Print or TV Ad(Structuralist Analysis)

MC DONALD ADVERTISEMENT

                  McDonald's maintains an extensive advertising campaign. In addition to the usual media including television, radio, and newspaper ads, the company makes significant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from Little League to the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games, and makes coolers of orange drink with their logo available for local events of all kinds.^[4] However, television ads remain the primary form of advertisement.

McDonald's has used 23 different slogans to advertise in the United States, as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions. At times, it has run into trouble with its campaigns.

                   There have been many McDonald's advertising campaigns and slogans over the years. The company is one of the most prevalent fast food advertisers, especially in the United States, where it spends the most advertising money of any fast-food restaurant and the fourth-most of any advertiser in the country. McDonald's Canada's corporate website states that the commercial campaigns have always focused on the "overall McDonald's experience", rather than just product. The purpose of the image has always been "portraying warmth and a real slice of everyday life." Its TV ads, showing various people engaging in popular activities, usually reflect the season and time period. Finally, rarely in their advertising history have they used negative or comparison ads pertaining to any of their competitors; the ads have always focused on McDonald's alone, one exception being a 2009 billboard advertising the new McCafe espresso. The billboard read "four bucks is dumb", a shot at competitor Starbucks.

                   In Spring 2008, McDonald's underwent the first phase of their new image and slogan: 'What we're made of.' This was to promote how McDonald's products are made. Packaging was tweaked a little to feature this new slogan. In November 2008, McDonald's introduced new packaging, eliminating the previous design stated above (except for the Philippines and a few countries, where the previous design is used in tandem with newer packaging and in Fiji, where the previous design is still current) with new, inspirational messages, the "i'm lovin it" slogan (appearing only once on most packages). McDonald's also updated their menu boards with darker, yet warmer colors, more realistic photos of the products featured on plates and the drinks in glasses. From 2009 to 2010, McDonald's introduced new packaging worldwide.

                  The McDonald's ad chosen advertises a plan to offer free wifi at all McDonald's locations. The exigence of the ad is clearly to improve sales by attracting members of the working class that require access to the internet at all times. The message of the ad is again somewhat vague, assuming that everyone will know the four bars signifies free wifi. However, it is also quite likely that anyone who uses wifi regularly at lunch to conduct business will already be knowledgeable about the symbol. The primary audience of the ad is anyone who may require wifi access at lunch to continue their work or read email while eating. There is also a secondary audience, that being the increasingly large number of people with smartphones who will find wifi helpful to look things up while eating. The context of the ad is that people have to eat, so the ad is attempting to convince people to eat at McDonald's. The ethos in the ad is almost nonexistent, but is present in the fact that McDonald's is a very large and well known fast food restaurant and has little reason to lie about what it does. The logos is simple, in that wifi is helpful for anyone working on the go and needs to keep up with business even while on a lunch break. The pathos is also nonexistent. The ad is extremely minimalist, and has little substance while still conveying a simple message. The ad itself is eye catching, with a bright red background and all yellow text. This makes the ad easy to see and allows virtually anyone to almost instantly connect the ad to McDonald's. The ad is somewhat vague, assuming everyone will already know that the bar symbol signifies wifi capability. However, since the ad is targeted at a small primary demographic it is likely to be effective in attracting those people.

MoulinRouge(Postmodern Analysis)

Most of the criticism of Moulin Rouge seems to indicate that the person speaking has significantly misunderstood the film. Yes, it is an unusual film in most aspects (except for the plot), but I believe that everyone involved knew exactly what they were doing—this is reinforced if you listen to the commentaries on the DVD, where the method behind the madness is revealed (for example, much of the criticism is leveled at the film’s first twenty minutes; in the commentary the writers Baz and Craig reveal that they were purposely testing the audience in those first twenty minutes—looks like they succeeded!)). As well, despite the fact that, with much of its content and its execution, it obviously belongs in pop-culture, I think it’s also, surprisingly, quite a literary film, in as much as many of the ideas that shape it have a long literary history, something that probably goes overlooked by most of Hollywood. Perhaps the juxtaposition of unconventional style, techniques, objectives, etc. (when was the last time you saw a Hollywood film that purposely tried the audience’s patience at the beginning?) with such a conventional story, which frees the audience’s attention to focus on these other things, as well as the other levels in the film, was what turned some people off the film. 

Seasons May Change, Winter to Spring: Symbolism in the Weather: This line from “Come What May” is echoed (as are other lines from the song, throughout, like “storm clouds may gather” (when the lovers are pulled apart) and “stars may collide” (when they come together) at the end of the film, when the windmill sails turn, changing winter to spring, as Christian’s voice over tells how after months of despair he was able to sit down and write their story. Spring as a symbol for rebirth is nothing new, but if you look closely, you can see the seasons change throughout the film, to reflect what’s happening in the narrative. Christian’s voice over tells us he arrived in the summer, “the summer of love”, and that’s when he falls in love. Later, when jealousy has started to consume him, during the Tango, when Christian is standing below the Tower looking up at Satine and the Duke, time has progressed and it is now fall; there are brown leaves on the ground around Christian. And after Satine tells him she’s staying with the Duke, there is a shot of the last leaf falling from a tree. This, of course, coincides with the breaking of the storm, complete with thunder and lightning, to tell us that something is wrong. Then, later that night, when Satine has died and the camera ascends through the roof of the Moulin Rouge, it is snowing out. Snow, of course, covers things over, making them look, well, shiny and new. Then, the transition to spring as Christian completes his journey out of the underworld. To emphasise, this journey, it is night when he begins to write (not to mention, sepia-toned black-and-white), and when he finishes his story, it’s day (and we’re back in colour). Like much else in this film, the weather does not make much sense from a strictly logical, realistic point of view, but this is not a realistic film. The weather, like many other things, is used symbolically, to convey feelings, emotions, and the general atmosphere, with few words. When thunder crashes in the background, or the last leaf falls from a tree, everyone knows what that means.