Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Advertising Rhetoric #2



            Well I know what you are thinking, a condom advertisement? Really… what the heck are you thinking? My answer: it’s the perfect example of advertisement to write about. Durex brand is a much known brand of condoms; it’s a very profitable company. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, this advertisement by Durex is on the love/belonging portion.
The choice of the ad’s humor really draws the reader towards reading the text on the printed ad. To be quite blunt, almost everyone in the world will have sex at least once in their lifetime. Everyone has that sense of love/belonging with someone else who they are sexually intimate with.  The creator of the ad, Durex company employers, are trying to get consumers like us to buy their product or else they will end up getting a present nine months from that one “special” day. The consumers are not just men, women, too could buy these for her significant other. The text used in the ad uses humor to “warn” the consumers what would happen if they use other company’s condom rather than Durex. It’s an effect way of advertising because the humor makes you chuckle because technically it is true. If it’s a faulty made condom, you might actually end up getting a surprise in a couple months. The audience/consumers, I’m sure, definitely do not want to have children, or else they would not be using Durex’s products.
The use of the text to convince consumers like us to buy their product because there is truth behind it, which almost all of us will understand to the point it makes us chuckle or smile.
Would you want to use this brand (assuming you actually use them or are going to buy them) after seeing this printed ad for Durex condoms? I believe they did a great job in their ad and I definitely laughed when I read it.



Priyanka Bhakta
Word count: 318


2 comments:

  1. Thank you, Priyanka, for providing me amusement today with your advertisement. I agree that your advertisement fits into the love/belonging category of Maslow’s Hierarchy. However, I also think it fits into a much more basic need, and that is the need of sex which belongs in the physiological category. The condoms are intended to prevent pregnancy and the transfer of sexually transmitted diseases. Both of these typically occur during the act of sex. I agree with you that sex also qualifies in the love/belonging category, but I think the target audience of the advertisement would consider sex in the physiological category. I also agree that the use of humor adds to the overall effectiveness of the advertisement, and the target audience would certainly approve of this as well in my opinion. If I were sexually active after reading this advertisement, I would consider using the brand because of its humor and its unwritten warning that I would end up being a father if I did not use that brand. I consider the ad successful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another level in which this could fit, Jon and Priyanka, could be safety, no? Bodily safety, at least. As Jon said, condoms are designed to prevent the transfer of sexually transmitted diseases, and since getting an STD could be considered bodily harm, it makes sense. Granted, this ad is more geared to becoming a father, which doesn't have to do with sexually transmitted diseases at all, but condoms in general do. Humor does play an important factor in this ad, mainly because I'm assuming that it was posted around father's day. It may not result in people dropping what they are doing then and there to go buy this brand of condoms, but the next time those people go out to buy condoms they might remember the humorous Durex ad they saw and buy that brand instead. This ad is effective because it gets it's message across in a simple, humorous, memorable, and concise manner, all the while covering three important and base levels of our needs: sex, safety,and love.

    ReplyDelete