Introduction
The artifact that I chose is a magazine advertisement for Ford Motor Company of the 1950 issue. The magazine represents two images of the Ford cars and includes texts. The top of the advertisement page says, “It shines on dress parade!”. The text on the middle of the advertisement page says, “It proves its metal in action!”. The text below the second car at the bottom half of the advertisement page says, “test drive a ’50 Ford. You’ll feel the difference!”. The text “You’ll feel the difference” is written in bolds and white color with a smaller font. Texts on the top, middle, and bottom of the advertisement page are written in large bold font and white color with highlighting particular words in red. The highlighted words are “shines,” “action,” and “50 Ford”.
Main body
The advertisement first appeared in 1950 in Ford Magazine and was produced by the Ford Motor Company. The intended audiences are automobile owners and clients who wish to buy a car. The advertisement communicates that Ford is a good-looking and reliable car. It convinces the audience that the new Ford car is special, and you will feel that different once you try a test drive. When the advertisement appeared, the Ford Motor Company had been operating for forty-seven years. At that time in the period between 1950 and 1960, Ford Motor Company started practicing limited diversification. The advertisement can tell us about the new approaches and improvements in the car’s production. As the advertisement suggests, the new cars are different from the previous ones. The prices of Ford cars were going up, and they emphasized design and comfort. Since 1950 was a time of economic boom in the United States, the sales of Ford Motor Company cars were significantly rising (Christensen, 2021). The advertisement itself highlights the nice appearance of the cars and their quality.
Information that I could learn from the artifact is that new Ford cars from 1950 were aimed at combining an attractive appearance with strength and reliability. It could be seen through analyzing the images of two cars. First, two cars were shiny and bright colored in red and blue. Secondly, if we pay attention to the background, we could notice that a man in the car from the first image is driving in the city, while the second man is driving outside the city. This could derive the message that new Ford cars are convenient and efficient in both situation, they can handle driving on wild nature and nicely fits the city. In addition, from the artifact, I have learned that Ford Motor Company offered a test drive for the new cars. Next, by analyzing the appearance of the text, we can notice that certain words such as “shines,” “action,” and “50 Ford” are highlighted in red. From that we can learn the key concepts of the new cars the advertisement is trying to deliver. By highlighting these words, the Ford Motor Company is saying that their new 50 Ford is beautiful looking and impressive in action.
From the other sources, I have learned that from the fifties, the Ford Motor Company became one of the biggest multination car manufacturers (Jiaman & Shyong, 2017). The advertisements presented in different countries varied by their content. Thus, the advertisement being discovered by me is targeted the American audience only. From the study carried out by Christensen (2021), we could learn about the financial status of the company at the time advertisement were published. Ford Company established the mass production of cars, and car sales were especially intensive starting from 1950 when the United States was experiencing an economic boom (Christensen, 2021). At the time advertisement was published, Ford was one of the wealthiest motor companies in the world (Toma et al., 2021). Moreover, if we connect these two pieces of information, we can summarize that the advertisement that was targeted at the American audience considered the fact that people are inclined and ready to buy a new car.
Observations of the artifact are relevant to the course readings. The story “On the road” emphasizes the vital role of the car. The story is based on the adventures that happened on the road trips around America. Hitchhiking rides require strong and reliable cars, and that is what the Ford advertisement is trying to demonstrate. Through his novel, Kerouac delivered an idea about living a joyful life. I think that the role of the car in the story contributed to the main idea of maintaining an active lifestyle and staying positive. Ford Motor Company advertisement is trying to deliver the same message.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the selected artifact may tell a lot about the intention of the company and its values. Moreover, by analyzing additional sources, we can know more about the background information, such as the historical background that will help to interpret the artifact. The chosen advertisement was published at the time of economic prosperity in America, which contributed to the growth of Ford Motor Company. Paying attention to the text’s appearance is also important since it can tell what the key message of the advertisement is. By interpreting literature pieces, we are able to establish the relevance of the literary work to the particular artifact.
References
Christensen, L. K. (2021). Between Denmark and Detroit: Ford Motor Company A/S and the Transformation of Fordism 1919-1966. (1 ed.) Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
J. Xing and C. S. Tzeng, “Investigation study on design of Ford Motor advertisements from 1922 – 1936 —taking automobile advertisements on Shun Pao and Taiwan NichiNichi Shin Po as examples,” 2017 International Conference on Applied System Innovation (ICASI), 2017, pp. 991-994, Web.
Toma, S.G., Săseanu, A.S. and Runceanu-Albu, C.C., 2021. Henry Ford: Engineer, Entrepreneur, or Both? In: R. Pamfilie, V. Dinu, L. Tăchiciu, D.leșea, C. Vasiliu eds. 2021. 7th BASIQ International Conference on New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption. Foggia, Italy, 3-5 June 2021. Bucharest: ASE, pp. 820-825. Web.