From: Uganda's Pied Piper
Re: Uganda's Pied piper: I hate to bring this up, but the question over lack of awareness/involvement on the part of American public may require self-examination…
From: Red, White & Harry
Bring on your bad self! If some foraign automaker thinks they can make hay out of detroit, just let'em try We can hang with the best, our automakers…
From: The Poison Apple
Unfortunately, depends on your p.o.v. I don' t have the disposable income to indulge myself in every fad that comes along, ergo, I am a "late joiner"…
While traveling in China last year, I came across an intriguing billboard advertisement of Red Bull which surprised me. Driven by my curiosity, I decided to spend some time analyzing the brand-message and local appeal of this advertisement.
Red Bull is positioned as a sparkling and energizing drink, aimed to provide a dose of tonus to its consumers. Hence the slogan "Red Bull gives you wings”.
Unfortunately, the advertisement was communicating a totally different message.
The billboard picture has five elements: a young man, a dark background, a Red Bull can, droplets and a sentence "A kick in the head ".
In the foreground, appears a young man who has apparently been struck with a can of Redbull as suggested by the deformation on his cheek and the presence of Red Bull droplets scattered around him.
In this advertisement, there is a contrast of colours between the can, the droplets and the black background. The can and the drink droplets have a golden colour and help to position Red Bull as a luxurious product and also illuminate the advertisement. The dark background highlights Red Bull’s golden colour but at the same time runs the risk of highlighting aggression and the dark side, which can be seen as being associated with consuming this drink. The slogan and facial deformation in the picture also supports this dark side and violence. I believe that the use of bright colours would have shown the product in a more positive light.
Although this marketing campaign has succeeded in capturing consumers’ attention of this drink, it has failed to position the drink in a positive light.
Red Bull is supposed to wake up a tired consumer and boost energy for recreational activities. However, the elements of this advertisement and the effect of slow motion of droplets seem to highlight the violence beyond self-control after consuming this drink. This negative image provides support to the media reports regarding violent behavior and even death associated with consuming this product.
Is the “anti-message” in this ad effective? Do you think Red Bull promotes violence or is reflective of the generation it targets?
Graphic Credit:
Animationfactory.com
