Christmas Advert Analysis - Semiotics and Propaganda

For this task, we watched a series of well known adverts shown during the Christmas period ask required to answer a series of questions about them.

Questions: 

•   What messages are being communicated in each example?
• What techniques are used to communicate these messages/ how do we read them as having a specific meaning?
• What is the relationship between the communicated meaning and the product that the advert is selling?
• Which advert was the most effective and why?

Video 1 - Tesco 

• The messages which is trying to be explicitly stated here is that Christmas is a time for joy and unity, how we all work together and our small contributions contribute to a larger success. While I believe that that is the message they are trying to explicitly portray, I believe that the message being subtly portrayed here is about the materialist nature of christmas and is implying to the viewer that to have a truly great Christmas, it is things like baubles and lights which are important, and you can get them all from tesco. So for a good Christmas, you must shope at tesco. 
•  The techniques to show this are simply showing everyone as being in a constant state of joy as they put up all the decorations and prepare themselves for the upoming fetivities, all with the help of tesco. 
• The relationship between the meaning and the product is that purchasing their product will provide you with happyness. 

 Advert 2 - Asda

 

•  The message here is that Christmas would not be anything without the excessive work and effort that is put in by peoples mothers each year. It concludes by stating that Christmas would be nothing without your mum, but your mum wouldn't be able to do it without Asda.
• This is portrayed by showing the mum working tirelessly and looking exhausted throughout, which everyone else is having fun as a result.
• The relation between the advert and product is that while it takes huge effort from the mum to forge Christmas, she still needs help from Asda and their products. 

Advert 3 - M&S

• I believe that there are 2 prominent messages being stated here. The first is simply an observation of the magical nature of Christmas, hence the fairies, but the second one is making a point of how difficult it is to get find the right gift and is portraying M&S as the 'Christmas Fairy' who will magically come along and solve your problems.
• This is communicated not only by their use of fairies, but by showing how, despite the time of the year, there are some bleak aspects, such as the man struggling to think of what he can get for his Girlfriend and the washing which is bleak and dull, but the M&S Fairies come along and solve all their problems simply. 
• The relatioship is how easily the Fairies solve everything and so M&S can do the same. 

 Advert 4 - Lidl

• The message here is a sort of satire on their own reputation. It is showing people enjoying their Christmas dinner while eating what they believe to be a very high quality meal wihout knowing who provided it. At the end, it is, to their surprise, revealed to have been Lidl food. 
• The relationship between the message and the product is that Lidl does not have a particularly good reputation for providing quality food, but rather cheap things. This advert shows that if people can ignore the stigma surrounding their name, they can be very pleasantly surprised.

Advert 5 -  Sainsburys

• The message being portrayed here is that Christmas is a time for sharing a togetherness and that the even the greatest differences and conflicts can be resolved over this period.
• The technique that is used is, in my opinion, and disgraceful exploitation of the emotional response to the tradgedy of the war. They show you a truly shocking event and they make a subtle claim that Sainsbury's could help.
• The connection is that Christmas is a time for giving and you can acquire what you need to give from Sainsbury's. 

Conclusion
Each advert is effective in it's own ways, but some more than others. All have positives, but all have negatives. While not terrible, I believe that the Tesco advert was the least effective as until I rewatched it online, I simply could not remember what happened, which is a strong condemnation of an advert's quality.

I believe the Asda one was probably the most subtly successful advert as it decided to appeal strongly to the mother market which is by far their most important target audience around that time. While it will not have had a hugely lasting effect on everyone, they knew their target audience and exploited them, probably to great success.

But, despite my personal opinions on it, the Sainsbury's advert was by far the most effective of them all. While I feel it blatantly exploited a tragedy for their own gain, it had the strongest impact on everyone and inspired people to give to eachother as well as to buy from them.