Controversial ad
Written Task 2 – A Critical response
Advertisements are a specific kind of media which have the aim to sell an idea or a product to the audience they are directed at. Very often, this idea or product is not sold in a direct way but through the use of a metaphor or another stylistic device. This leaves the reader a lot of room for interpretation about what the idea behind the advertisement is. Often, depending on the cultural background/context of the reader, the interpretation can be very different. In the ad that will be analyzed in this response, two main groups might have different interpretations of the message of the ad. One of these groups is non-religious people, and the other one is religious people. The ad that will be discussed is a poster or picture by “Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano”. The company produced this specific ad, which was then banned for being too offensive. This already shows that there will be a group for which the ad is too offensive, but for other people who will have a different interpretation it won’t. Using the big 5 tools of analysis, will give a quite general idea of the meaning of the ad, and this idea will be close to the one in the mind of non-religious people, however for a religious audience there will be more to it.
To start, one thing that can be looked at is the structure and content of the ad. There is a nun holding a pack of Antonio Federici ice cream and she is wearing quite a lot of make up. Also, there is a priest who seems to be taking his clothes off and has a very muscular body. The priest and the nun are looking at each other in a seductive manner, and the background is dark. It seems like they are in a church. Right next to the nun’s hand (holding the ice cream) there is a piece of text made of light letters, which stands out, saying “Submit to temptation”. The main focus in the picture is on the priest’s body (since everything around it is black) and on him and the nun being together in a, what seems to
Advertisements are a specific kind of media which have the aim to sell an idea or a product to the audience they are directed at. Very often, this idea or product is not sold in a direct way but through the use of a metaphor or another stylistic device. This leaves the reader a lot of room for interpretation about what the idea behind the advertisement is. Often, depending on the cultural background/context of the reader, the interpretation can be very different. In the ad that will be analyzed in this response, two main groups might have different interpretations of the message of the ad. One of these groups is non-religious people, and the other one is religious people. The ad that will be discussed is a poster or picture by “Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano”. The company produced this specific ad, which was then banned for being too offensive. This already shows that there will be a group for which the ad is too offensive, but for other people who will have a different interpretation it won’t. Using the big 5 tools of analysis, will give a quite general idea of the meaning of the ad, and this idea will be close to the one in the mind of non-religious people, however for a religious audience there will be more to it.
To start, one thing that can be looked at is the structure and content of the ad. There is a nun holding a pack of Antonio Federici ice cream and she is wearing quite a lot of make up. Also, there is a priest who seems to be taking his clothes off and has a very muscular body. The priest and the nun are looking at each other in a seductive manner, and the background is dark. It seems like they are in a church. Right next to the nun’s hand (holding the ice cream) there is a piece of text made of light letters, which stands out, saying “Submit to temptation”. The main focus in the picture is on the priest’s body (since everything around it is black) and on him and the nun being together in a, what seems to