Visual Culture Unit Images

Finally found the images for Dr Anna's essay and a possible title that sounds something like 'The Sexualisation of the Food Industry'...maybe I should have a little more thought on that...

So anyway! The images:

My original 2009 Burger King advert (above)

A 2009 Arby's advert for 'The Sport's Illustrated' Swimsuit Edition (above)

2001 Cadbury's SnowFlake advert- the tagline says 'How much would you like this girl's job?' (ref. to blowjobs perhaps?)

All of these food companies have a history of sexualised and sexist advertising- but Flake being the only British modern-day example I could find. Cadbury's Flakes have had the 'Flake Girls' since the 1980's- provocative images of women sucking a dick- sorry, I mean Flake.

Burger King also have some sexist adverts other then the example I've given, such as men-orientated poster campaigns.

And Arby's, although new to me as a fast food chain being American, has very (we're talking 18 certificate here) sexual undertones in their TV advertising.

I guess sex sells and that is an undisputable fact. But, it's been done again and again and fast food is one of the most UNsexiest things I can think of. Also, a lot of the adverts I found were derogative to women- stick this food in your mouth and pretend it's his cock.

I'm a little angry now so I'm going for a cigarette...

Black Box Day Project

On the last day of the Autumn term we were placed into groups and given a black box. When given a giant black box, the ol' imagination starts going crazy. Inside...was an envelope...with a single piece of paper saying 'Pedigree Chum'. Our clues to another group were a picture of a burger (food), a picture of a dog in a top hat, pipe, monacle and walking stick (posh dogs- 'Pedigree'), the cast of 'Friends' and the sentence 'Rhymes with 'bum'' (to represent 'Chum'). We then swapped the box with another group and received the clues;

- Comes in a variety of colours
- 'Soft, kind and gentle'
- Can be used as lubricant (preferably not sexually)
- An image of a baby in a bubble
- Featured frequently in Art Attack and can be made into a rocket

Our resulting answer was Fairy Liquid. We then had to create a visual representaton for the product. Basically, an advert.



We created a leaflet that automatically went to your address once you sent your details to UCAS for new university students. We gave a 'personality' to each Fairy Scent-Sensation liquid:

- Pink Petals- girly
- Fresh Lavender- mellow, chilled, homebody
- Apple- organic, active, health
- Lemon- optimistic, lively, zesty, hippy

To find which scent suited you, you answered a quick quiz that gave you a scent based on your answers and then the leaflet folded out where there were free sachets of each scent to choose from. This was our final piece:


The crit was the hardest we've had so far. The tutors became our clients. They had comments for all the groups and their outcomes:

Group 1: After Eights- Fun but very recently been done.

Group 2: Fairtrade Bananas- No cultural awareness (world trade centres), outcome shows bad group work.

Group 3: Fairy Liquid (us)- Good use of direct mailing (DM). All like it. If they were associated with Fairy Liquid they would be interested.

Group 4: Pedigree Chum- Good idea to see it from the dog's point of view.

Group 5: Aquafresh- Photoshopped to death but good idea for younger audience.

Group 6: Dorset Cereal- Shows good research into company and good design.

Awesome Retro Lego Advert!

I have literally just seen this advert on TV. Lego have recycled an old advert from their past for Xmas this year. Enjoy.

Wha-? Aw Man! It's Okay, I Know Where To Go To Make Me Better

I couldn't describe today in a nice little bundle of quirky sayings or quotes so instead, I've used some of the words I said today as the title. In case you were wondering...

Today, was just one of those days, where you truly believed if you left the bed it would all go wrong as soon as your head left the pillow. I was wrong. Not everything did. In fact, when reminscing today and really evaluating it, nothing went wrong. I woke late, but managed to catch the bus. I didn't forget anything. I did fall over a little though but that's okay. I was given my Unit 1 marks which weren't as bad as I thought (I passed with a 2:2 and now have a solid base to grow from). I worked my little socks off and overthought my ideas.

The Idea And How It All Got Fucked- (I don't know why but since writing that I really have the urge to write 'Once upon a time' with flamboyant type) Okay, it all started with target audience research. Both of my target audiences (18-24 and 25-35) are big drinkers. 1 pint is on average about £2.50. Sweatshop workers in factories making clothes for Asda, Primark and Tesco earn 5p an hour. To earn £2.50 they would have to work 50 hours. So, why don't we just give up a pint every now and then and give it, instead, to War On Want?

Which is when I started thinking about my birthday (6th January). Obviously, I'm at home and obviously, I'll be visiting all my old haunts with all my friends and obviously I'll be tasting the tipple a little. Why not try my little idea on myself?

Then I began thinking, why doesn't everyone do it on their birthday? Why stop at your birthday? I thought, to get more drunkards interested, I could make it into a drinking game. This is where I should of stopped. But no. Enter obnoxious, shouty poster designs. Then I was told I couldn't make it into a drinking game. Legal people would frown and it would give a misassociation to WOW. Okay, pulling away from games. How about focusing on the fact that you've given away a drink? You're drinking less. Oh look, I've made an anti-drinking campaign. I came up with the idea that, when paying the £2.50, you're given a cardboard cut-out of a pint with facts of the cause you've just given money to. And why stay with a pint? Have a wine glass! And a half-pint! And look! There's my brain parachuting out of the back of my head! By the time I had my tutorial with Kit I was exhausted. Me and Kit had a little 1 to 1 chat at the end of the day about my worries that I had in fact, created an anti-drink campaign that completely overshadowed the cause I was trying to advertise. The advice Kit gave me was extreme and helpful. Go back. Go back to my birthday. Realise I've taken the idea to its limits and strip all the bullshit away (not exactly Kit's words).

So, my little readers, that is what I'm doing now, nesting away and burrowed into a corner of the room, focusing on how I advertised my own birthday (facebook events obviously) and how I can use this and my birthday nght to create a pretty sweet, laid-back charity ad. Go me! (And Kit)

Not So Much With The Good Times

Missed my Democracy day but hopefully, if I grab the brief tomorrow I'll be able to do it over the Xmas holidays. I'm stressing slightly right now with this brief, not just because of the brief but also because of some personal shizzle and Anna's essay (due 11th Jan). I feel like I'm not working, even when I am working, which just means I'm working all the time while feeling like I'm not getting much headway.

I am ready for the holidays.

Democracy and Tutorials

To build up for tomorrow, I do believe Sally's asked us to think about groups and how we work in them as we will have a 1 day brief around the theme of 'Democracy'. I do like working in groups occasionally although, in work, I'm a bit of a loner. But, in the right mood, with the right brief, I think group work can be fun and rewarding. Not only do you have a number of brains which means a number of ideas, you also get to see how other people work. I'm a loud mouth so usually take over the running and organising of the group- which will be interesting to see tomorrow as I think we have a number like that in class and if I'm in the same group as one or more I don't know how I'll react.

Today was productive. After my large amount of research over the weekend and more tonight I think I might be coming up with a few tentative ideas. Nothing finalised but I'm finding a theme and a context and with that, I'll find my feet. I think, once you gain so much information you need to filter out what inspires or influences you. Adshel has really done that for me as has some other charity campaigns (Amnesty International especially) and I've decided to concentrate on only two of War on Want's issues; sweatshops and bargain clothing and banks and arms trade because we (as a Western country) are immeadiatly affecting and affected by them.

I also signed up for another tutorial today. I've decided to really use the chances of tutorials and have signed up for each one so far this project. Last week, I found Kit's research tutorial really helpful and Justin's today was just as interesting, albiet, a little more tangenting. Due to the fact only five of us signed up for a tutorial, what was meant to only be half an hour, turned into a full hour chat about idea generation. This has also given me some good starting points when I'm ready to move on from my bulk research.

We also had PAL group today which I found extremely useful. We chatted about Anna's essay and it really cleared some of my concerns and the fog in my brain.

Excellent. Bring on tomorrow.

OMG! Water in a poster? There's magic in the air!

I've been doing a little research on Adshel. From what I can tell, not only do the clever monkeys make bus shelters, they also make some of the most ingenious campaigns to go inside them. I was going to chuck a bit more information into my sketchbook with some photos off the site (www.adshelcreate.com) but then I found videos so thought I'd throw them here aswell. Their work is really interesting. Some of my initial ideas when thinking about the brief for the bus shelter poster was to somehow incorporate the passengers waiting for the bus into the message and Adshel have some real audience participation ideas that I'm getting inspired by.







The 'Raining Bus Shelter' I thought was particularly useful for this project as it was a stunt to increase awareness and raise money for charity, much like what I'm doing for this part of the brief. It's also fun, which is what I want to bring into the message- not that sweatshop working is fun, but, as I explained before, you engage an audience much better if they have a smile on their face, and it'll be remembered more. Like the 'Raining Bus Shelter', there's a serious underlying message but the audience is still getting drenched inside a shelter. Also, it brings better publicity then an average poster with a sad face on it.

Double Blog Day- Further Research Yo

Since writing my last blog earlier this evening I've been scouring youtube for interesting, shocking, funny charity adverts and also other adverts that focus on difficult subjects (anti-speeding, anti-drink and drive and anti-smoking adverts) that grab my attention. Some have actually made me go 'Holy Jesus. Fuck. God...' etc with a number of disgusting language as I stare at the screen open-mouthed. Some have made me laugh (like the Oxfam Unwrapped advert that plays with the same idea that I was talking about where I switch off to black and white voice-over ads) and some have made me go 'Oooo. I like that' (again, Oxfam- Be humankind- LOOK AT THAT TYPOGRAPHY SKILL!). So here are some examples.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Today, so far, at half 12, has been a mixed day. The Ugly: I woke up late. My tendency to be an owl is not helping me on this course and I have been given a warning. So, a new leaf and a new alarm I think. It's not, I'd like to point out, because I go out. Ask anyone, I am a hermit nerd. I just like my sleep. So yeah, new leafing.

The Bad: Handed in my Unit 1: Text and Image a day ahead of my extension which although I'm proud of, feel I could of done a lot better on. Fingers crossed I don't fail before I begin.

And, finally, The Good: New brief, new brief, new brief! Excitement is in the air like the first few weeks in September when your school shoes are polished and you have sharp pencils. WAR ON WANT is a smallish charity that needs a new campaign to attract young people that don't donate to charities. Hey look, I'm my own target audience. Fantastic, I'm already on a roll.

I've been thinking about this for about a week, before I've been given the brief. I've checked out WAR ON WANT's youtube channel and to be honest, if I hadn't been given this brief they would have gone under my radar. They are your classic charity videos. 'Look how bad this is. Give us money' which immediately turns my attention switch to 'Off'. I'm not bitching, I am merely saying how my 'target audience' (ie me. Saying my views are the views of my target audience is deliciously attractive and vain) view these videos. I change the channel when a black and white advert appears on my TV screen with sad music and a serious man doing the voice over about starvation and poverty. Bad me but I've seen it all before. Have an example;

The number of views? 758 and I'm three of them. The number of subscribers? 216. Pitiful, considering Peter Andre, the man who can't sing and married a balloon on legs, has 2229 subscribers. Just for being a pillock. I blame media. I blame our parents. I certainly don't blame the target audience...who would rather watch this guy then these women, more interested in the rags of his relationship then another human being's starvation and abuse.

I have made a conclusion. Shock tactics just don't work on a generation brought up with the ability to have photos of real-life dead people and videos of executions at their fingertips. But humour does. Gritty real life is lost when you can watch it on TV 24 hours a day with pretty people put in hilarious 'reality' situations ('I'm a Celebrity...' anyone? 'Big Brother' is a given. Obvious example is obvious) for our entertainment.

So humour. In a charity advert.

I've seen this advert before on TV (one of those I didn't switch off because I'm not a completely heartless bitch) and at the beginning, yeah, the use of cartoons

make you smile. And then the smile begins to fade.