there is a substantial application of covert communication in both adverts. The advertisers surprise the audience, through presenting photographs of vey beautiful model queens who are naked, only to deliver a message of animal protection, while such photographs would ordinarily be expected to point to a romantic or love message. Similarly, the application of fire and battle front scenes in the condom advert surprises the audience, since such scenes are ordinarily expected to deliver a message of business or home management for the fire scene, and security alertness message for the battlefront scene, only to have the advert deliver the condom protection message. Discussion of both sections The marketing and sociological aspects of the adverts presented have been met perfectly, considering that the application of symbols and signs which are accompanied by well-structured written sentences serve to meet the expected standards of a good advert (Williamson, 1878:33). The application of the Semantics, Pragmatics and Syntactics under the sociological perspective has ensured that the symbols applied are complemented by the settings and the contexts in the adverts, while also ensuring that the adverts apply well-structured formal sentences to deliver the messages to the audience (Sperber & Deirdre, 1987:699). Consequently, the messages espoused by the adverts are easily and directly delivered to the audience, without the need for audience to go to long lengths, trying to understand the intentions of the advertisements. The fire and battlefront contexts in the Condom Advert, which are then accompanied by the words ‘Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’ serve to ensure that since the message delivered is a serious one, involving the protection against contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, the message is clearly delivered in terms of the magnitude of the risks involved in unprotected risks, and the best ways to protect against such risks. The same occurs for the Animal protection Advert, which does not miss its words by telling the audience to ‘Say No to Fur’. According to the theory of signs, an effective communication strategy must arouse interest in the message, but still in a way that the message will be understood (Morris, 1938:44). The marketing perspective is equally perfectly addressed, considering that both adverts combines a high degree of ostensive communication and a moderate but surprising degree of covert communication, to arouse the interest of the audience with catchy photographic symbols in both messages, and then compliment the same with sincere and serious messages. This is an especially effective marketing strategy, considering that the messages delivered by the adverts are serious and they significantly affect both human and animal lives, in the Condom and the Animal protection advert respectively. Conclusion Print advertisement is one of the marketing channels that are applied to meet both the sociological and the marketing perspectives of the advertisers. The Animal Protection Advert; PETA Miss USA Queen and the Condon Advert; Don’t Be Stupid, Protect Yourself’, are two different adverts that have been applied to sensitize the audience over animal protection and protection against sexually transmitted diseases respectively. The adverts have made the use of the sociological perspective components of syntactics, pragmatics and semantics, as well as the marketing perspective components of ostensive and covert communication, to deliver their message effectively to the audience. Works Cited Fetzer, H. (1994). Mental Algorithms: Are Minds Computational Systems? Pragmatics and Cognition 2, 1-29. Morris, C. (1938). Foundations of the Theory of Signs. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Posner, R. (1992). Origins and Development of Contemporary Syntactics. Languages of Design 1, 37-50. Rapaport, J. (2001). How to Pass a Turing Test: Syntactic Semantics, Natural-Language Understanding, and First-Person Cognition, Special Issue on Alan Turing and Artificial Intelligence. Journal of Logic, Language, and Information, 15-28. Schudson, M. 1984. Advertising: The Uneasy Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact On American Society. New York: Basic Books. Silverstein, M. (1972). Linguistic Theory: Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics. Annual Review of Anthropology 1,349-382. Sperber, D. & Deirdre W. (1987). “Précis of Relevance: Communication and Cognition.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10, 697-754. Print. Williamson, J. (1878). Decoding Advertisements. London: Marion Boyer. Read More