Thursday, 17 October 2013

Everything Is Samuel L. Jackson's Fault


   

This advertisement is for an independent US nonprofit organisation called Common Sense Media . According to their website, their goal is to “help parents make informed media decisions for their children” relating to movies, television, games, music, books, websites and apps.

Do you think this advertisement is effective in communicating the key message to the target audience of parents?

A friend shared this advertisement on Facebook last week with the comment – “This really made me laugh…. so true”. From this Facebook post, it would appear that the advertisement has been successful in evoking an emotion (through the use of humour). They were motivated to share this advertisement with their social network, which is no easy task for an advertiser. On initial review, this advertisement seems do be doing the trick. But let’s go beyond initial reactions to critically evaluate the advertisement using the S.C.O.R.E method:

SIMPLE: Yes – Parent’s should take responsibility for making informed decisions about what their children watch.

CREATIVE: Yes – Impact is delivered through many elements: humour, exaggeration and celebrity (Samuel L. Jackson). The message is told to us in an entertaining way and holds the viewers attention as the story/message unfolds.

ORIGINAL: Yes. – A very unique approach for an organisation that is generally regarded as ‘conservative’. Unexpected for this category.

RELEVANT
: Yes – This advertisement is relevant to the target audience of parents. Through the use of humour and exaggeration, they have successfully mirrored the behaviour of parents who do not take responsibility for the movies their children watch. They have put the spotlight on the exact behaviour they are aiming to change.

ETHICAL: Yes – Although the ad features strong language, the swear words have been bleeped out and it is contextually “ethical” based on the message being communicated to the target audience of parents.

Overall, I believe this is a very strong and effective advertisement.

Samantha Jang
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

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