|Intel’s advertisement | |
| | |
|The following picture presents the advert of computer CPU | |
|Intel Core 2 Duo manufactured by the computer company Intel.| |
|The advert appeared in the United States in 2007 and it | |
|caused varied reactions. | |
|In this analysis, I would like to concentrate on the message| |
|directed at potential customers in order to persuade them to| |
|buy the new product. | |
|The ad is full of graphic and textual material. There is no | |
|blank space. The elements of the advert are well-located. At| |
|first sight, it gives good impression because of the bright | |
|colors. | |
|The target audience is clearly defined as people who would | |
|like to buy a new computer. The ad is not only addressed to | |
|people who are familiar with informatics, but also to | |
|clients who do not know anything about computers. The | |
|slogans written in the advert can help them make the good | |
|purchase decision. | |
|In the advert, we can distinguish the foreground and the | |
|background. In foreground, there are seven people. One of | |
|them, white man, stands in the center and the other six men | |
|are situated on his left and right hand side. In the | |
|foreground, there is also the logo of the company – in the | |
|top right corner and the slogan above the man “Multiply | |
|computing performance and maximize the power of your employees”. In turn, in the background, we can see the whole office: desks, windows, the floor and the ceiling. Also, there are texts written in different fonts and the logo of new processor – Intel Core 2 Duo. The action of the ad takes place in the open-space office. It is very modern in warm, brown colors. Brown color is associated with tranquility, harmony and gives the sense of security. It creates good atmosphere for work and I am sure that the color was chosen on purpose. There are big windows which give the sense of space and good daylight. However, we cannot see anything through the windows which means that the view is not important in that poster. The desks are located in the suitable way so that anyone could work in quietness, not being disturbed by the colleagues. However, there are close enough to communicate properly. The ceiling is also very interesting. There are many strange elements such as some kind of ladder and film stock. It is very modern and fancy. I can presume that it was decorated by good specialists who know their craft. The whole decoration of the office shows that Intel is a very innovative company that cares about good working conditions. When we look at the poster for the first time, we notice the standing man. He is a good-looking man is his thirties, the type of businessman. We can guess that he has the academic education and holds the important position in this company because he is the only man standing on the poster. He is the only white person in the room and in my opinion it is very meaningful. The most important role here plays his stature and his outfit. Basing on his outfit, we can presume that the company has established less formal dress code. There is no need to wear suit with tie. The man wears the shirt, brown trousers, the black belt and the black shoes. By wearing bright clothes he shows a vigorous man. He looks like the businessman who values comfort and good presence. He sneers a little and we can tell that he feels like he is the right man in the right place. He looks like he is better than other people in the picture. Moreover, he seems to be very bossy and patronizing and he might not have friendly relations with other people working in the company. Analyzing his stature we can tell a lot about his attitude to his subordinates. He stands in closed position with arm-cross gesture. Through that he shows that he does not want anybody to come closer to him. On his face we can see sarcastic smile. He knows that he sets the limits and no one can cross them. By not standing in the face-to-face position he wants to show that he is the boss here. It means that he disdains or ignores others. He stands in the middle of the office which means that he is the most important person in the room. Strategic role plays the picture of six young, muscular, athletic men of African-American origin. As far as I can see they wear sport suits. They stand in a sprint starting position and they look like they are about to start to run in some kind of race. They are just waiting for the right sign from their boss. However interpretation of this image is very controversial. For me, it shows six black men kneeling around white man with their heads down. It looks like they pay tribute to their superior. I guess that such interpretation was not the intention of the producer. Thus, I decided to look for true aims of the company. It turned out that the advertisement, according to director of global marketing for Intel, should "convey the performance capabilities of our processors through a number of visual metaphors". Was this goal achieved? I really do not think so. The next point in my analysis is the logo of Intel. It is situated in the top right corner. The name of the company – Intel – is well visible, however there is also the second part of the logo, which is not visible at first glance. There is written “Leap ahead”. It presents the main motive of the company – be innovative and always a step ahead of other corporations. Their strategy works and they are on the list of 100 most powerful brands. In my opinion, they should mark out the logo more so that the second part is visible. In turn, in the background there is the logo of new processor, Intel Core 2 Duo. It is perceptible but at first sight I can only see men and the main slogan - not the most important logo of new processor. Near the logo, there is the text describing new processor. The most important issues are written in bold or in different font sizes. The title is in bold and it says : “Intel Core 2 Duo processor. 40% more performance for business”. It describes the whole message of the advert – with this new processor your computers will be 40 % more efficient. In turn, you will earn 40% more money. In my opinion, it is the good catchword either for computer programmers or laypeople. Everyone understands it. Below, there is another text written in smaller font: “Boasting 40% more performance with improved energy efficiency, 64-bit capable Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor delivers unparalleled multi-tasking capability. Now you can boost productivity and efficiency by running multiple computing-intensive applications at once. Learn more about why great business computing starts with Intel inside. Visit intel.com/dualcore”. The first thing that comes into my mind after reading this phrase – too long. It could be contained on the website but not on the poster. What is more, not everyone knows what 64-bit is. The entire text expresses the same message – with this processor you will multiply the work of your computer but it is said in different words. On one hand, it is good because it helps the reader to memorize this message. On the other hand, it is a little bit annoying or tiresome. Too much text on the advert is not advisable. There is also a text written in very small letters – it is usually taken as some kind of catch. On this advertisement, there is written: “Performance measured Intel Core 2 Duo desktop processor compared to Intel (…) [the names of parameters are not visible enough]. Actual performance may vary. [at the end, there is the name of company and copyrights]”.
The findings of this text are following: the test with such results was conducted on the special device – it does not mean that the performance of our computer will be 40% higher. Sometimes advertisements are misleading because of that there must be a written explanation of any research. Personally, I find this ad negative. As far as I am concerned, there are two principal problems with this advertisement. Firstly, the presence of African-Americans on the poster. I assume that the company wanted to show that one incentive (processor – here a man on the advert) can cause higher capability (the performance of computers – here six well-build people). Anyway, the presentation of their vision is insulting. What is more, the race may not be the whole problem. It would be insulting even if there were six white people in front of their boss. It is humiliating. It shows that one person is better than other people. The apparition of this advert caused many objections. The whole world found it negative. It was called for instance “Insulting Sprinter Ad”, “A slave farm” or “Racial insensitivity”. After the wave of complaints, the company decided to withdraw the advert and apologize on their website. They wrote: “We made a bad mistake. I know why and how, but that simply doesn't make it better.” Nowadays, many companies create controversial adverts, but most of them are not insulting. They want to shock and bring people to thinking, especially when it comes to social adverts. However, in Intel’s advert the message should be different – buy our new product. Unfortunately, it shows that one person is better than others. Secondly, at first sight I do not know what the object of this advert is. I can identify that it is Intel’s advertisement but I do not know of what. The most important should be the object of the advertisement. However, on this poster, it is not well-shown. The first impression tells nothing – some men in strange positions, the office and the phrase. Nothing special. You need to read the whole poster to get to know. I would never say that it is the advert of a huge, successful company.