Analyse and comment on some TV
My main aim in this essay is to review, analyse and comment on some TV adverts that are advertising the snack ‘Peperami’. TV advertising is an extremely good way of marketing a product because it has a huge potential audience. There is a downside to TV advertising though, in the fact it can be very expensive. It would cost about i?? 45 000 to air a 30 second advert. Peperami is a spicy meat snack made from salami and pepper, which forms the word ‘Peperami’. The product’s target audience are men aged between 17-25, who are always on the move.
It is ideal for them because at their age they are very fit and active. They would prefer to eat something quick and easy, without having to cook it or use a knife and fork. This particular target audience would appreciate these type of adverts because they feel they can relate to them. They are set in back streets near pubs and warehouses. Often very funny and unusually original, the adverts play on the target audience stereotypes. The peperami figure wears army boots and often clenches his fists and looks aggressive.
Producers of these advertisements have done this in order to relate to the target audience, thus putting forward the impression ‘you need to be tough to eat me. ‘ This will psychologically play on the target audience’s minds. One of the best examples of their advertising is where the peperami’s are being processed in the factory. During the commercial there are several peperami’s being processed on a conveyor belt. All the peperami’s are acting in outrageous and aggressive ways towards each other and pulling angry facial expressions. The camera pans to a peperami that is acting rather differently to the others.
It is saying friendly words, such as “wonderful. ” Its voice is not gruff and it is more feminine and friendly. The camera follows the peperami along the conveyor belt and suddenly stops. The aggressive peperami’s grab the arms of the friendly peperami and hold it still. Down comes a heavy weight and squashes the Peperami to the floor. Standing back, the evil peperami’s then point at it and start laughing outrageously. In the next scene, the camera cuts to a fish ‘n’ chip shop, which shows a spinning kebab wheel. On the kebab wheel is the peperami squashed to the side saying “marvellous” and “wonderful” again.
In the portrayal of the bad peperami we are shown images of it being evil, an egomaniac, flamboyant, a bully, a rebel, tough and a lovable rogue. When the peperami is portrayed like this the target audience find this funny and love it because it is zany, insane, violent and manic. They love this because 17-25 year olds are generally into these types of things and laugh at anything vaguely funny. Within the advert, a part that catches my eye and most probably the target audience’s eye the most is when the different peperami is squashed and the others laugh at it.
When I see the adverts they all make me laugh because they are so original and different to the ordinary advert you see everyday. It also persuades me to buy the product. All the adverts follow the same template and everything happens in the same order. First of all there is a setting like a pub that relates to the target audience. The peperami then does something insane and funny like grating its head on a cheese grater. A peperami packet comes down and captures it and then a famous person reads out the slogan every time.
In the next scene we can see the peperami wriggling frantically on the slogan. Though short, the peperami advertisements are very memorable because they are funny and very different to the normal adverts you see on TV. Also very memorable is the slogan because the same person reads it out at the end of every advert – a famous star from the comedy ‘Young Ones’. This can attract buyers. They are funny but with an evil edge and relate to the target audience who are men between 17 and 25. Language is very effective in these adverts. The slogan is “Peperami, it’s a bit of an animal”.
This is a pun, it is saying the peperami acts like, and is physically a bit of an animal. Typical slang used by the peperami are words like, ‘Oi’ and ‘Yeh’. This sort of language reminds me of a poorly educated person, also similar to the target audience because they speak slang. When the target audience see these adverts they are supposed to relate to them through the setting, language and the crazy behaviour. This particular type of audience is most likely to laugh at a guy grating his head, whereas, a group of pensioners probably wouldn’t.
In the advert set in the street where the peperami is chasing after a person who can’t handle the spicy taste; this may have a psychological affect on the target audience. When they see the advert they think that they can handle the peperami and to prove it to themselves they go out and buy themselves one. However older groups of people may find these adverts offensive and feel they influence younger children to do crazy things like the peperami. This is because they were brought up in a different generation and have a different view on things in life. In addition, young viewers would most probably laugh at the adverts.
My own personal opinion is that these adverts are very funny. I believe that none should be banned from television because I feel they are cleverly portrayed. Using scenes of a sexual and violence nature within advertising have no bad effect on me. I believe this is okay as long as they are not overused because this can result in influencing younger children. In my opinion, the cleverest advert is the one set in the street but my favourite is the advert where the peperami grates his head on the cheese grater. It would be nice for the public to see these advertisements as funny and clever.
