Every advertisement makes use of different ways to get the message across to their targeted audience. In order to catch the attention of the audience, the advertisement has to be creative and impactful so as to make the audience want to go on watching.
Non-verbal communication is one of the most effective methods commonly engaged in advertisements.
One of the advertisements that keeps me constantly thinking is the Nike Commercial, Men vs. Women.
Non-verbal communication makes use of non-verbal behaviours intentionally sent and perceived where the audience recognise as having a consensual meaning. This Nike commercial promotes the Nike products by the use of a race between the two genders. It is illustrated by how women can actually challenge themselves to win the men in the race even though they are not as physically fit as men.There are many different types of non-verbal communications of which I feel, this commercial has made use of most of them especially the body language and facial expressions.
The start of the advertisement shows a scene whereby the woman chanced upon the challenge and decided to join it. Application of body movement (kinesics) is first used when the guy acted nonchalant about the race, perhaps to show he knows he is physically tougher than girls?
Since the advertisement focuses on a race, time and distance play a part, hence, chronemics and proxemics are used and action scenes where the women and men are running and all clothed in Nike apparels. This makes use of objectics of where objects are used to portray the message, in this case the Nike apparels. A particular scene in the lift shows a distinct facial expressions of the way the women stared at the man, a way to prove they can perform as good as men. To further emphasize on their products, the Nike shoes is intentionally zoomed in. I thought that it is a good way to bring the focus back to promoting Nike.
We can consider haptics being used by how they delayed one another by pulling the ear-piece off from guy of which since physical touch is involved. More kinesics are applied when the guys gave high-fives as they ran past each other, and how a guy made use of hand gestures to provoke the girl (at 0:44 of the video). A blend of kinesics, eye contact (oculesics) as well as physical appearance are used at the gym scene where the woman attempted to provoke the guy by splasing the water at him and the guy reacted back with a facial expression by rolling his eyes. In addition, the scene of which the woman smiling to herself after overtaking the man, made use of this combination of non-verbal communication as well.
As the advertisement proceeds, it shows the different treatments in both genders. For example, how the lady threw the guy's shoes and the part where the guy who ran past just took the glass of water that was supposedly meant for the female customer. A tinge of humour was also employed when the lady changed "Go Men" to "Go Women". Furthermore, the advertisement featured famous sport celebrities like Roger Federer and Fernando Torres so as to create impact to it.
I personally like the parts where they show the increase in distance each time each gender catches up with one another as well as how the advertisement ended in a simple way with "nikeplus.com". In just a short advertisement like this, it is able to keep us thinking and relating to what it is all about. This is how amazing non-verbal communication can be, isn't it?
I got sort of confused when I saw your title and read your post, I initially thought that it was something about gender differences and all those things which we normally relate to when comparing the females and males.
ReplyDeleteYou have certainly found a very unique way to bring across your point of non-verbal communications. All the little bits of analysis on the various actions throughout the short clip; this actions has an impact on the viewers, and more often so we get the message that the advertisement wants to put across without even knowing it. And if you have not mentioned it I might not have even noticed some of them.
All those non-verbal cues as you might call it are done so often that most of the time they are disregarded. Such as putting your hands in your pockets while you are doing a presentation, this would very well mean that you are nervous and don’t feel secure when you are in that position.
Non-verbal communication is really intriguing, without talking; so many messages are being portrayed by simple or “insignificant” actions.
This is a well written entry I got to admit. The link you manage to make between non verbal communication and the Nike advertisement was a fit in the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteNon-verbal cues have always been an important way of communicating with others. It can portray one's thinking by merely looking at the cues that he shows. This advertisement which had no talking at all made it even more interesting with just background music playing. Adding on, sports celebrities such as Roger Federer and Fernando Torres were enough to attract attention from fans of them all around the world. All the little actions and non verbal cues that they emit brought out the advertisement successfully.
to JOEL:
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out what you like about this entry! (:
Yes, non-verbal cues though often disregarded, they can be the ones which sends out the right messages sometimes.
to MIKE:
Thanks for your compliment! ((:
Yup! I think non-verbal cues are not only an interesting way to get a message across but like what you said, an important way of communicating with others.
I agree with you and also believe that nonverbal language and cues are very important in advertisements and for advertisers to effectively transmit the intended message as well as let a lasting impression on its audience.
ReplyDeleteFor example, in the Nike advertisement that you mentioned in your entry, a lot of oculesics, physical appearances and kinesics is indeed used to transmit the intended message, to stir up competitive feelings between the genders. Nevertheless, I feel that Nike is very smart when they use an old ongoing debate between the two gender differences.