Energy Drinks Advertising with Sense

 Energy Drinks
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Advertising with Sense
Many advertisements nowadays importantly aim to capture the interest of their consumers. Some
advertisements are focused on cultivating brand identity (Pope, 2003), some exist to introduce a
new product, or influence the audience to switch brands. Others make a political statement
relating to moral issues, historical facts, etc. No matter how it goes, the same is true for all
advertisements: the only purpose they have is to sell (Advertising Guidelines for Small Retailer
Firms, 2006).
The Red Bull advertisement (.) is one
particular example of an advertisement that captures the interest of the consumers. However, its
cunningness makes it deviate from its original purpose. In trying to be clever and humorous, the
advert loses its objective of telling about what the product offers. Moreover, it tends to
communicate negative concepts, which may bring about miscommunication with the consumers.
The Red Bull advertisement features a superhero who is compelled to decide whether to help a
woman screaming in the middle of the night. Before deciding to help the woman, he opened
his refrigerator to look for some Red Bull. When he found none, he decided not to rescue the
woman anymore, while at the same time, the authorities have signaled their presence in the
scene.
The purpose of this advert is clear and simple: to capture the interest of the consumers and make
them notice Red Bull through the use of a humorous character. On this aspect, the
advertisers succeed in capturing the interest of the audience. However, apart from the first
purpose it serves, other characteristics of an advert may have been neglected by the
promoters. For instance, the message regarding what consumers can find or benefit from the
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product is not communicated. Similarly, the message it implies could create
miscommunication to the audience as it does not say directly what Red Bull can provide its
consumers.
Basically, to avoid miscommunication, advertisements should be guided by the acronym AIDCA.
This means to attract Attention, develop Interest, Describe the product, Convince the reader
and get Action (Advertising Guidelines for Small Retailer Firms, 2006). These five elements
are found to help advertisers get their consumers to buy their product, and hit their target.
In consideration of the five elements, the Red Bull advertisement adheres to only two. First, it
attracts attention by using a superhero as its model. We all know how superheroes appeal to
people of all ages. The hit movies of Superman, Spiderman and Batman are only some
examples of how people love superheroes. Therefore, by using a superhero, the
advertisement has made a good introduction to the viewers. In addition, it also develops
interest in the audience by creating a scene that challenges the strength of the superhero in
the advertisement. However, it fails to adhere to the other elements, namely describing the
product, convincing the audience, and getting action from them.
The Red Bull advertisement fails to do the three by making an anti-climactic scene. As
mentioned above, the superhero failed to rescue the woman screaming for help, just because
the superhero did not have enough Red Bull. This suggests a wrong example especially for
children on the issue of helping other people. On the contrary, what the advertisers should
have done to adhere to the three other elements was to allow the superhero to take the
product and help the woman. Notably, this is more apt than having him take second thoughts
about helping. In the same manner, the advert also contains some negative ideas presented
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by the hero. By making it look as if the “superhero” is dependent on the product, the advert
gives a similar notion of taking drugs. Moreover, the ending tends to communicate some
negative ideas. By consuming a great amount of Red Bull, the advert could make people
think that the character is addicted to the product. As such, he is not a real superhero, but
someone who is pretending to be a superhero and dressing up like one.
In contrast with this advertisement, the advertisement of Lucozade water (< www.youtube.com/
watch?v=pWMpzLAAM4Y&feature=related>.) is by far, a better one. First, it describes
the product by appealing to the senses, and does not allow miscommunication of concepts. It
features Lucozade water taking body forms of athletic women. The idea it creates is that
water is needed by the water to carry out its activities. It clearly gives audience an idea of
what the product does to the consumers, in an artistic way.
The advertisers were able to capture the AIDCA in that this advertisement captures the interest of
the audience by giving the water some human forms. Also, the bodily movements stimulate
more interest, and further convince the audience of what the water can do to the body. It
imbues a clear message that water is