This document discusses the codes and conventions of different types of advertisements, including video, print, and radio. It provides examples to illustrate techniques used for each medium. Video advertisements rely heavily on visual elements like lighting, editing, characters, and camera techniques to engage their target audience. Print ads catch attention through bold images and text due to their static nature. Radio ads are auditory-focused, using slogans, jingles, and tailored language over 30 seconds. The document also examines how advertisers classify audiences and provides analyses of sample advertisements.

1. INDUSTRY GUIDE TO ADVERTISING
UNIT 15
Hollie Joice

2. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
• The codes and conventions of an advertisement production include very specific things as they need to portray a
strong and persuasive message suited to the specific target audience to buy or use the product;
• Adverts use the structure as a tool to draw the right target audience in as well, things such as the type of narrative
used. TV advertisers main goal is to convince the consumers to buy the product, so to encourage this they can
create a story around the product that’s being advertised – this is called the narrative. There are two different
kinds of narratives, the realist narrative, and the anti-realist narrative. The realist narrative can be persuasive
because it draws its power from real events, things that are possible; however the anti-realist narrative can suck
the audience in by consuming it with things that are impossible, the use of CGI, special effects, mythical characters
etc. Whether either of these narratives are chose depends on the conventions of the audience being targeted, and
the product being advertised.
• Another technique used in all advertising is the use of slogans. Slogans are short catchy phrases that are used to
make the advert memorable, and separate your product from all the other competition. this is especially present
in all video, print and radio advertisements as the slogans can be audible or catchy, meaning the audience will
have more chance of remembering it. For example, “have a break.. Have a Kit Kat”.
• Techniques such as the lighting, the editing, props, scenes, camera techniques, character choices etc. All of these
things can be utilized to target the right audience, and are the main codes and conventions for video
advertisements. This is because since video advertisements are visual, things such as camera angle shots and the
type of character cast, CGI, everything typically used in cinema are so important as this is what will leave the
lasting impression on the audience.

3. • The codes and conventions of a print advert will obviously be different to those of a video and radio advertisement; a
print advertisement will usually have a striking image that will automatically catch the target audiences attention. Since
it’s just a poster / on paper, it needs to be able to strike the audience very quickly and easily as there is no story or
audio to it. Advertising posters are usually distributed on billboards, public transport, shop walls etc. Usually they will
have big bold writing, or a vibrant color scheme. Print advertisements also could utilize a famous figure to ensure it
gets seen. Depending on what is being advertised, it needs to include information all on one page. This could be more
difficult than a video advertisement as you can relay information audibly, or at the end of the advert. However on a
print advert it needs to be included all on one small piece of information. These are just typical codes and conventions
of a print advert.
• A radio advert can range from around 10-60 seconds, however the average is usually around 30 seconds to ensure all
the right information is relayed. Slogans, or ‘jingles’ as they are called when they are sung or rhyme, are very common
in radio advertisements. This is because they are usually played in cars or on standard radios which means there is no
memorable video footage, just audio, so it has to be memorable in some way. The language of a radio advert is usually
tailored to a certain demographic, so for example if it was an advert for the release of a new action movie, it would be
typical that they would use a husky man’s voice and quite adrenaline themed music.
• ‘Stand alone’ adverts are just a single advert that a company has put all the money and time in to, to make perfect. A
series of adverts is called a campaign; it is an advert that is telling a story over a number of different adverts. An
example of a stand alone advert is the M&M "sexy and I know it" advert. This advert is a good stand alone advert
because of the use of satire; this advert is mainly aimed at children due to the animation of the M&M’s and at people
who eat a lot of sweets.

4. • All adverts will have different specific codes and conventions
because each advert is tailored to a different kind of audience
that will need to see different things. Audiences are
categorized multiple ways, through demographics,
psychographics and social class. These three groups is what
helps the advertiser effectively categorize the right target
audience. Demographics, as you can see in the chart, is age,
gender, race, location and employment status (however
employment status also fits in with social class. So, if an
advertiser was making an advert for a car, they’d take into
account they need to target adults and depending on how
expensive the car is, take into account social class and age. All
these factors is what helps advertisers sell their products more
efficiently. Psychographics is also important because the
interests and characteristics of a person is what makes the
decision whether they would like the product. Social class is the
range of A-D, A being the highest paid in society and D being
the poorest. Social class is important because an advertiser
would not tailor an advert for an incredibly expensive car
CLASSIFYING A TARGET AUDIENCE
Psychographics would be applied if
someone was advertising a film and it was
a car film. Stereotypically, advertisers know
that boys and men are more interested in
cars and action films than woman may be,
so this allows them to tailor their
advertisement to make it more appealing
to that specific target audience.

5. REEBOK VIDEO ADVERT
The reebok advert is a standalone video advertisement that is
trying to sell a pair of activewear / athleisure type of shoes. They
have clearly opted to go down the route of satire with this advert,
and it has obviously worked because this advert has stuck with
me since it came out when I was little. This is the link for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxzdo8FfrW0
The story of this is a man running away from this huge belly, and
the repetitive chant / audio in the background is ‘belly's gonna
get ya.’
Throughout the whole advert the belly is chasing this man
however he is always out running it and even though it’s catching
up to him, he is still further ahead. This induces a comedic
response from the audience, especially alongside the dramatic
adrenaline inducing audio in the background which also has a
comedic theme. We get a clear shot of his shoes which are the
shoes being advertised; this whole advert symbolizes that these
specific shoes will protect you and help you run away from a ‘fat
belly’, which altogether means these are good shoes to run in
and will make you want to exercise. This is the point of the whole

6. REEBOK VIDEO ADVERT
The target audience of this advertisement is aimed at people who want to lose weight or lead a healthier
lifestyle, and also people who would be buying running shoes, so runners etc. People usually lose weight
because they don’t like how they look or they want to live a healthier life, which is why the symbolism of
this huge belly chasing after him could be an incredibly persuasive tool towards this kind of target
audience; even though its comedic, the direct portrayal of the horrible, hairy belly chasing him could make
some people want to exercise or lose weight. The advertiser has made the belly look so grotesque for this
reason as well, to further persuade the audience that they don’t want a big belly chasing them like the man
in the advert. It’s demographics will be for people usually over the age of 18+ as they will be targeted
towards adults and not children, as children typically do not buy running shoes. They have used a lot of
action shots that really focus on the shoes and how much movement you can have in them. We see low
shots of the man wearing the shoes jumping over walls and sprinting away from this huge belly, so they are
portrayed in a very good light. We also get a lot of clear shots of the belly that makes it look really large
and intense, even if it is meant to be satire. I think it is a very memorable advertisement due to it being very
comedic rather than a serious video that could put overweight or unhealthy people down. It talks about the
issue of obesity in quite a humorous way, which can be a lot more convincing than being serious about it.
The narrative of this advert relates to multiple of the Gunn’s 12 types of advertisements. It fits in with type
five, which creates a situation which shows the actual benefit of the product. This is persuasive because it
creates a situation that the audience may never be in, (or already are in) and it puts them in a place where
the product would be useful. This is how it is persuasive and effective. It could also fit in with type nine,
show benefit through a symbol, analogy, or an exaggerated graphic. The symbol would be the big belly
chasing the man.

7. POLLUTION PRINT ADVERT
• This is the ‘you eat what they eat’ print campaign advertisement. It’s
purpose is to spread awareness about pollution and what we are
putting in our oceans. It is a graphic of a fish shaped into a plastic
bottle and it’s meant to convey the an emotive and powerful message
of how the more we pollute our environment and oceans, the more it
will effect us in the long run. The use of the slogan ’you eat what they
eat’ is a lot more effective than just showing the fish alone; this is
because as humans the majority tend to be quite selfish and even
though the picture of the bottle filled fish may impact them a little bit,
the thought of the plastic and pollution remnants being in the fish they
ate is what may put them off and make them a bit more mindful of
their actions. So whether It be the tragic thought of our seas being
polluted or the thought of the food we eat being polluted, this advert is
very clearly thought out. It doesn’t promote a product, however it is
trying to convince the audience to rethink the next time they go to litter
which is why it uses such emotionally manipulating techniques. This
technique could work on any person, as the target audience for this
poster is extremely broad and aimed at anyone who will listen. Charity
and awareness adverts use a lot of manipulative emotional techniques
and this is how they attract their audience; they play on humans
emotions.
• The poster is extremely colorful and very bright, even though it portrays
a sad message. This is a technique used so that it will still catch the
audiences attention. The edited fish is enough to pull the audience in
alone, as most people would look at this and not understand it at first;
this is what lets them get away with the text being quite small. Also I
think it looks more professional with the text being small, but it is not
• The target audience for this will be very very
broad, and this is because this poster isn’t
trying to sell any specific product it is just
trying to spread awareness to everyone about
the tragedy of what we are doing to our
oceans. However the main target audience
may be adults and teenagers, as these are the
most responsible for littering. Within Gunn’s
12 types of advertising, this can fit in with type
3 which is ‘symbolize the problem’. Because
this doesn’t necessarily advertise a product, it
can be harder to match it with one of the 12.

8. SUBWAY RADIO ADVERT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llAwwmaI_T8
This standalone radio advert is for subway, which is a very well known franchise of sandwich shops. Firstly it is a
very good idea to advertise subway on the radio as it will be distributed through car radios; this is a really
strategic move as someone could easily drive to their nearest subway once the advert had convinced them the
deal was worth it, however an advert played on the television at home is less likely to convince someone to get
up, get ready and go to their local subway.
It fits in with the codes and conventions as it is very short, the voice is that of a male dominated but still happy
and persuasive voice. There are even techniques such as alliteration utilized in this radio advert, right from the
beginning the advert is started with, “Dinner! Dinner! Dinner!”. This is a good use of language as they have
purposely tried to remind the target audience of dinner time and food rather than simply just promote their
product, this will encourage the audience to feel hungry. This is very clever as it is used as a persuasive
technique within the radio sector of advertising. Obviously in radio the only thing you can use to get the
audiences attention is the use of audio, so they have to fit as much persuasive language and techniques within a
short 30 second clip as they can. The use of alliteration alone will stick in the audiences head because of the
repetitiveness, planting thoughts of ‘dinner’. This is very well thought out because since the subway advert has
just been on, if the audience are hungry that’s where they’re most likely going to go. This advertisement also fits
in with a couple of the Gunn’s 12 types of advertising, which is type two to show the problem; you make it clear
that somethings not up to standard in the consumers life and you SHOW it. They have done this by making it
clear the audience needs a subway today, by advertising the deals and offers they have, describing it as ‘too
good to miss’. This makes the consumer feel as if they are genuinely missing something from their life by not
having it, as it would be a waste not too make the most of such a good deal.