0 The Real Mad Men - 1950s and 60s

After the devastation of World War II and the implications it had on the economy many people ended up migrating to America which had suffered far less of the post wartime impact. This lead to America, especially New York having a wider and more diverse social groups and ethnics.  Due to this increase multi cultures in one place an artistic expansion took place across everything such as film, fashion, design and also to advertising. This allowed people to become more creative with ideas and so became the 'Creative Revolution'.

This revolution was truly started by DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach), a agency helmed by Bill Bernbach, Ned Doyle and Mac Dane. DDB changed advertising by taking risks and creating new ways attract people such as using humour and witty slogans which at that time was non-existent. Although DDB were doing everything differently and from the norm in those days they believed that adverts should 'Never lie, never never say anything about a product that it cant do'.

Probably the most famous advert created by DDB was the 'Think Small' campaign created for the Volkswagen Beetle car which 'changed the very nature of advertising'. The beetle during that time was a fairly modest is not slow, small and ugly looking car but instead of hiding these these factors with false benefits of the car (like so many adverts were doing during this period), DDB decided to embrace these aspects and use it to their advantage. The simplistic and design of the poster with the small image of the car was a nod to the small size of the car, turning it into a positive attribute opposed to a negative. The small print below listed the advantages of owning a small car. It was revolutionary ad as it did things others would not have thought of doing. Instead of stunning visuals or style it used stripped down wit and transparent honesty which proved successful.

0 Modernism - LMS Ads

Modernism was something that emerged in the 1920s during the World War I and II to bring faith and optimism back to peoples lives. The images used in the LMS ads depict the growth of industry such as railways and coal mines to promote hope to people coming out of depression post wartime. 

These set of posters are typically modernist as it uses art that was very modern in that time. The art uses very bold designs and flat colours painted by David Murray. 

0 Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte was a surrealist artist who emerged during the advertising boom of the 1920s. His work often involved objects situated in irregular places giving them a different meaning and way of seeing things.

Through his work he responds to industrialism and modern living which was important at a time when transport through trains become common and new lifestyles and living.

Like advertising, Magritte explored the connections between words and imagery and how they reflected each other. Along with other surrealists he believed that the outcomes reflected would change constantly depending on the perception or society which he explained as being "a constant state of flux'.

His ideas are still used and influenced in advertisements seen today.

0 'So Clean' - A History of Creative Advertising

Sunlight soap was the worlds first packaged, branded laundry soap created by the Lever Brother. The success of the brand was down to the ads created by William Hesketh Lever which in cooperated modern art into advertisements: something that was still relatively uncommon.

Levers adverts were mainly aimed towards woman and played very well to their needs and societies happenings. For instance being more patriotic during the First World War in which they published a advert depicting how Sunlight Soap would help war troops. Adverts also urged wives and families to send tablets of Sunlight Soap to the front. Other adverts also had slogans such as "While quality exists, victory is assured" which would play very well on the feelings of anxiety that women during that time would have had.

0 Surrealism

Surrealism is very good way of catching peoples attention and is often found in adverts. Because the strange and oddity of surreal advertisements people are naturally attracted and interested in finding out more about the meaning behind the projection depicted.

With these set of Playstation 2 posters Sony used displacement surrealism to create a (even though quite unnerving) very interesting series of posters. 

I think that the fact that the posters are quite uncomfortable makes them more so intriguing  especially to a younger audience who the posters are aimed at.

The poster with the assortment of heads, I believe is an analogy to the way in which gamers are able to create their own avatar characters in game. 

With the bottom poster, it is trying to convey how a person is becoming the in game character. It representing how immersive gaming on the PS2 can be.

0 Myths and Ideology in Advertising

Roland Barthes says about ideology, in which he refers to as Myths, "is the connotative meanings that signs carry wherever they go; myth makes what is cultural seem natural."

An ideology is a unconscious ideal and expectation in which a consumer will conjure from a discreet or more obvious hinted advert.

In this mini cooper advert, the car has been placed next to a Trojan Horse (A mythical vehicle that was used in Homer's story 'Odyssey' to win and end the Trojan War) in order to compare its power and significance to the Trojan Horse generating a certain ideology of what the car will/could be like. It opens up the viewers mind for endless possibilities/hope for the car.

The text accompanying the advert say, "One is a legends carrier. One is a carriers legend", which further reiterates the exaggerated comparison.

Nike is also a brand that uses good mythology and ideology into their adverts but in a much more subtle way. The name Nike originates from the Greek Godess of Victory: Nike which straight away gives a slight nod to the possibilities when owning a Nike branded item. 

Their adverts mostly compromise of fit, healthy and attractive individuals who either run at incredible speed or jump to extreme heights: basically performing exceptionally well at certain sports