Advertisements are unique marketing tools that can utilize social elements to appeal to the target market segments to sell products and services. One should be aware that as the world becomes more interconnected and socially complex, so do the ads. Therefore, companies are actively seeking more sophisticated approaches to influence consumer behavior patterns. The main reason why I chose these advertisements is they cover a wide range of topics, including global and interpersonal issues. The sheer variety of their approaches is the factor that intrigued me the most and made me curious to assess them.
To conduct proper observational analysis and derive the underlying assumption, it is important to focus on human interactions and behaviors in advertisements. In Colgate’s ad, the audience is mostly comprised of the general public because everyone becomes aware of the water waste issue. However, one can argue that the main message is addressed to non-environmentalists because it intends to provoke the feeling of guilt and compassion for underserved areas. As a marketing tool, the market segment, which Colgate wants to appeal, are environmentalists. The primary audience of Schlage Locks is men because they portray women in a highly aggressive and psychotic way. Similarly, Carlsberg targets male consumers due to oversexualizing simple shipping activity. In the case of the Chilean Red Cross, the main audience is the general public, especially those who might need aid during natural disasters, such as an earthquake.
The key message of Colgate’s campaign revolves around the water waste issues, whereas Red Cross’s one is on reunification after a catastrophe. Both Schlage and Carlsberg attempt to depict females as hostile entities, where they can provide solutions for men to combat women’s behavior. The nature of the relationship in the second and third ads demonstrates a
highly shallow and even cartoonish interaction between men and women, where there is no real sense of love. Females are shown as annoying and burdensome companions of men, and the latter seek solutions to deal with their partners. There is no real interaction in Colgate’s video, besides comparing the well-being of the poor and rich. From Red Cross’s ad, it is evident that two speakers are either married or couples. Both Schlage’s and Carlsberg’s ads are ineffective for me because they promote misogyny, but the other two contain valid statements, which I am willing to know and contribute.
The topic relevant to the human behaviors in the selected advertisements is bias. Specifically, the second and third ads illustrate the biased view of females on a structural level. Systemic bias is the tendency inherent in a process to favor one side, preferring individual outcomes. The term refers to human and social systems, and a similar phenomenon in technical systems is called systematic error. Unlike random errors, in the case of systematic bias, it is tolerated in favor of one of the parties. Although it applies to males because it is common among men to be biased towards women, utilizing this issue as an appeal is inappropriate at a minimum. In the case of the first and fourth examples, the organizations are trying to be associated with noble causes, such as water waste prevention and reunification of separated families.
The questions that I would ask about advertisements that I, as a social scientist, could seek to answer are as follows:
- How does the human factor engage in both personal and global contexts?
- Why do ads are mainly based on illustrating gender biases and promote expected female and male behavior?
- How is a child’s character used to provoke upsetting feelings and raise the awareness of the issue depicted in the ad?
The conclusions were made based on observations of the ads, where interpersonal and global interactions are used to link the companies. The first video is trying to improve its brand image and reputation of someone who cares about water waste. The second and third advertisements are utilizing bias against women as a problem that can only be solved by their products. Red Cross seems to be merely promoting their services as a valid solution in the case of mass catastrophe. All four ads target personal assumptions, beliefs, and values, such as love, happiness, and social awareness. Although some of them use questionable social elements such as bias, others make attempts to be associated as responsible preservers of water or love.
In conclusion, as a member of several groups, the selected advertisements directly influence me and other people on an individual level. Although both Carlsberg’s and Schlage’s ads had an opposite effect to what they intended to promote, they still made an impact, because now, I associate them with misogyny. In the case of Colgate and Red Cross, they raise general awareness about global problems, such as water waste and earthquakes. The second and third videos use bias against women as a selling point, whereas the first and fourth ones adhere to group influence by depicting victims as deprived of water and love.