Guinness advert
The slogan in the Tango advert is: “You know when you’ve been Tangoed” This has a double meaning, firstly, that you will know when you have been “Tangoed” (slapped in the face) and secondly, that Tango is such a refreshing and delicious drink that you will recognise its taste over other “inferior” drinks. This slogan was so successful that “Tangoed” actually became a colloquial verb. Interestingly, there are no famous people in any of the adverts I have used, however the actors used are still vital to the advert.
In the Guinness advert the actor who plays the main surfer is important because he is not a gorgeous “plastic” model but “real” surfer who does not have the perfect body, but who looks as if he is just there for the surf and not to show off his suntan and impress girls. This tells the audience that Guinness is a “genuine” drink for genuine people. There are two main actors in the Tango advert: the “tango man” who hits the person, and the Tango drinker who gets hit. The most important thing about the Tango man is the way he runs, because this is the humour in the advert. The tango drinker adds to the comedy of the advert by reacting in such a “dopey” way to getting hit.
The actor in the R.Whites advert is also important because he has to dance like Elvis and also be able to impersonate Elvis’ singing voice well in order to convey the song lyrics effectively. All of these adverts use contradiction and two use humour in order to make them entertaining. It is vitally important that television adverts are entertaining as this adds to their appeal. There is no humour in the Guinness advert because Guinness is a “serious” drink. However, there is some contradiction in that instead of the stereotypical gorgeous, toned, suntanned surfer, you have a very “normal” person who you would expect to see just wondering down the street, not surfing forty foot waves.
The humour in the Tango advert is very slapstick, and quite ridiculous as even the idea of a man painted entirely orange running up the street, slapping a man in the face and no one else noticing is absolutely ludicrous and therefore quite hilarious. The contradiction in this advert is that usually in an advert when you see a replay of somebody having a drink you see flowers bloom and passionate music plays, but here all the Tango drinker gets is a slap in the face.
There is no contradiction in the R.Whites advert, but there is an aspect of humour in the way that a fully-grown man would actually dance around his kitchen in the middle of the night, singing and using a lemonade bottle as a microphone. Also, there is an amusing moment at the end of the advert when the person whom we assume to be the mans’ wife comes into the kitchen and catches him doing this and he gulps and displays a humours and embarrassed reaction. Only one of these adverts uses aspiration and this is the Guinness advert, where it fills the void created by the lack of humour. The aspiration is that you want to be like the surfer in the advert, and you want to be able to surf that well and experience the stirring emotions that he feels.
The other thing unique to the Guinness advert is the use of black and white, not only does this represent the way that Guinness itself looks black and white when it has settled but it also gives the advert a timeless, classical an intelligent feel. This tells you that Guinness is a classy drink, drunk by intelligent people, and that it will never go out of fashion.The final aspect I am going to look at is something that is used in both the Guinness and Tango adverts very successfully, which is the use of a voice over. In the Guinness advert the voiceover is speaking some very moving prose and this gives the advert an almost poetic feel. The voice is also deep and authoritative and therefore ties in with the beat of the drum, which I mentioned earlier to give the advert a felling of deep, overpowering emotion.
In the Tango advert, there are two voiceovers used. The main voice over is that of two football – style commentators. The first time you see the man drink the Tango you do not see the orange man slap him, you just see a man drink a drink and look very surprised. Seeing that this Tango drinker looks so shocked, the commentators call for a replay, and you see the scene rewound and replayed, and as the commentators do a humorous running commentary, you see the man get hit in the face. Without the commentary the advert would not be as effective or as amusing.
The second voice over is at the end of the advert and reads out the slogan that I mentioned earlier, which is printed on the back of the orange mans head. Like the orange man himself, the voice is a little bit serious and sinister, but funny at the same time. I do not think that it would be possible for me to choose a favourite advert as the way in which each advert carefully blends together all the aspects I have mentioned makes for truly wonderful television viewing.
