Primary sources-- 1999 mcdonalds ad

In this commercial ad created by McDonald’s, they are advertising their new kids meal to parents. The ad has the focus question of “ what do kids want to be when they grow up?” Then the ad throws out some different types of professions that possibly interest kids. The ad shows some kids having fun playing outside, and having an overall good time. The purpose of the ad is to advertise their new toy products included in their kids meal that are related to some desirable careers. But since it is nearly impossible to give these kids their desired job in the future, it explains to the parents that kids can still have fun being kids by playing with toys related to their dream jobs for now. This ad does not even advertise any food in the kid’s meal, and the goal of the ad is to show parents that McDonald’s cares about your children’s dreams, and their kids meal provides a way for your children to enjoy being kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W45zp-MnOxY

PSA2 of Evian Babies Commercial

Evian, an industrial purified water distributor, recently caught a lot of attention for their “Roller- babies advertisements.”

One advertisement features a group of babies roller skating around a park. The faces of real babies are taken and placed on what seems to be computer generated bodies. Through these special effects, the babies are animated as they do tricks and dances around the park. The opening frame on the commercial reads “Let’s observe the effect of Evian on your body.” From there a few babies enter the screen and begin break dancing. More and more babies enter the screen as they continue to perform a choreographed dance. All the babies are wearing white onesies and roller skates. The commercial is about a minute long and during this short time frame you see the babies doing very “adult-like” things. The group of babies is very diverse as well. There are Caucasian, African-American, Asian, and other ethnicities represented in this commercial. They are all intermingling and clearly having a good time. They are laughing, playing and dancing, when about half way through the commercial the music pauses and a pink frame appears. The sound of dripping water can be heard while the frame reads “Naturally pure and mineral-balanced water supports your body’s youth.” The babies then come back on screen and beginning dancing again. They skate around bottles of Evian water and about ten seconds later, the commercial cuts to a verbal frame again. This time the frame is white, and reads “Evian. Live young.” This frame explicitly state the implicit message of the entire advertisement— drink Evian water, maintain your youth. This whimsical commercial is appealing not only because there are so many adorable babies in it, but because “staying young” is massively important in today’s culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

PSA2 of Evian Babies Commercial

Evian, an industrial purified water distributor, recently caught a lot of attention for their “Roller- babies advertisements.”

One advertisement features a group of babies roller skating around a park. The faces of real babies are taken and placed on what seems to be computer generated bodies. Through these special effects, the babies are animated as they do tricks and dances around the park. The opening frame on the commercial reads “Let’s observe the effect of Evian on your body.” From there a few babies enter the screen and begin break dancing. More and more babies enter the screen as they continue to perform a choreographed dance. All the babies are wearing white onesies and roller skates. The commercial is about a minute long and during this short time frame you see the babies doing very “adult-like” things. The group of babies is very diverse as well. There are Caucasian, African-American, Asian, and other ethnicities represented in this commercial. They are all intermingling and clearly having a good time. They are laughing, playing and dancing, when about half way through the commercial the music pauses and a pink frame appears. The sound of dripping water can be heard while the frame reads “Naturally pure and mineral-balanced water supports your body’s youth.” The babies then come back on screen and beginning dancing again. They skate around bottles of Evian water and about ten seconds later, the commercial cuts to a verbal frame again. This time the frame is white, and reads “Evian. Live young.” This frame explicitly state the implicit message of the entire advertisement— drink Evian water, maintain your youth. This whimsical commercial is appealing not only because there are so many adorable babies in it, but because “staying young” is massively important in today’s culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

PSA 1 of Cat in the Hat

The whimsical book “Cat in The Hat,” is one of the most beloved childrens' books of all time. Written by Dr. Suess in the mid 1950’s, this book has been valued for its comic and playful nature for years. In short, the story is about two children wallowing bordem as they are stuck in-side on a rainy day. Then in walks “Cat-in-the-hat,” and chaos ensues.

From the cover of this book, one can assume that is a childrens' book. It is illustraited with bright colors and fun graphics. The blue background creates a “happy” tone immeditely when you look at the book. Huge, bold, white, font state the title along the right side of the front cover. All of the words are simple, and short, allowing children, the main audience, to understand it easily. Along the right side of the book, stands a black and white cat. Based on the books title, one can assume this creature is a cat. However, he is bipedal and lack any actual “cat-like” features. He looks a bit mischievous as well. With his eyebrows raised and a slight smile, the cat looks like he may have something to say. Furthermore, he has his hands crossed along his chest with his finger tips touching. This further adds to peculiarness. Atop his head is a large candy striped hat, complimented by a matching bow tie around his neck. The red coloring of these accessories contrasts the blue background and draws immediate attention to the cat. Lastly, along the bottom of the book, the words “by Dr. Suess” is written indicating the author to readers. Dr. Suess is famous for his comical and very repetious books. Therefore, just from reading the author’s name, one can gain an almost automatic feel for the book and its contents.

This is a photograph by Kim Anderson called "Together Forever." It is odd in the sense that the two people getting married in the photograph are children, and their car is a small toy car. The viewer of this photograph gets a feel that these children are sweet and innocent. And also that this is romantic, because of the black & white hues, and also the subtle coloring of the more material aspects of romance - a honeymoon car, flowers, a bow tie and dress which indicate that they are dressed up for each other. This is a good portrayal of how we all want our children to grow up and be happy and in love some day. Also, it could be considered a portrayal of a dream we all had with our first loves. Love knows no age, and is shown in this picture well.

TMNT anti-pot commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2kKjpNWHks&feature=player_embedded

This is an anti-pot ad from the 90's. In it, there is a group of young students in a classroom, watching a video of a boy who is pressured to try pot. The commercial uses children who look excited about not using pot, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a popular cartoon at the time) to show the audience how to say no to pot. At the time the ad was made, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were one of the most popular children's shows. A good ad campaign is to show children that drugs are not cool by getting their icons to tell them. This ad is a good representation of how parents want their children to feel about drugs, and other things that can harm their children. It also shows that parents have an idea that their kids will have fun doing the right thing!

This is a promotional add for UNICEF. This picture shows a child pointing a gun to their head, and the caption reads "Bad water kills more children than war." One can conclude that because this is a promotional ad for UNICEF, the child in the picture must be from a third world country where the water supply is very poor. When you look at this ad, it is designed to make you sympathize. Sadly when people think of children in third world countries needing clean water, they tend to brush off the issue and see it as something that doesn't pertain to/benefit them. However, when someone looks at a picture of a child with a gun pointed to their own head, they sympathize immediately and want to figure out what this ad is about. This ad play's off the notion that bad water kills more children than war, and their connection between the two is a gun. Note that in war people kill each other with guns, not themselves, but since water is the enemy and humans need water to survive (whether it be contaminated or not), the children will need to drink contaminated water to survive, therefore killing themselves.