LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN

"A Story is a Doorway"  

                                            

A story is a doorway That opens on a wider place. A story is a mirror To reflect the reader's face. A story is a question You hadn't thought to ponder, A story is a pathway, Inviting your to wander. A story is a window, A story is a key, A story is a lighthouse, Beaming out to sea. A story's a beginning, A story is an end, And in the story's middle, You just might find a friend.

Traditional Tales

Magazine ADVERTISEMENTS

MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Companies which advertise products or services pursue certain objectives which might vary according to their industries or marketing strategies. The key of all advertisements is attracting directly the right buyers, or consumers as well as increase sales and profits. It is not enough to advertise just to achieve objectives though companies should also deliver what they promise. Therefore advertising is about selling through the strongest persuasive means.

We will analyze some magazine advertisements in order comprehend its underlying meanings.

Advertisement N° 1:  PANTENE PRO – V

This advertisement presents a new product of a very well known brand PANTENE in Argentina. The product is an ampoule with the capacity of hair repairing in only three minutes. There is a close up photograph of a famous actress, Marcela Kloosterboer, who promotes and shows the amazing effects of the ampoules. The advertisement transmits a strong sense of glamour. The combination of different golden colours contribute to distinguish clearly the brand from others.

The actress is smartly dressed and her hair looks bright and bloomy. This famous figure represents the brand maximizing advertising effectiveness. Many companies use celebrities to invest their products assuming they have very little negative impact on consumers; famous´ images intensely influence their views. However nowadays there are many consumers who are likely to be influenced by someone in their social network. Thus the use of one or the other depends on each company.

The message of this advertisement is transmitted through the glamorous image of the actress which captures the attention of the receiver emphasizing the possible amazing benefits obtained by using the product. The use of bright and golden colours reassures how sophisticated the brand is.

Pantene brand, Procter and Gamble company, target market is based on several strategies market research conducted globally. It is a whole challenge to them to advertise in local markets, country to country. Once they indentified the central strategic product benefit that would be meaningful around the world, P and G determine the best way to express this in local markets. The company directs its products to female consumers, between the age of eighteen to thirty five, who believe the ideal standard of hair is “healthy”, considered their hair “damaged”, believed that shine is signaled “health”; and belonged to a mid – high economic level. In most advertisements they persuade consumers by appealing to celebrities´ images as testimonies of their promises as well as giving the brand a stronger image. While local differences are necessary, the format brand is held virtually everywhere.  

Pantene products are nowadays one of the first brands in hair care market. The strategic marketing efforts proved to be highly successfully around the world. However there is certain information that is not available for consumers in their ads.  Procter and Gamble have against boycotts by several animal rights organizations for its continued testing of new ingredients on animals. The company did indeed use cats and dogs for testing drugs in laboratory experiments. The company also uses micro plastics (polyethylene microbeads) in some of their products. These particles are not retained by wastewater treatment so they end up in the ocean. While micro plastics are not a health hazard to consumers, they are a threat to marine environment.

The Swiss company has got about 127000 employees around the world and the number still increases. Most of them are from Indonesia and Malaysia who export palm oil to the company. Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil which has a very high content of saturated fat. It derives from the palm fruit, grown on the African oil palm tree. Oil palms originated in West Africa, but can flourish whenever heat and rainfall are abundant. Thus today all palm oil is produced in and exported from Indonesia and Malaysia, but not using sustainable measures. Thousands of kilometers of rainforest is slashed and burned in order to make way for oil palm plantations. Many orangutans and other animals are killed in the process for the production of baked foods, body products, cleaning agents and cosmetics. In fact thirty years ago our society did not need palm oil, it was almost non existence. There are many alternatives to palm oil, unfortunately none as cheap and efficient that is why companies do not switch.    

We cannot deny that Pantene products deliver what they promise in their advertisements though production negative aspects do not reach consumers´ awareness. We do not know whether this information might obstruct sales and profits of this global company; at least now… we know. 

PANTENE PRO - V

What is advertising?

What is Advertising?

Popular phrases that define advertising:

The first theme Sabrina and Soledad ´s Blog will be to explore “Capturing advertising´s essence”.

THEN WHAT IS ADVERTISING…

 We consider advertising as a source to promote a product, a service or an event to a target audience.   Through this promotion, or mass promotion a message can reach a large number of people. Such as disciplines change over time, this one has changed radically over years. Nowadays there are many new advertising technologies in hand with the emergence of new media which offer much more options for advertising.

Target audience is the portion of general public that products, services or events were created for and intended to fill a desire or need in the marketplace. Audience´s attention will be caught and straight directed to the promoted product thus they will become “consumers”. Consumer advertising might be individuals or families. Therefore those products may be automobiles for family use, home electronic devices, clothes, books, movies or any other thong commonly found in an individual or family household. Thus they can be divided into groups according to age, gender, religious beliefs, income ranges, education, and many other specifically targetable aspects of life.

“Selling corn flakes to people who are eating Cheerios”

                      “The life of trade”

 “A symbol of manipulating occupation”

                         “The cave art of the twentieth century”

 “Selling in print”                      

Let's watch some funny commercials!!!

These videos are advertising soft drink products: Coca Cola and Pepsi. As you can see what the two of them have in common, is that they are leading brands in the world market, and in these opportunities they employ humor as an advertising technique.

In the case of Coca Cola, the multinational beverage corporation, its product quality is highlighted under its brand. It was founded in 1892 and there is no doubt that it is the biggest company in the soft drink industry. It controls about the 59% of the world market, not only with Coca Cola brand, but also with the rest of its products that include different varieties of soft drinks, juices, teas and water; depending on the target market, that is, considering the culture of the country. It offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves over 1.7 billion servings each day.

Coca Cola believes that what people want in a beverage is a reflection of themselves; who they are, where they live, how they work and play and how they relax and recover energy. Therefore, a student in the USA will enjoy a Coke, while a woman in Italy, a tea break, a child in Peru a juice or a Japanese couple a bottle of water: Coca Cola’s brands will be there in any case. Coca Cola major brands are: Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Diet Coke, Aquarius and Dasani. Among these, the trademark "Coca Cola" or "Coke" accounts for approximately 78% of the company's total gallon sales.

In order to attend to this demand, the Coca Cola franchising system has more than 16 million customers around the world that sells or serves their products. The company only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers, companies that mix drink ingredients and fill up bottles and cans, throughout the world that hold an exclusive territory. The Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor blottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments.

Among the countless marketing strategies worked by this company, we can refer to:

·         Different packaging sizes to satisfy consumer demands.

·         During special seasons, as winter, when the consumption of this beverage falls; there are several special promotions. For example, when you open a Coke’s bottle you have the possibility to win a prize, from another free bottle to an international trip or a car.

·         In order to impose the brand, the company purchases shelves in big department stores, which show their product clearly and more attractively to their customers. In the same way, their salesmen place their freezers with their products in eye catching positions, near the entrance of the stores.

·         The company also sponsorships not only in different sports events, as the Olympic Games or World Cup football games; but also in music events: Coca Cola Concerts.

We can say that target market of Coca Cola is basically, the young generation. The company wants to represent Coke with the youth and energy, but they also consider older people who are taken as a co-target market. In most Coca Cola’s commercials we find kids, teenagers and families. Most families are shown gathered around the table, sharing something that is a “must” in such a precious moment: A “Coke”. Besides this, every year during Christmas, Coca Cola launches their best commercials in which Santa’s clothes are identified with Coca Cola’s packaging red colour.

Nevertheless, we can see that there is omission when talking about the negative aspects of the product. The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in controversies and lawsuits related to human rights violations and other unethical practices. For example, there have been a number of lawsuits in relation to the company’s monopolistic and discriminatory practices. Besides this, there have been criticisms in relation to the Middle East and United States foreign policy. Furthermore, the Company has been criticized on a number of environmental issues. In 2003, an issue with pesticides in groundwater brought problems for the company, when an Indian NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, announced that it had found cancer causing chemicals in Coca-Cola as well as other soft drinks produced by the company, at levels 30 times higher than the ones considered safe by the European Economic Commission. This caused an 11 percent drop in Indian Coca-Cola sales.

In spite of this, If we finally analyze the Coca Cola’s commercial uploaded to this blog, the main message we can get from the commercial is that no matter how different we are, our political views or opinions, even if we are enemies, we can leave aside all those differences and share a Coke. This is due to the fact that Coca Cola’s mission is not only to sell products but to create a better world. We can say that there are 3 main aims in this company: to refresh the world, to inspire moments of optimism and happiness and to create value and make the difference. They have created such a brand loyalty among its customers that the most recognized word on the world after O.K is “Coca Cola”. This is also shown with the fact that its customers are increasing day by day, as well as the company´s per capita income.

On the other hand, we have a Pepsi commercial which as we all know is Coca Cola’s major competitor. Among the main factors which cause this, we have the price factor. Pepsi has always been cheaper than Coke since it was invented in 1893. During the Great Depression, Pepsi gained popularity following the introduction in 1936 of a 12-ounce bottle. Pepsi encouraged price-watching consumers to switch, referring to Coca-Cola. Coming at a time of economic crisis, the campaign succeeded in boosting Pepsi's status. From 1936 to 1938, Pepsi-Cola's profits doubled.

PepsiCo is a world leader in convenient food and beverages, with revenues of about $27 billion and over 143,000 employees. The company consists of the snack businesses of Frito-Lay North America and Frito-Lay International; the beverage business of Pepsi-Cola North America, Gatorade/Tropicana North America, PepsiCo beverages International and Quaker Foods North America, manufacturer and marketer of ready- to- eat cereals and other food products. PepsiCo brands are available in nearly 200 countries and territories. Many of PepsiCo brand names are 100 years old, but the corporation is relatively young. It was founded in 1965 through the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay. Tropicana was acquired in 1998 and PepsiCo merged with The Quaker Oats Company, including Gatorade. The new name Pepsi-Cola is derived from the two of the principle ingredients, Pepsin and Kola Nuts. The first advertisement praised the drink as “Exhilarating, invigorating, aids digestion”. Pepsi-Cola beverages are available in more than 190 countries and territories, and the Company’s soft drink operations include the business of Seven-Up international. Pepsi products are: Pepsi, 7up, Mirinda, Teem, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Lemon, Pepsi Blue and Mountain Dew.

Within some of the most important marketing strategies we can refer to the 1940s when Pepsi’s President, Walter Mack, who supported progressive causes, noticed that the company's strategy of using advertising for a general audience either ignored  or used ethnic African Americans stereotypes in portraying blacks. He realized African Americans were an untapped niche market and that Pepsi stood to gain market share by targeting its advertising directly towards them. Besides this, in the 1990s the advertisement of Pepsi changes to “You got the right one baby, Uh-Huh”. Moreover, with the extensive usage of the stars in the advertisements, as the case of the several adverts starring Michael Jackson, the popularity of Pepsi increased. Nowadays, a lot of sports stars as Lionel Messi, are part of their commercials. Here, we can see that they employ celebrity endorsement as regular advertising technique, as well as name calling as a way to persuade people not to buy their direct competitor’s product. Another thing very important is the use of slogans throughout the decades, as a way of making people feel identified with the product. For example their last slogan is"The Best Drink Created Worldwide". Apart from this, we can say that the Company shares a lot of marketing strategies with Coca Cola, as well as the target market.

However, there are some negative aspects of the company which are omitted. For example, we can take into account that in 2011, for the New York Fashion Week, Diet Pepsi introduced a "skinny" can that is taller and has been described as a "sassier" version of the traditional can that Pepsi says was made in "celebration of beautiful, confident women". The company's equating of "skinny" and "beautiful" and "confident" drew criticism from brand critics and consumers who did not back the "skinny is better" ethos, and the National Eating Disorders Association, which said that it took offense to the can and the company's "thoughtless and irresponsible" comments.

Finally, if we analyze the commercial uploaded to this blog we can see that the message tried to accomplish is that to be part of your community and to be accepted, you must change a lot of things and within them; start to drink Pepsi. This brand has to be part of you, of your lifestyle, which is shown when a kind of logo is “tattooed” on the boy’s forehead. In my opinion, name calling as a strategy to persuade potential consumers is again being used. The company is trying to say that there are things which are difficult to do, for example, changing from a beverage’s brand to another one, but in the end it is something good which brings happiness and membership of a selected group.

Welcome to our blog!

We are Sabrina and Soledad, we are third year students in the teachers' training college (ISFD n°41), and the purpose of this blog is to upload and analyse different kind of material; as a way to develop, among others, our written skills...

Hope you enjoy our entries!