Entry 9 – Photography in Advertisement

“We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves. – John Berger

In an image-saturated society, advertisements can be spotted anywhere in our daily life. Publicity images can be seen on flyers, on the walls in metro walkways and the sides of buses, on billboards and even in your favorite magazine. Photography is the most important element of all advertisements, as it is the dominant feature in which attracts the viewers.

Although the purpose of advertising is to persuade spectators to consume advertisers’ commodities, the pictures that are being used have to achieve a certain connection with their audiences in order to attain their function. Some publicity aims to leave remarkable impression on their potential consumers by incorporating unusual, entertaining, and exaggerated photographs as an approach to get their message across.

Sometime last year, I came across an advertising campaign that captured my attention. It was a series of milk publicity in which based on five black and white photographs of people, each with a scene of different scenarios. Four of them were straight forward on suggesting either the beneficial factors of calcium in milk to the well-being of youth and elders, or the necessity of milk in coffee.

And there was this photograph that especially got me thinking. My interpretation was that the advertiser’s idea was to associate the comfort of a father’s presence at the wedding to the comfort that milk can offer us, taking from the perspective of the bride. I usually don’t reflect too much on advertisements, but as I was able to find a relation to this photograph, I think it is simple, clever and worth mentioning.

References

Berger, J. (1972). Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

La famille du Lait. (2012). Les parent et les enfants du réconfort [Photographs]
  Retrieved form URL (http://www.lafamilledulait.com/publivores/77-les_parents_et_les_enfants_du_reconfort)

My Modern Met (2010). Clever Ads: FedEx – Neighbors [Photograph]
  Retrieved form URL (http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/clever-ads-fedex-neighbors-3)

Showme Design. (2012). Print Advertisment [Photographs]
  Retrieved form URL (http://showmedesign.net/2012/02/15/print-advertisements/)

Shuffle. (2010). Art of Advertisment [Photograph]
  Retrieved form URL (https://katiec13.wordpress.com/category/advertisement/)