Month: September 2010

I saw this commercial from audi recently and thought that it was a really smart and clever piece of marketing. They do a very good job making the viewer initially confused and slightly disorientated at what is going only to show right at the end that the Audi R8 has driven through the home town of ferrari called Maranello. I think you using a red Audi was also a very good play, since that is considered Ferrari’s trademark color and furthermore it was even more obvious against the slightly dark and pastel colors of the entire town and people. I think this commercial sends a bold message from Audi, they are trying to market themselves in the same category as the ferrari in the super cars range and are trying to compare themselves directly to them. They are trying to show themselves as a substitute and an alternative to all the Ferrari buyers and buyers in that market segment of luxury cars and basically the advert is a metaphor that Audi has the reached Ferrari’s turf!

HI everybody, so I was in India for a month this summer and during the couple of hours of T.V that I watched there I realized how many whitening cream advertisements would play every hour. However what shocked me and actually made me almost frustrated to the point that I would rant to the unfortunate cousin who would be sitting next to me was the unethical and wrongful portrayal of skin whitening cream and the illusion they showed of it being linked to wealth, success, popularity and a more fulfilling and happier life. In the link that I have added above it basically shows a women being mocked at a “modern” beauty parlor and by the receptionist due to her traditional dress and minimal make up. The lady gets upset and once she gets home her father unlocks an ancient closet, which has the brands fair & lovely whitening cream. She uses it and once she has lightened her skin and wears a dress and catwalks back into the store suddenly everyone is stunned and a Caucasian man is ALSO impressed and compliments her. The commercial continues to show her getting photographed on a plane and almost treated like a celebrity. I personally felt that this was such a misleading and terrible commercial and the government should actually make some legal rules from banning these disilluninal advertisements which sets the wrong impression in hundreds of thousands of young impressionable women who then start to doubt their self image and confidence and may even develop an inferiority complex by comparing themselves to the perfect “lighter” version of other girls in their society. Overall I completely felt that this industry wide style of marketing this product is not correct and will lead to wrong perceptions in society.