Chose Advertisement / Commercial

Chosen Advertisement /Commercial

Nivea's Advertisement: "Recivilize Yourself"

After having a discussion with the group members, we decided to work on Nivea's advertisement in promoting their campaign for face and body shave products for men.

Nivea’s “Recivilise Yourself” Campaign (2012) Unknown. Available at: < http://blog.ebuzzing.co.uk/article-social-media-buzz-22-08-11-86282662.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]

Based from the pictures above, the one on the left depicts a stereotypical way of referring to the good old "Afro" hairstyle of African American men indicating that the look is savage and uncivilised. The same saying goes for the picture on the right, which refers to the long and unkempt hairstyle of White Americans.

However, these two ads are also considered to be racist, not to mention offensive, especially towards both parties. The term of"Re-Civilize Yourself" clearly defines changing your personal appearance. But with the promotional posters of both men getting ready to throw headless mannequins which represents "throwing away" the style of their old, uncivilized selves? One would have to agree that it isn't surprising that this ad had managed to enrage and provoked many from across the globe.

Nivea's states that "Look Like You Give a Damn"; though it seems that they haven't given much thought and consideration of the sensitive topics that may arise before releasing the ad to public.

(Reference Citing: 

• Yahoo! News,2011. Nivea pulls ‘offensive’ ad [online] (Updated 19th August 2011) Available at: < http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/nivea-pulls-offensive-ad-185220424.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Adwoa. (2011). Racist allegations on Social Media lead Nivea to pull ad. [online] 22nd August 2011. Available at: < http://blog.ebuzzing.co.uk/article-social-media-buzz-22-08-11-86282662.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• News Desk,2011. Nivea apologizes for racist ‘re-civilize yourself’ ad campaign. [online] (Updated August 2011) Available at: <http://truthdive.com/2011/08/21/Nivea-apologizes-for-racist-re-civilize-yourself-ad-campaign.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Justin Fenner (2011). Unapologetically Racist Nivea Ad Seeks To ‘Re-Civilize’ Black Men. [online] 18th August 2011. Available at: <http://www.styleite.com/media/racist-nivea-ad/> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Jennifer Van Grove (2011). Nivea Pulls “Re-civilized” Ad Following Social Media Backlash. [online] 18th August 2011. Available at: <http://mashable.com/2011/08/18/nivea-reciviiize-ad/> [Accessed 28th October 2012] )

-FY-

Failed ad

One of the few ads that I have come across as provocative and controversial is an ad that is created to raise awareness on aids. This campaign is run in France and has been the talk of the town. There are a few version of this ad. The first version shows a woman and a spider on a couch, sitting in a rather contentious position. The other version is a naked man on top of a spider. Because aids are a sexually transmitted disease, the ad is presented in such a way. 

This ad is inappropriate when it is viewed by younger kids, due to the visuals. Besides that, the spider having replaced humans is rather disturbing and gives out a negative message to the viewers. If an ad like this is being published all over Malaysia, it would definitely be rejected due to the culture of Malaysians whom are somewhat discreet about these topics.  

Another ad that I categorize as a failed ad is an ad that is published back in the 1930’s,during the time when women do not have special rights and are only house wives with no opportunity to work. Therefore, the husbands are the ones who run the family are viewed as superior.  This series of ad states that a woman is clumsy, weak and unable to do things right. This ad is as if directed to the husbands and downgrades woman in general. 

This Volkswagen ad states that a woman is highly likely to hit things. The whole description of this ad about the Volkswagen parts is directed to woman and their clumsiness.  This statement is viewed as sexist when it is directed to only woman.  It gives an idea that woman are clumsy and weak and states nothing about man having the same tendency to hit things.  

-Amirah

The Actual Meaning Behind the Ad

One of the few commercial advertisements that I could never forget is Gatsby's hair commercial that was released few years back.

NakittyNajib, (2005) Gatsby Hair Commercial 2! [video online] Available at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LXr64IsYblQ> Accessed 30th October 2012. 

In the ad, there are three Japanese men who were singing in Japanese. Directly translated to English, basically it means 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hair'. Upon reaching the end of the chorus, their hair would clap to the rhythm. 

It was unforgettable due to the image they portrayed and the song that they used.

But as I researched further, the product that they were advertising was actually Gastby's hair dye. It was totally irrelevant to the advertisement because the whole concept of it suits a hair gel more than a hair dye product. People could easily mistaken this commercial for a hair gel ad. Because, instead of showing the colours of the hair, they showed more on the 'toughness' of the hair instead. 

Jerome, (2009). Max Hair. Available at <http://www.jeromesicat.com/mywebfolio/?p=57> Accessed 1st November 2012. 

RamonCalibara, (2010). Teen X Hair Gel "Show Off" Campaign Ad2 [print ad] Available at <http://www.ramoncalibara.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=105022939> Accessed 1st November 2012

The advertisement that Gatsby came up with leaves us with this kind of impression, which immediately leads us to hair gel. 

Instead of showing the extravagant hairstyles, they could've come up with something like this. 

Dianasexyyy, (2008) L'Oreal Ad. Available at <http://newsforfashionblog.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html> Accessed 1st November 2012 

MauricioNahas, (2002.) FIRE. Available at <http://www.advertolog.com/koleston/print-outdoor/fire-4585705/> Accessed 1st November 2012. 

It is more straight forward and it goes back to the product itself. Its like looking at the visual, and people can immediately identify that its a hair dye product. 

Here is the rationale that I've written. 

"Few years back, I remember seeing an advertisement about hair product by Gatsby. It was featuring three Asian guys with a Mohawk kind-of-hairstyle, clapping their hair as they sing. And towards the end of the 30-second advertisement, they were actually trying to advertise Gatsby’s hair dye product. In my opinion, I find the ad kind of silly because personally, it feels to me that they are sending this message that “if you use Gatsby’s hair dye, you can clap your hair too”. Not to mention, I don’t see any relevance in it. How is a hair dye product related to clapping your hair?  No doubt that the ad was powerful enough to leave a long lasting impression on the audience, but it does not relate back to the actual product itself. If I were to remake that ad, I’d choose to emphasize more on the hair colours instead. Then, people would understand what is the advertisement all about."

Lai Yenn.