Task 2- Advert Analysis

Argos Christmas Ad 2013 – Gift for Santa

Denotation

·       The advert shows a family of aliens figuring out a present for Santa Claus through the many products of Argos.

·       The alien family all imagine the outcome of the presents that they are presenting ideas to one another.

Shots

·       A shot-reverse-shot technique is used in this advert.

·       In one shot, it shows the alien family with the mother holding a tablet and they are scrolling through the infinite number of products in the Argos catalogue by using the Argos app.

·       In the other shot, it shows the misfortunes of Santa Claus using the product of what the alien family has suggested for him as a present.

Sound/Music

·       There is no music playing in the background of the film apart from the end of the advert when Santa Claus appreciates the gift that the alien family has given to him. A Christmas jingle is played to remind customers and/or viewers that this is a Christmas advert so it is all about togetherness/family and presents.

Mise en scene

·       In the alien family scene, it shows them in their living room. They are all sitting down on a couch to portray to the customers that they are a family scrolling through the items in the Argos catalogue on a tablet. They have decorated a rack with Christmas lights to resemble a Christmas tree as well as the whole of the living room being decorated with Christmas decorations. The aliens are wearing normal household clothes on the night of Christmas Eve.

·       There has been another shot of the aliens, all sharing a bed, being woken up by Santa Claus’ jingles in a bedroom.

·       There have been plenty of shots of Santa using different products that are sold by Argos.

·       The first shot is him using an iPod to play music on his slay. The aliens imagine him blasting music on top of a resident’s home in a neighbourhood. All residents are rudely woken up by Santa’s carelessness. We see this when all the lights of resident’s homes are turning on. All houses are decorated with Christmas lights and they are all covered in snow. This further portrays this is the season of sharing and this is what the aliens are planning to do with Santa Claus.

·       The second shot of Santa is when the aliens think of the outcome of Santa using a beard trimmer. This is the comical aspect of the advert as it shows Santa smiling to the audience of his beard and moustache trimmed and him having a long chin. Nobody imagined Santa having no beard and no moustache so therefore it is humorous and the aliens quickly said no to the idea. This shot takes place in Santa’s bedroom which has a bed, mirror, sink and candles.

·       The third shot of Santa is when he is with his elves all watching the actions of the Teksta Puppy. The elves get scared of the mechanic puppy and hide behind Santa whereas Father Christmas enjoys it. They are all in the living room area where it has a fireplace, Christmas decorations and toys in the background.

·       The final shot of Santa is when he has a Sat-Nav and he flies away from the aliens’ house. He appreciates the present suggested by his iconic chuckle. They finally decided on that present because they must have thought that he will get lost. The setting is very familiar to the first shot of Santa; the house’s roofs being covered in snow and all houses having Christmas lights on them.

Editing

·       They have purposely used the shot-reverse-shot techniques to convey the two different aspects of the advert; showing the viewpoint of the aliens and the viewpoint of Santa Claus.

·       When Santa had his iPod, the editing crew had played a piece of music that had a lot of bass in it to deliberately let Santa misuse it and to force the aliens to say no to the idea of that present.

·       Toward the end of the advert, the editing crew played bells jingling and well as Santa iconic jolly laugh to portray that he has arrived at the aliens’ house. Furthermore, a Christmas jingle is played to remind the audience that it is the season of Christmas.

Logo/Slogan/Caption

·       The Argos logo is their brand name with a widened U underneath their name both in white surrounded by a red rectangular background. The widened U mirror a smile. This means that the brand is always happy to help their customers with a smile on their face.

·       At the end of the advert, they have displayed the web address and their twitter link at the bottom of the screen. The audience will contact them by using this and to take advantage of their catalogue.

Persuasive Techniques

·       The aliens scroll through the endless products in the Argos Catalogue. This is persuasive to the audience because it shows them that the product that they are looking for is most likely going to appear on Argos’ list.

·       They write their web address at the end to persuade the audience to use their advert after they know Argos’ content.

Connotation

Meanings

Social/Cultural Context

·       The social or cultural aspect of this ad is to both visit their store around the UK and their website on the internet because the audience will definitely find the product that they are looking for on their website or in their store.