Introduction to advertising

Introduction to advertising: blog tasks

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) How does the Marmite Gene Project advert use narrative? Apply some narrative theories here.

-The advert starts at an equilibrium where the family is peaceful and happy but then a disequilibrium comes along where the hidden marmite is discovered new equilibrium is where the marmite finds a home that appreciates the marmite and likes it.

2) What persuasive techniques are used by the Marmite advert?

-It was a funny narrative because it made the marmite look as if it had feelings and was an actual person,the narrative caused people to laugh and feel the comedy.

3) Focusing specifically on the Media Magazine article, what does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

-Advertising makes us dissatisfied with our present selves and promotes the idea that we can buy our way to a better life. There's the quotes of ‘All publicity works on anxiety.'

4) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

-Either knowingly or subconsciously, we refer  to lifestyles represented to us that we find attractive or have a certain appeal. 

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

-Marmite’s 2003 ad featuring Zippy from the children’s television programme Rainbow.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

-High culture can be defined as a subculture that is shared by the upper class of the society. Popular Culture can be defined as a subculture that is shared by everyone or the mass of the society. 

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

-Postmodern audiences arguably understand that they are being manipulated by marketing. They understand the conventions that are being deployed and satirised.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

-A good example of postmodernism is programmes like Life Is Short, as they show the boundaries of taste in order to make audiences question its realism and value in society.