COM101 Blog Entry #3 - Banned Condom Commercial

Banned Condom Commercial - "Mama said I could"

I suppose the title is good enough to attract your attention, however, i'd have to disappoint you because the video and my critical analysis is free of filth.

I wanted to do an analysis on a banned commercial and sift through the strategies the company used and, ultimately, figure out the reasons why the commercial was banned. In case you're wondering, no, I did not purposely go around youtube looking specifically for a condom commercial but i chanced across this and it's SO cute, but of course, disturbing to certain extents at the same time. And anyway, the title's good publicity on my part.

Alright, let's go right down to the analysis. Now that you've seen the commercial, you may all have different takes and perspectives on it. Some of you may love the cute boy, and some of you may wonder the link between the boy's actions and condoms.. well, I'm about to give you my perspective, and you are all welcome to COMMENT!

Strategy #1 - Innocence (The use of children)

They used the small boy, who, amidst a very obvious mischievous look, seemed to always act innocently especially whilst screaming out "My Mom said I could!" Of course, the use of the small boy was meant to make the audience relate well to it because adults are generally attracted to kids. Thus this advertising company chose to use children as a means of grabbing the audience's attention
In addition, even though the boy is doing things he isn't supposed to do at that age, the audience would not associate him with "the streets", just for the simple fact that he's a boy.

Strategy #2 - Humour

As the boy does extremely outrageous things (some are only outrageous because they are illegal for him at that age), some audience may find it funny especially since he does all those acts but ends up saying "My Mom said I could!" and pushing the "blame" all to his Mom.
Furthermore, the kind of deviant activities that he does are all so outrageous to the extent that to the audience, it seems almost impossible for such things to happen in real life and thus it ends up being a humorous thing.

Strategy #3 - Progressive

The child progressively does more and more outrageous and dangerous (at that age) acts eg. eating a lot of icecream, touching a snake, getting a tattoo, vandalism, driving a car, then finally flying an airplane. From here we see the gradual build of interest that the advertising company is trying to instill in the audience.

Strategy #4 - Non-verbal Communication

The child has a subtly deviant and mischievous look on his face and this is part of the company's strategy of Non-verbal Communication. I think that the look the boy projects plays a major role in the success of the commercial because if he had been a boy who looked TOO innocent, then there would be more "Awwww...." moments and the audience wouldn't really notice that there's a real problem at hand. Of course, the audience needs to realise that there's a problem because it will help them to link that to the main idea of why the child is doing all those things (as shown at the end of the commercial)
Another apparent use of non-verbal communication would be the child's stance and the way he portrays himself whilst doing all those deviant acts. He seems to be tough and rough when doing all those things however, the anticlimax comes when he uses his Mom as an excuse. Most audience may not realise how much of an anticlimax it is, especially since it is alright for children to refer to their parents for everything.

Let's now analyze why this commercial was banned. If I were a critic, I would point out every single small detail about why this advertisement shouldn't go on air. And that's exactly what I'm about to do.

1) The juxtaposition of children and mischeviousness
Aside from the usual "Mummy, what are condoms?" questions, this commercial is practically dangerous if children watch it because they might think that it is alright for them to do such things (as done by that small boy). In addition, the poor boy in the acommercial had to go through so much counselling to make sure that he is aware that all those things he did are not real and just for a commercial. Either way, children and mischievousness just should not be portrayed on national television, especially since children are getting more puckish these days, anyway.

2) The submission of adults to the child
The adults in the commercial seem to immediately submit to the child when he says his "tagline". This can be seen in the scenes of the snake and the tattoo. This reversal of roles might annoy parents as they may not be too happy with the fact that children are rising above adults in decision-making. In addition this might have negative effects on children as, if they watch this, they might think that they have a certain extent of power over adults and take advantage of them

3) Animal Rights
As silly as this may sound, I love animals, and PUTTING A CAT IN THE WASHING MACHINE is totally not my thing. SORRY.

Well I hope you liked my analysis. DO leave your comments =))

COM101 Blog Entry #2 - Persistence of Memory

“Persistence of Memory”

Salvador Dali

I chanced upon this painting while surfing the net and it somehow seemed to grab my attention. This was a painting by Salvador Dali, a painter well-known for his surreal works. I did some research on Dali’s works and discovered that he did a bunch of paintings that were influenced by the surreal. Still I found this particular painting rather interesting as Dali uses certain methods of communication through his painting. In this analysis, I wish to comment on the way Dali communicates with his audience.

A person who is looking at the painting for the first time would notice a white apparition in the foreground, three white melting clocks and an orange clock, all being put into a bleak setting. The audience would certainly find the painter’s communication methods rather baffling at first. Undoubtedly, surreal paintings usually have such effects, especially when the audience is looking at it for the first time.

Upon further critique, the audience would realise other more specific features of the painting, such as the rigid angles and lines on the left side that are being juxtaposed onto a majorly natural setting. The audience would also notice the orange clock on the bottom left hand corner of the painting to be coated in black crumb-like objects.
What I find interesting about this painting is the fact that our first impression is not usually what it really is. Nevertheless, having false first impressions is part of the type of reaction a surreal artist wishes to get out of his audience.

Let’s start getting into the specific analysis of how Dali uses non-verbal forms of communication (symbols) to express himself.

1) The white apparition – It is, in fact, not really just a white apparition, but part of a face. The face seems to be melting, just like all the clocks. Many have said that the face represents Dali himself. This barely definable figure appears in many of Dali’s other works. I believe that chose to depict himself in much of his paintings to indicate his presence in the kind of world that he has created.

2) The melting clocks – Dali portrayed melting clocks as a symbol to literally represent the irrelevance of time. Melting clocks are undeniably the key feature in this painting that depicts the surreal. In my opinion, the use of melting clocks seems to indicate that Dali was trying to convey a message of distress. He communicates this in a very subtle way by taking a humble object, the clock, and transforming it so as to bring across a message.

3) The insects – upon further analysis, the black crumb-like objects on the orange clock are actually ants. In addition, a fly rests ever so peacefully on one of the clocks. These insects are being portrayed by Dali as a symbol of decay and decomposition, and probably death. Here he tries to emphasize the irrelevance of time by using objects that have negative and extreme connotations.

There are many other aspects of this painting that are essential in Dali’s overall message. In summarizing my analysis, I would like to point out the fact that a person’s perception of this painting may differ to others’. I may look at it as Dali trying to convey a negative message, however a friend may choose to say that the natural setting seems to provide a more optimistic light.

Dali has used various ways to communicate with the audience, either through ethos (how a person’s personality influences his or her perception of the article), pathos (how the article evokes emotions that may have effect on the person’s perception) as well as logic (or the lack of it, in this case, at least). For surreal paintings such as this one, a person uses his experience of logic to decipher what the painter tries to communicate.

If you're craving for more visual pleasure by Dali, visit
http://www.virtualdali.com/

COM101 Blog Entry #1 - Your Face Communicates

This is my first entry and I thought it would be fun to start of with some lifestyle tips, more specifically for the girls.

Ladies, check out this link:

http://www.todayonline.com/Style/EDC090905-0000038/Paint-a-pretty-picture

I read this article from todayonline - "Paint a pretty picture".

At first I thought it was about the visual arts, many would think so. Well, that's perception.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, its content includes make-up tips for the ladies. It includes how to achieve different looks such as a "Peachy blush" or "Bold eyes". But more importantly, it describes the kind of image we would like to portray, or communicate, when we use these make-up techniques.

Well this article just got me realising that even our most basic, yet most prominent, body feature, the FACE, plays a major role in non-verbal communication. Our face acts as a medium of communication and we can alter it any way we wish to, to achieve certain looks and just with a splash of colour, we change the image we wish to portray to others. Yes, the face is a passive feature, considering how else we can communicate (body language) however first impression overrules everything.

Many women choose to communicate by "painting" their faces because they have an objective in mind. Maybe they wanted to portray professional, or maybe flirty. Whatever the case, make-up, for many women, is passive COMMUNICATION.

On the receivers' end, reaction to this form of communication may differ. Too little and people may think, "Ugh, she looks pale". Too much and people will go "Aiyoh, WAYANG1 !". Well, this is perception. How different people perceive this type of communication will differ, and so will their feedback. Some may choose to ignore, some may give a disgusted look. Some may even start offering make-up tips to those who look like they're in need of it!

Ladies, communicate with your face, and you may achieve some very unsuspecting reactions! =)



**Wayang1 - dramatic