What was all the hype about? I decided to check it out for myself, seeing that I had free tickets for the soon to be slowest half hour ride of my life-The Singapore Flyer. To my surprise, it was not as bad as I imagined. It was not bad at all! Apart from the ongoing construction, the experience on the flyer was very different. When the ride was almost over, they had a little treat for us. Model representations of the integrated resorts and the first ever casino to be built in Singapore had been showcased to give tourist a “sneak preview” of the future Singapore. That was it! That was the inspiration for my next entry!
The delluisional belief.
Initially, to me, the commercial above was just simply, a commercial. Just like all the thousands of other commercials that are being shown. It is either to convey a serious message like dengue and AIDS or promoting new products like diapers or a new type of milk brand, to future customers. It never occurred to me the complexity of thought processes that advertisers have to go through to come up with the end product, the commercial.
Take for example this particular commercial. There is a man who starts’ talking about how he knows what he is doing and how he can win “IT” all back. He then went on to talk about luck. This gives the viewers more clues as to where the advertisement is going. Could it be gambling? But who is he talking to? A non verbal form of communication is being used a little later on as he lifts his finger up showing the number one. He is asking for one more chance. But one more chance for what? A little girl is then shown looking all sad, holding assuming hers, piggy bank. This commercial leaves the audience curious to know what on earth he is talking about.
A personal nonverbal stimuli that was presented in this advertisement was the little girl. She uses body language to convey her message that she does not want to give up her hard earned savings for her dad to waste away on gambling. This type of nonverbal communication is known as kinesics where the study of body language is an indicator of the person’s message that he or she wishes to deliver. In addition both the father and the child used oculesics to regulate the flow of verbal communication through their eyes. The father eyes showed how desperate he was to borrow money from his young daughter for something as meaningless as gambling whereas the daughters eyes conveyed the message of sadness, pain, unwillingness and helplessness.
Although this advertisement was not that long, it was able to capture my attention because I always wanted to know what and why was he behaving the way he did and saying the things he said. I guess their job is quite difficult after all. They have to constantly think of what we, the audience want, who they are targeting at and how can they relate to us.
Such hard work for a mere forty two seconds!
6 comments:
I remember this commerical and i thought it was pretty good.How the advertisers use their own creativity to enhance the image of the effects of gambling.I assume that most first time viewers of this advertisements are like myself where it got me thinking who was the main character talking to.Like you,I was totally unconcern and ignorant to the non-verbal cues such as those of kinesics and oculesics.Upon viewing this commerical a second time,i understand the lecture concepts better.Well,on a social note,i forsee a number of jokers encountering such problems when the integrated resort kickstarts its business.Unfortunately,the ones that usually suffer the most aren't the ones causing the problem.How irresponsible we humans can be towards the people that love us the most.I guess you would probably share my sentiments, am i not right?
Well, it's a coincedence, but i happen to be doin g my post on the exact same video. Like you stated in your entry, apart from the verbally portrayed messages there were few non verbal cues to suggest the torment of the family, in this case represented by a little girl possibly his daughter. At the end of the ad it was mentioned, often the people who suffer from problem gambling aren't the gamblers. This whole issue about the whole IR coming up might see a negative influx in the number of gamblers in Singapore.
How come i didnt get to see the preview of the IR? Is it bcos F1 race is coming soon and it's gna bring lotsa tourists that noe then they promote it? Anyway, i guess that wheely thing is a once a lifetime worth of experience only. Ex, boring and slow. I guez fer u it was a total different experience.. cos u r acrophobic. rite?
Anyway, abt the commercial and the conveying of msg. onli 42secs. i feel their torture. Me as an ex-voice recording artists would totally udsd. Conveying a msg verbally itself is so hard wad mre verbally and physically. I guez it applies to reality itself. Expressing your love in jus plain words or with the help of actions. Totally different vibe and intensity. Dont you think so? Worst, a msg may even gives the receiver the wrong assumption or udsd of the msg being conveyed when delivered in different ways. Say texting it and saying it. Sorry no psychological terms used. Not a psycho. Haha!
Anyway, i wna include sth. The mind/brain was never to blame for addictions. It's the addict. First u get a addicted to gambling. Then gambling gets addicted to you. =)
Its one of those messages, however sublime, that gets you hard even if you're not one who would draw reference to.
Great entry!
Great work for 42 seconds?
Even greater for those concerned to make that change &realize.
There is only so much an ad can do &evoke positive reactions or emotions in us.
42 secs? what abt 9.69 secs? ask usain bolt. or a millisecond? ask a silver medallist. just like how much effort is put into the advertisement, people train their hearts out for that little moment of glory. like how liu xiang was "tortured" in his training & succumbed to the tremendous pressure. the difference between an ad & these athletes is evoking the emotions in people watching it.
furthermore, with the amount of money involved in the ads, definitely much thought would have been processed.
but yeah, i don't foresee a big problem expected by others. Coz Spore being Spore would have thoroughly & meticulously iron out the issues...furthermore we are a wayang country... even if things(IR) turn out to be bad, do u tink we will allow ourselves to be depicted as such?
uh uh...juz like how the malay community's poor performances in the psle, o levels & a levels in 2007 was not published...
ooh! i went too, but my ticket was free!
that aside, i have similar sentiments with regard to the advertisement being discussed. however, i find it interesting how the government has chosen to legalise casinos in this country. on one hand, they want the money the tourist dollars will bring in, but on the other they are concerned that the citizens will fall into the entrapments of gambling.
it's like how they organise anti smoking campaigns, yet continue to allow sales of cigarettes, albeit the increasing taxes.
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