Learning Process

Visual experiments ad continuum – the majority of the logomarks to which the target audience associated themselves to, as gathered from the Brand Index 2011, were red, continuing from the previous discussion on colour psychology, to further this, the red logos were complimented with yellow, to signify both speed and happiness. When the logomarks were overlaid on top of each other, it simply became a “visual noise”, where little to no information can be interpreted from the result. I then repeated with the characters and mascots of the brands; there used to be more characters, but in recent years, many corporations decided to retire the majority of them, notably Ronald McDonald, one of the most recognised brand mascots of all time, due to their link and the glorification of unhealthy eating and fast food.

This most certainly reflects upon the situation of the modern world of communication, let alone in the land of advertising; ridiculous amounts of noise is generated from the bombardment of constructed media messages telling everyone to do this, do that, eat this, don’t eat that. Where does it stop?

Speaking of the yellow character, or the colour yellow itself, I read a very interesting article regarding the semiotics of The Simpsons, and how the messages behind the animation itself does not challenge the audience that watch the animation to be able to read the sign behind the animation itself; the purpose of entertainment, particularly for this show, “does not require viewers to have background knowledge of the culture, nor does it require them to really think while watching the show…” (Fakhoury, N et al.)
   
Spent an interesting day exploring the concrete jungle with a visual communication graduate, now flight attendant. His mix of knowledge of travelling to different places, soaking in many diverse cultures, combined with his knowledge of visual communication had meant that he provided some great insight onto the placement and interaction of an idea. One interesting insight he provided was a window; it acts as a barrier between the interaction of the view between the viewer and the outside. When one sits from a different position, for example, below the window ledge, the interaction between the viewer and the view is obstructed by the window’s bars, whereas, if you sit up close to the window, the interaction is more complete, and you become more in sync with your surroundings and the nature; when people look at properties they look for ones with large windows. This was an interesting insight because I started to ponder whether this concept can be applied to television screens and the media being displayed.
   
We also visited WHAT_architecture, who had previously completed a project with a school in North London involving LEGO bricks; the exterior of the school was created with LEGO walls, decorated and built by students, parents and architects in a collaborative project. The semiotics of this type of product placement revolves around using LEGO signifying nostalgia for the adults, and as its tagline suggests, “serious play” for the child; the children that aid in the construction of the school, to them, it is creativity and a chance to add a piece of themselves, to become part of the school as a contribution. For the adults, it retains an infatuation of childhood that altogether contributes towards a positive brand image for both old and young audiences.
   
This is where it brings me to gather all my previous weeks of progress reports and consider what the final outcome of this project shall be, and the intention of the project; the two main questions that I have been asking throughout are:
   

• Can positive brand images be implanted into children through product placement?
• What are the impact of brands on childhood?

   
The second question can effectively be answered visually by one of my original ideas from reading Elizabeth Tucker’s Dramatization of Children’s Narratives, and where ideas derive from. I’ve been interested in the idea of fairytales and how it provides a platform for children’s narratives for awhile. So it is more than likely that it’ll be related to such; a brand can present itself with an emotional attachment for the child in the form of a character to build the initial relationship between the audience and the brand. It can be placed from the perspective if I was to say that the signifier became the television screen, children who become raised in a room with a television may develop unrealistic emotional relationships with the bombardment of stories, through television shows. All media messages are constructed with the aid of language, as Alfred North Whitehead once said "Language foists on us exact concepts as though they represented the immediate deliverance of experience." (Whitehead as cited by Chandler, 2000)

Bibliography
Chandler, D. (2000) [Online] Biases of the Ear and Eye. Available at: <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/litoral/litoral4.html> (accessed 2 September 2011)
Michaels, S. (2011) [Online] A Conversation With JR, Intrepid French Street Artist. The Atlantic. Available at: <http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/a-conversation-with-jr-intrepid-french-street-artist/244518/> (Accessed 6 September 2011)
Lyons, J.; Fakhoury, N.; Hsieh, T. and Jahazi, H. [no date] [Online] Reading Television?: The Simpsons. Available at: <http://www.yorku.ca/mlc/4318/projects/simp.html>(Accessed 5 September 2011)
http://www.prweek.com/go/kidsbrandindex/ (Accessed 28 August 2011)

From July 14 –

Meetings with experts or educators have not been set up yet, as there have not been sufficient visual experimentations as yet to progress into finding the right questions to ask experts if such meetings were to take place. An alternative method of collecting data would be to make use of the followers on Twitter, and send out survey questions through to some followers that are within the design industry, this way, I can still have room to improve the structuring of the questions when it comes to the time when I interview experts face-to-face.

I find this situation rather dire, as I am having trouble understanding how to represent research visually, almost reliving the days of studying visual theories, where it is the idea that takes precedence over the final outcome, yet we are told many different things; consider the outcome later, start thinking about the outcome now. So who are we supposed to listen to if so many opinions collide with each other?

The collision of understanding the superfluous world of design nowadays, with the fluidity of the concept of branding is becoming increasingly difficult by day, and I feel I haven’t learnt anything, but rather becoming more confused.

Perhaps becoming confused is part of this course, I haven’t yet managed to talk to a person on this course that is not confused about at least one thing on the structure of the course. Being negative sometimes perhaps, is part of our human nature; to be negative about a certain aspect can increase the attractiveness of other aspects in life, such as finding a job now rather than waiting to graduate, for example. The majority of the world’s population is negative once in awhile, if not, most of the time, with the increasing stresses of metropolitan life, and from this, negativity can also be considered as a brand – we become associated with it in every single aspect of life, and embrace negativity even though it is something that we try to avoid; it is in our human nature to be negative at times.

What of the juxtaposition of negatives, is there a scale of positivity and negativity? Is there a difference between a negativity such as bad substances in a soda drink for children, than negativity such as bad pollution that is harmful to the environment? Is there a visual response to how the level of negativity can be scaled?

As a follow up from the discussion with Eugenie in the last tutorial, can negative branding therefore be made positive by increasing the seductiveness of them? The seductiveness of eating healthily and living well, can it be made better? Positivity is something that can make you feel safe, provide comfort, and improve our happiness by knowing something familiar. On the other hand, negativity can be known as the ‘big, bad world’ or simply the unknown – we have always accepted as fact that there is more of the unknown to us than the known knowledge.

When this is applied to branding, consumers feel safer if we are using the brands we are familiar with – there is therefore an abundance of negativity compared to the polar opposite due to the unknown amount of unknown information that we have yet to discover.

From 7/7 – Tutorial Feedback on 2.3 & 2.4

• Justify imagery within Visual Summary and provide narratives
• Consider the legibility of imagery and text critically

The feedback was extremely useful in providing different ideas and further progress for research; the initial worry before the tutorial was that there may not have been enough cope for visual experimentation. This progress report will deconstruct the ideas that were discussed during the tutorial.

The main topic of discussion that during the tutorial was the main starting point to this post-Major Project Proposal: where product placement can be found, by concentrating on one aspect, such as the legislation imposed on this controversial issue, further investigations can be found. One such extension would be to question the 9pm watershed that has been imposed on television shows, and its real impact on the ones that the watershed is aimed towards, and also the main audience for my Major Project; 7-12 year olds. Do social classes affect children’s choice (or restrictions) on media access after that time? With the availability of technology, doesn’t it simply mean that they can have access to the same material online even if they are in their rooms with their devices other than a television? By stating considerations such as social class, the restrictions imposed by parents are very much different between, for example, a middle-class family, than a working class family; bedtimes may actually be imposed on children from 7-12 years old within the middle-class family, but such may not exist for a working class family. With such points in mind, then is the watershed a time-sensitive issue or simply a red herring?

Product placement is about the placement of an idea within media, not just television anymore, so if a programme were to have an idea already embedded, i.e. having a purpose within the show, would this also be considered product placement, and would this mean that United Kingdom, or sometimes politically known as a ‘Nanny State’ be considered manipulative towards its inhabitants? What is considered positive and what is considered negative?

Campaigns such as Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ or ‘Jamie’s Dream School’ aimed to improve children’s lives by promoting healthy eating and also to learn the importance of education – by showing both the negatives and positives of each aspect. By negative points, one means that, for example, in ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’, scenes of school dinners where foods that lack in nutrition are showcased in canteens, with overweight children munching away. The show then shows the alternative by suggesting different healthier foods being served that is packed with nutrition, followed by footage of smiling school children tucking into their healthy school meals, as improved by Chef Jamie Oliver. The positives and negatives are emphasised by editing the right footage for emphasis, followed by colours used within the film filters to further influence the viewer unconsciously; as Alvin Schechter says that “Color isn’t the most important thing; it’s the only thing…color goes immediately to the psyche and can be a direct sales stimulus.” (cite from Alsop, D. 1984, p.37)

By having such a celebrity endorsing such a campaign, it would be natural that more people would watch it for the celebrity factor, the connection with a well-known human being, rather than for the main objective of the programme, in “Jamie’s School Dinners”’s case, to market the idea of healthy eating, and such a celebrity involvement would help to raise awareness on the issue. So would it mean that positive things can help people improve by making them attractive? If so, can be the same done for brands?

If campaigns are strong enough to create an impact in one’s long-term memory, the idea of the campaign will eventually become a brand. From this, it can be said that anything can be considered as a brand nowadays; products, companies, people, even metaphors and gestures. Gestures such as the ‘thumbs up’, ‘thumbs down’, ‘OK’, the Crucifix and their behaviours as a result of the usage are well-known internationally, can we therefore brand with gestures due to the known significance of them?

Bibliography
Alsop, D. “Color Grows More Important in Catching Consumers’ Eyes” Wall Street Journal, 29 November 1984, 37.

From June 30 –

When asking the specific question whether or not product placement can have a positive brand exposure towards children, there are several points which have to clarified first before delving into something as specific as this;

• What is product placement?
• Why do we need product placement?
• How do we, as consumers perceive targeted advertising?
• Advertising’s role for brands
• What products are targeted towards children?
• How does product placement benefit / damage brands?
• Current situation in the UK with product placement legislation

   
As Twitter extraordinaire and founder of Alltop Guy Kawasaki once said “If you make meaning, you make money”, how do brands create meaning for the consumers, particularly through advertising?
   
From the vast amounts of reading written by media and advertising specialists, the vast world of media is a forever evolving spectrum that allows advertisers to play with consumers’ minds with the growing list of outlets for exposure. Advertisers have to continuously find new and innovative ways to tap into those markets with something new to try and gain attention from the overload of information and advertising ‘noise’; it almost seems that the “purpose of advertising is to cut through other people’s advertising…” (Niinimäki, 2009)
   
Within the reading so far, the majority of the authors seem to describe the power of image manipulation and advertising with negativity, so would the readers that absorb all this information gathered by the authors also not begin to accept the idea that advertising, as a whole, can only be a evil cog within this giant media machine? In this case, can these ‘findings’ really be said to be findings when they appear to be more of biased reports on advertising and image manipulation? Even when one searches for the keyword ‘brand exposure’, the first page links to a product placement agency named Brand Exposure, which (Brand Exposure, 2011) “offers a comprehensive and proactive product placement service for a range of high-end consumer products”.
   
From a brand’s perspective, the image immediately received by consumers by these outlets must therefore be attention-grabbing and almost as immediate as recognising a colour of the packaging, for example.
   
With the above points in mind, then how do children perceive the brand images when they are exposed to them on television? If it is as subtle and quiet as the first product placement in the UK since the ban was lifted in February 2011, then would they have even noticed or known it was a specific targeted advertising?
   
For consumers to even realise product placement was present in a programme (besides the regulated display of the Product Placement logo before and after the programme in which product placement was present was shown), consumers would have to have the knowledge of a product first; the first product shown in the UK was a Nescafe Coffee Machine during a popular daytime show This Morning. This programme is aired every morning at 10:30am, will aim to display products towards the target audience group that will most likely be in front of the television at this time of the day; mothers who may have just sent their children to school. This group of audience will also be the most likely group to be making the main purchasing decisions when buying products. Combining this knowledge and also wanting to have a morning cup of coffee after a hectic start to the morning, mothers will have certain knowledge of the products on display, perhaps from advertising campaigns outside and on screen during ad breaks, and the majority would be able to recognise the product.
   
    “Color isn’t the most important thing; it’s the only thing…color goes immediately to the psyche and can be a direct sales stimulus.” – Alvin Schechter
    (cited from Alsop, D. 1984, p37)
   
For children, since their senses are still developing, are more likely to be attracted to bright colours, this is why products aimed towards children always contain more than two colour palettes, and are very bright and lively to encourage play. For marketers that have to target products towards children, they must first understand, or even decide, what products should be targeted towards children in the first place. This can be done with insight from market research on aspects such as the most marketed products or the most purchased products in supermarkets or toy stores. Importantly, to control the research scope further, an age group of children has to be specified.
   
On the other hand, the marketers also have to understand the mindsets of parents when they make their purchasing decisions, as they are the users within a family that generate the income, and therefore providing their children with the products. It appears seemingly more so from media coverage that product placement is always emphasised negatively in advertising towards children.

As an advertiser said:

I disagree with the way that advertising has infiltrated my life such that I can’t choose when to view it…I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying commercial time if it’s going to be offered…it has to do being able to have a choice when I receive the messages and when I don’t, and I feel that I’ve lost that choice. (Niinimäki, 2009)

Children, already considered to be incapable of making purchasing decisions, utilises a method called “pester power” in order to persuade those with power, i.e. their parents, to purchase a product.

   
Bibliography

Alsop, D. “Color Grows More Important in Catching Consumers’ Eyes” Wall Street Journal, 29 November 1984, 37.   

Niinimäki, M. (2009) Product Placement. [video] Available at: <http://vimeo.com/4056231>
   
This Morning, 2011. [TV programme] ITV, 28 February 2011 10.30.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Nescafe-Coffee-Machine-Is-First-Prod...
http://www.brand-exposure.co.uk/

"Be postive, my friend." Guy Kawasaki, y agrega "If you make meaning, you make money" #branding

— Andy Stalman (@AndyStalman) June 30, 2011