Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's not just television and billboards

Marketing is more than just producing 30 second TV commercials, sexy billboards and catchy slogans, it is a form of communication. The purpose of this communication happens to be persuading the audience to take some sort of action. Often it is to purchase a certain product, but that's not all, they can also try and get you to act in a different way, inform you, or influence the way you think about something. This means its scope can be pretty wide, from drink driving ads in pub urinals to the logos on your clothing!

Sometimes it is the simplest messages that are the best, they don’t have to star a celebrity, they don’t need a precisely placed logo, often clarity or honesty are the best policy.
The messages are also very easy to screw up, the below image has been on my phone for a year now and despite (more to the point, because of) the misspelling, always makes me laugh.
 Most common spelling or grammatical errors bug me no end (note: don’t expect perfection here, but do expect the common courtesy of proofreading and using the write there/their/they’re – oh…and bad puns when describing malapropisms). In this case it’s the irony of thinking about eating the meat of someone who has made the choice not to eat meat, which lead me to purchase these delicious meaty nacho’s.

Simple things like this have an effect of the way we behave, and what works for one person will not necessarily work for another, not everyone in the pub would have purchased Nachos that evening, but if it wasn’t for that sign I may have been eating the Beer Braised Peasant with a Flesh Green Salad.

22 comments:

  1. Aha I saw a bum with that same sign! I guess he ripped this guy off...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol the first image. i would give him a beer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would have drank together with this guy. No one better to talk to than someone that knows rough life and speaks the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. that homeless guy is pretty smart haha

    ReplyDelete
  5. Its impressive how persuasive advertising can be. I'm in the field of visual communication myself so I know how important it is to get grammar and spelling right. Though an occasional flesh salad isn't ruled off entirely.

    ReplyDelete
  6. now i'm graving beef nachos. the bums sign shows that marketing is in some way natural human behavior, it's the intention that makes the difference.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lets buy nachos for that homeless guy :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. The real issue is that they charged $9.00 for Nachos. $2.00 at 7-11!
    followed in hopes of more ad tips.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As a self-proclaimed grammar nazi, i agree.

    ReplyDelete
  10. advertisements play a huge roll on what people choose to do.

    Advertisements are the peer-pressure of the corporate world (which isn't always a bad thing)

    ReplyDelete
  11. maybe hes and ex-marketing ceo ;)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Remember what Chris Rock said? "If a homeless person has a funny sign he hasn't been homeless that long. A real homeless person, is too hungry, to be funny."

    ReplyDelete
  13. @revi
    i agree with that lol
    following

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was never thinking that can be any kind of marketing.

    ReplyDelete
  15. cannot agree more about the grammar. The amount of times I've seen your/you're confused is astounding.

    ReplyDelete