ASSIGNMENT FIVE

Using Machin’s (2007) semiotic methodology on angles and perspectives within visual images and video, one can assess a 1960s Newport Cigarette Commercial, which plays on the fears and anxieties of the average, white American citizen of the time. Interestingly, these anxieties and aspirations appear to be similar to modern day American society. Machin applies a semiotic method to focus on the depiction of people in visual communication (Machin 2007, p. 109). He analyses how the viewer is encouraged to relate to and assess the visual image. He looks at the editing of the photo, how it is cropped and included within the photo to analyse the message the viewer or consumer is supposed to receive. This is the methodology I will apply.

The ad begins with an angle of interaction (Machin 2007, p. 113) of the viewer behind a man, looking on as he watches TV. This suggests anonymity, the man is your average white, middle-class worker. This use of stereotypes aligns the protagonist to the viewer. He is a direct reflection of what the viewer is doing whilst watching the ad. The angle changes to show his face, again the viewer is connected to him through the use of a horizontal angle (Machin 2007, p. 113), creating a direct engagement to the man himself. He is alone, sleeping in an average looking living room, intended to create familiarity with the viewer. He is homogenised by costume and appearance, but his body posture is tired, bored and slumped (Machin 2007, p. 110). Culturally, he is categorised (Machin 2007, p. 119) to look similar to those who watch television in the 1960s. This is intended to create a relationship with the viewer; he is one of “us”.

Cheerful music is heard as the Newport Cigarette commercial plays on his TV. The television is zoomed up to, yet the television itself and its buttons are still included in the frame, to remind us we are watching the television with our homogenised male. A happy, young attractive couple jump out of the television. They are tanned, slim and cheerful, a goal of many white, middle class people in the 1960s, playing upon common anxieties and aspirations. They stand over the common man, indicating a hierarchal power with the use of a vertical angle. The viewers’ stay on the common mans level, again indicating a power hierarchy (Machin 2007, p. 114).

The woman is zoomed up on, singing “the smoothest tasting menthol cigarette” with a smile. The close up angle suggests engagement with the viewer, she is individualised, a portrayal of who you can be through use of the cigarettes, playing on identity anxieties of the consumer. She is looking down, not directly to the camera, indicating an offering of goods and services rather than a demand through her gaze (Machin 2007, p. 110). Her downward look, suggested by Machin (2007) to imply negative connotations, instead implies a hierarchal power to the average male. She is happier, better and more attractive through using the product.

To conclude the narrative like ad, the couple jump back into the television screen as the average man lights up a cigarette, he smiles and waves appearing more alive and happier. She winks back at him, now at a horizontal angle to the viewer, her gaze directly on the viewer indicating a demand rather than offering of the goods (Machin 2007, p. 110). We have used the product and are thus on her level of power and hierarchy. The wife appears far away in the background, questioning “What’s going on?” as the younger woman winks at him in the next close up frame. The ad uses distance (Machin 2007, p. 116) to imply sexual connotations of the product; the average older man wins the younger, doll-like woman.

This analysis of advertising can also be applied to Marling’s (1996) discussion on Betty Crocker ads. Marling discusses manipulative advertising in the creation of the post war image for the brand and its visual symbol. Betty Crocker, whilst still being a fast food company, still included the actions of motherly (and dutiful wife) home cooking. Marling summarises this stating, “Her whole demeanour, according Freudian consultants, seemed to ask, what can I do to help you? Thus, it can be seen through the analysis of early television ads, the evolution of the ad to play on consumer anxieties and satisfaction rather than the product itself. This achieved through “expedient exaggeration” (Tungate 2007, p. 38) of consumer anxieties and wants.

https://archive.org/details/newport_4

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *