Wendy Wu-Zhen
Professor Todd Wright WRC 1203
2 Mar 2015
Oat Bran Cereal Advertisement Advertisement is a form of communication between seller of a product or service to the buyer. My transmission is to persuade the 18-24 women demographic to purchase Oats Bran Cereal. The advertisement appears on a billboard and the layout of the ad is mainly influenced with my interactions with the populations being researched. The goal to sell Oats Bran Cereal to a demographic of 18-24 year old girls is accomplished by its use of emotional appeal, warm colors, and simple text. The emotional appeal being employed out of Jib Fowles’ 15 emotional appeals is the need for sex (Common Culture: Reading...). The appeal is apparent through the male present in the billboard –a faceless, shirtless man with abs exposed while the Oats Bran Cereal is conveniently placed in front of his male genital area- bringing innocent thoughts through the highway straight down to the gutter. The objectified man brings instant sex appeal to the advertisement. Women in their late teens and early twenties are lead to believe that if I purchase this oats bran cereal, will I get sex and a man with abs? Once declared by Fanny Fern, “the way to a man's heart is through his stomach,” the same can be said about women (6 Traits She...). According to 6 Traits She Secretly Wants You to Have, men that can cook are extremely attractive and that “66 percent of women said they're more likely to have sex with a man after a home-cooked meal” (Haller). As claimed by the article, the nameless man serving the young girl oats, in other words, feeding her, can lead to fun times in the bedroom. Although, oats and cereal are usually laced with health and innocence, “oats appear to have an ingredient which can boost libido and sexual performance” (Sow Your Wild…). So not only do oats bran cereal lowers your cholesterol, it also increases your sexual advancement in bed. The need for sex is constantly blared out in society, but who knew healthy Oat Bran Cereal can be sexy too. Color choice is pivotal in an advertisement and the purchasing intent of the customer since color impacts how the item is perceived. Since a billboard can be glanced at from a speed of seventy miles per hour or zero, the advertisement must catch the audience attention and engage them enough to last in their minds. This is where color choice comes in handy –and the physically attractive male. The colors chosen for Oats Bran Cereal is cozy and inviting, depicting a personal moment of bliss with the healthy taste of oats left in the consumer’s taste buds. The red color in the background “has the property of appearing to be nearer than it is,” grabbing our attention physically by raising our heart rates, making time skip beats and the blushing red on the girl’s face entices excitement for the taste of oats cereal (Psychological Properties Of…). The red color is both lively and attention grabbing and being the simplest of colors –with a lack of delicacy- has a demanding presence. The next dominant color is yellow, illustrated on the simple text, “Good Morning Oats” and the table where the food is laid on. Yellow is an emotionally stimulating color that uplift spirits and self-esteem (Psychological Properties Of…). The yellow color compliments the strong physical red color with tones of emotions causing a balance between both vibrant colors, making the advertisement both positively stimulating and engaging to the demographic of 18 to 24 year old girls driving through the highway. Simple font is essential on a billboard where the message must be straightforward and easy for the audience to read. Unembellished and immense, “Good Morning Oats” is effortless and painless for people to read riding back home. “A good photograph can be the first thing a reader sees, and the caption the second thing they read” meaning that if the faceless, attractive male and the joyful girl munching on the oats can catch the audience’s attention, then the caption “Good Morning Oats” will be read and remembered (Advertising Techniques- Do…). The simple caption is undemanding and compliments well with the vibrant colors and its positive message. As stated by Mark Hughes, “copy in quotations gets read 13% more than without quotations” and with Good Morning Oats being quoted, people assume that it is, in fact, a good morning when oats are involved (Advertising Techniques- Do…). Quotations make captions seem more important than they actually are, giving emphasis to the words –making it stand out and appear sincere. The advertisement portrays that with the simple purchase of Oats Bran Cereal, every morning can be a good morning as people drive through the highway. The short message stays in their head as they remember the girl in the advertisement seeming completely sincere as she states, “Good Morning Oats.” The assignment challenged the creative process of writing and picks at the marketing side in all of us. Selling Oats Bran Cereal to a demographic of 18-24 year old girl was challenging in that I didn’t want to be redundant by portraying that if the consumer buys the product they will be thinner or prettier plus with the added bonus of guaranteed low cholesterol. By targeting the need for sex, choosing the right colors, and using a simple font –because of the billboard- I tried selling Oats Bran Cereal to a demographic of 18-24 year old girls.

Work Cited
Haller, Madeline. "6 Traits She Secretly Wants You to Have." @menshealthmag. AdultFriendFinder, 22 June 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2015.
Jlawson. "Sow Your Wild Oats: The Testosterone Connection." Itsamanslife.com. Itsamanslife, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Hughes, Mark. "Advertising Techniques – Do's, Don'ts and Simple Tips from Years of Learning." Advertising Techniques » 8 Free Tips You Shouldn't Miss. Buzz Marketing, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2015.
Petracca, Michael, and Madeleine Sorapure. Common Culture: Reading and Writing aboutAmerican Popular Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Print.
Wright, Angela. "Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects." Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.