This document discusses different forms and styles used in television advertisements. It identifies common forms such as animation, mini-fictions, documentary, and talking heads. It also analyzes styles like humorous, surreal, shocking/dramatic, parodic/intertextual, and nostalgic. Finally, it notes that technical elements like camera work, editing, sound, and lighting should also be considered when analyzing advertisements.

1. Television
Advertisements
Structures: Form and Style

2. Different forms are used in advertising in different ways.
Depending on the audience and product or service, the
form of an advert will vary.
Form

3. Animation
The term animation encompasses a wide range of techniques
from 2D images all the way to CGI. Animated images are often
used in television advertising so that more fantastic or
impossible scenes can be used.
Examples:
• Guinness - Evolution
• Milky Way - Red Car, Blue Car
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

4. Mini Fictions
Many ads present mini fictional narratives, including a main
character with whom we are asked to identify, and a little
scenario/situation within which they successfully operate to
overcome some problem or issue.
Examples:
• Yellow Pages
• Lynx – End of the World
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

5. Documentary
Documentary style adverts are used to suggest ‘real people’ who
are using the product. They borrow from the trust we have in
documentaries to ‘tell the truth’. They may also involve celebrity
or ‘expert’ endorsement.
Examples:
• Bob Monkhouse- Prostate cancer
• The Salvation Army – £19 Christmas appeal
Come up with 1 of you own examples
Form

6. Talking Heads
Following on from documentary, the celebrity or expert
may be presented as a ‘talking head’, usually addressing an
implied interviewer. A talking head may also be a satisfied
customer saying how much they love the product.
Examples:
• Yasmin – Oral B
• Pampers – Baby Dry
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

7. Stand Alone ads Versus Series Ads
Most ads are stand alone ads, which advertise a product or
service and do not link with any existing advertisements for
that brand, product or service.
Examples (stand alone):
• Think! - Slow Down
• Cravendale - ‘Cats with thumbs’
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

8. Series Ads
Some ad campaigns use a series of adverts to promote a single
brand, product or service. Sometimes the adverts differ slightly
in the content but it can also result in a progressive narrative
over a long period of time and over a number of singular
commercials. Occasionally these series last for many years.
Examples:
• Nescafe Gold Blend - Antony Head
• Daz - Cleaner close
• BT - Infinity
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Form

9. We have now explored the different forms
of existing advertisements, now we will be
focussing on style.
Style

10. Humorous
• Can be tongue in cheek, silly or cute
• Usually harmless and stick in our minds
• Frequently used in alcohol ads
Examples
• Have you got a WKD side? - WKD
• Nanas knit Shreddies - Shreddies
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

11. Surreal
• Audience are not too sure what the product is
• Plays on being different and away from the ‘norm’
Examples
• David Lynch - PS2
• Belly’s gonna get ya - Reebok
• Kevin the hamster - Levi’s (banned)
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

12. Shocking/Dramatic
• Gets our attention and makes us feel bad/sad
• Shock tactics to appeal to softer/kinder side and we feel
empathy
Examples
• NHS - Give blood/stop smoking
• Think! - road safety
• Bob Monkhouse - Prostate cancer
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

13. Parodic/Intertextual
• References existing texts and makes fun of the original
subject matter
• We feel smart/glad to get the parody/homage
Examples
• The A-Team - 118 118
• Wacky Races - Vauxhall Corsa
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

14. Nostalgic
• Plays on our sense of nostalgia/fondness of the past
• Audience remembers older days/adverts
Examples
• Through the ages - Hovis
• Through the ages - Bisto
• Through the ages - Fairy Liquid
Come up with 1 of your own examples
Style

15. And finally… TECHNICAL ELEMENTS
• When analysing ads, just like when analysing any other
moving image media text, you’ll need to make sure you
cover the technical elements of the text:
• Camera use (angle, shot, movement, composition)
• Mise-en-scene/iconography/lighting
• Editing
• Soundtrack (sound effects, music, dialogue)
Style