Gaze: demand and offer

People in photographs can generally be divided into two categories: those who look at the camera and those who do not. Advertisers use the gaze of the people they picture to convey particular attitudes---pleasure at use of a product or displeasure at the absence of a product, for example. Kress and van Leeuwen characterize the gaze of a person as either a "demand" of or an "offer" to the viewer.

"Demand" pictures are those in which its participants are looking directly at the camera (and therefore, the reader). Kress and van Leeuwen assert that vectors, following the gaze of the photographed participant, connect participant with viewer. "Contact is established, even if it is only on an imaginary level." (p. 122) Using a "demand" picture acknowledges the viewer, "addressing them with a visual 'you.'" In addressing the reader directly, the participant's gaze demands an imaginary relation with the viewer.

In advertisements, the visual "demand" is usually one of participation or acknowlegement, where the picture seems to say, "I demand you to enjoy this product and its benefits." The woman in 25 Michelob says, "I demand you send me a beer---but only a Michelob."

On the other hand, pictures in which participants have a indirect gaze address the reader indirectly. "Here the viewer is not object, but subject of the look, and the represented participant is the object of the viewer's dispassionate scrutiny" (p. 124). The photographed participants are "offered" to the readers "as though they were specimens in a display case," and the relationship between participant and reader is one of unfamiliarity rather than the intimacy of a "demand" photograph. In contrast to the visual "you" presented in "demand" pictures, "offer" pictures lack the corresponding visual "I." Instead, just as the participant becomes the object of the picture, "I" is objectified into a visual "he" or "she."

In "offer" advertisements, the picture visually speaks to the reader through the author of the picture rather than the picture's participants. The author of 28.2 Rave says, "I offer you proof that Rave hair gel really does work."

Social vs. Individual Advertisements

**Sierra can you find any examples for social/individual? I'm now struck that bottled water and powerbars are typically sold for individuals (if there are any people in the ads, there's only one 64 centrum, 67 pria).

**I'll see if I can add a bit about this stuff. People-wise, I was struck by the smiling faces in Dasani ads (can you find more?) and in your powerbar ads. These are clearly "after" ads in the sense of before-after.

Energy bar advertisements

The most common words in energy bar advertisements seem somewhat obvious: they include descriptions of the product category (energy, protein, carb and bar); acknowledgement of the consumer/reader (you and your) and generic yet positive words (make, high, delicious and will). There were 22 mentions of flavor-related words (like chocolate and almonds) and 94 total mentions of health-related words (calcium, nutrition, protein and whey, for example).

Authors' note:
In the samples collected, it is easy to see that each energy bar company tends to fall into certain patterns (from layout to diction) when it creates its advertisements. Because the number of samples per energy bar company was not consistent, two sets of statistics are presented to the left--a blue bar represents the average number of times a word appears in an ad, weighting the data from each company by the number of ads provided; a purple bar uses the raw data without differentiating the numbers by company.

More surprising is the number of words per advertisement, which averaged out at almost 46 words per advertisement. The most common number of words per ad is in the range of 24-31 words. Based on these numbers, energy bar advertisements place one to two full sentences or almost two to five sentence fragments (usually one or two appear in an average ad) per energy bar advertisement. The advertisements use long copy to detail the health benefits of their products and to give the consumer details such as ingredients or flavors that help differentiate the company's product from its competitors.

Mobile Billboard Advertising

Mobile Billboards are flat-panel campaign units in which their sole purpose is to carry advertisements along dedicated routes selected by clients prior to the start of a campaign. Mobile Billboard companies do not typically carry third-party cargo or freight. Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including:

* Target advertising;
* One day, and long term campaigns;
* Convention;
* Sporting events;
* Store openings or other similar promotional events;
* Big advertisements from smaller companies.

Advertise history

Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of ancient Arabia. Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters, while lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock-art paintings that date back to 4000 BCE. As printing developed in the 15th and 16th century, advertising expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote: books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false advertising and so-called "quack" advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content.

As the economy expanded during the 19th century, advertising grew alongside. In the United States, the success of this advertising format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising. In 1841, the first advertising agency was established by Volney Palmer in Boston. At first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers. N. W. Ayer & Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content. N.W. Ayer opened in 1875, and was located in Philadelphia. At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognised the value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today's standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message "The skin you love to touch".