Paramore - "Ignorance" Advertisement
Most magazine advertisements usually promote an album not a single. However, this advertisement promotes Paramore`s single, “Ignorance”. This could be due to Paramore or their record label (fuelledbyramen) wanting to promote the single first before releasing the album it features on “Brand New Eyes”. If they promote a certain single off the album and its successful (which it was) then this may encourage people to buy the album when it is released.
The overall design, colours of the advertisement help to reflect the pop-rock/pop-punk genre Paramore belong to. This is due to the black and white effect, which helps to create a dark, serious feel to the advert. In turn this reflects the bands circumstances, as this was their first single after nearly splitting. Therefore, it could be said that the simplicity of the advert is an indication of the bands progression, maturity and unity since their near split. The cover of the album that the single features on is simple in its design also. This amplifies the band maturity and almost gives an idea of brand identity, as the album and advert are similar in their design. The album features an image of a butterfly, butterflies formulate from caterpillars suggesting a sense of maturity.
Musicians categorised in the “rock” genre are often presented as caring less about their appearance and more about the music they produce. Therefore, the fact both the album and the advert for the single do not feature an image of the band present an idea of the band being serious about their music resulting in a suggestion of maturity. The advert is different to Paramore`s usual edgy style of bold text and unusual images implying their progression as a band and uniting once more.
Although, some may say that the image used on the advert is unusual in its style as it presents two dolls next to each other, which makes the viewer ask why? I believe this image is used to further amplify the bands maturity but particularly the lead singer Hayley Williams, as it is very feminine in its approach. This sense of femininity could be created as Hayley was rumoured to be central to the bands arguments and conflicts. Therefore, this image could be said to remind the viewer of the troubles the band have overcome and the respect Hayley`s band members now have for her.
The information shown on the advert is: the band name, which is featured in the band’s “trademark font” making it recognisable for the viewer creating brand identity for the band. The single title, the band’s website and the band’s record label. The appearance and colour (white) of the text makes the white and black background it is featured on appears even darker emphasising a dark, bleak feeling often associated with the rock-pop/pop-punk genre. The italic font has a feminine feel to it that relates to the feminine image of the dolls. This font emphasises the important text “the new single”,” ignorance” this catches the eye and helps the viewer to establish what is being advertised.
The layout of the advert is significant. The text is featured on the left hand side of the advert and the image on the right hand side. The text features in order of importance. “Paramore” is positioned at the top of the advert as it is instantly recognisable to the viewer who are probably fans of Paramore`s so will instantly recognise their “trademark font” and for people who don’t this “trademark font” will create a wider fan base for the band as people will begin to recognise this font. It could also be said that the band’s name is featured at the top to create promotional excitement for the fans as this is the first single Paramore are releasing since their come back. The name of the single, “Ignorance” features in italics directly underneath the dominant name of the band creating instant association between the two, which is aimed to create promotional value as by associating the band name with the name of the single the target audience will hopefully purchase the product. This promotional process is continued by advertising that the single is “out now” which is featured in the same italic font as the name of the single amplifying the purpose of the advertisement. The less important text such as the record label, website and tour dates features at the bottom of the advert in a smaller text. This is a common convention on most advertisements as it is usually required, additional information but is not necessarily the information we want to look at so therefore is usually in a smaller font.
I believe this advertisement is effective due to its simplicity. The dominance of the image draws the eye in and creates focus. The colour scheme and appearance of the advertisement appeals to the target audience of the rock-pop/pop-punk genre as there is very little colour present portraying a bleak theme, which is a common convention within products aimed at the rock-pop/pop-punk genre. The relation between image and text works effectively as they are of similar colour and are opposites sides of the advertisement, which results in one element drawing the eye to the other. Brand identity is created and established as the same image featured on the advertisement is also seen on the cover of the single. This is a common convention seen in products produced for promotional purposes as it creates recognisable elements which people identify and pair together. Although, the advertisement is simple in its design, which creates instant focus, I think the name of the single and “out now” text could be bolder in its appearance as the image dominants the advertisement lacking focus on the text.
The first thing most people would notice about this advertisement promoting You Me At Six`s album "Hold Me Down" is the image. Similar to Paramore`s "Ignorance" the advertisement features the image used on the album art work, therefore giving a sense of "Brand Identity" (MEANING OF BI).Yet again, similar to Paramore the advertisement does for YouMeatSix does not feature an image of the band. This could be for the same reasons as Paramore, due to the rock-pop/pop punk genre they belong to their music is more important to them than their image or it could be that like Paramore they already have a well established fan base so an image of the band is not necessary.
The decision to have no image of the band and the choice of image is very typical of YouMeatSix from the knowledge I have of them as a band. As far as I am aware they have not yet released an album which features an image of them on the front. I believe this is due to the edgy persona of the band and is part of their image. As you can see from the image featured on the album and magazine advertisement I am analysing and the images below of the band`s other album art work, the images used to promote the band tend to be a bit alternative, quirky and eye-catching. This could be due to their record label (Virgin Records) taking this decision to establish their image or it could just have been a decision in order to attract people interested in the rock-pop/pop punk market as no image is a very typical convention of the genre and is a recognisable convention for the type of target market the band are trying to attract.
The image itself is the main attraction of the advertisement as it is vibrant, colourful and unique with its use of different images linked together to create one large image. It is due to this combining of different images that the viewer therefore looks closer at the image which in then maintains their focus as they analyse the different elements of the image. The flamboyant image dominates most of the advertisement which results in it being instantly eye-catching and interesting for whoever sees it as it is quite alternative which links to the "alternative rock" a.k.a rock-pop/pop punk genre the band belong to. However, some may class YouMeatSix as a more "indie" band and therefore would argue that the bright colours and unusual image have been used for this reason, as the "indie" genre is usually quite upbeat and colour is usually used to express this.
All the text featured on the advertisement is pretty simple in it`s style. The text that features biggest is the band name and the release of the album which is in the same style but the release date is in yellow. This is significant as the advertisement is aiming to promote the album and it`s release so by placing the bands name in the same text as the release date the viewer will probably look at this aspects of the advertisement first as they stand out most so imply to the viewer that this information is of most importance. By placing the release date in yellow and in the same font as the band`s name the eye is instantly drawn to it creating focus and remembrance resulting in the viewer hopefully buying the album.
The name of the album "Hold Me Down" which is in an italic font also features on the advertisement and is directly under the band`s name. This font is featured on the actual album also, yet again giving a sense of "Brand Identity" which is probably why the album name is in a different, smaller font as the target market will probably already be aware of the album being promoted as they may have seen it elsewhere. Therefore, the name of the album does not feature heavily in comparison to the band`s name etc but the italic font gives it importance.
The presentation of the text is siginificant as I believe it relates to the rock-pop/pop punk genre and takes in to consideration the target market (teenagers). The name of the band is placed on what appears to be torn paper, this suggests to the viewer a care-free, rebellious attitude often portrayed within the rock-pop/pop punk genre and is often the attitude associated with teenagers which is furthermore emphasised by what appears to be sticky tape holding it in place which has a crinkled, worn effect to it which amplifies the rock-pop notion that artists care more about their music than their appearance.
This significance in presentation creates focus on the expected, important aspects of the advertisement (the name of the band and the album) which is made more pronounced by the flamboyant image above this text. However, due to this emphasis on image and text the viewer then takes in the other information on the advertisement such as "The New Album", "CD/Download" and the information at the bottom of the advertisement which inform the viewer of the band`s website, record label and where the album is available from, "Play.com", a well known website which teenagers, the target market are probably aware of and are likely to use, making it more likely that they will buy the album it is advertised that it is available to buy from a website that they regularly.
Overall, I think the general layout and appearance of the advertisement works effectively due to the choice of image and colours used. The bright colours almost exploding out on to the page against the darker background helps to catch the eye and maintain focus which creates further focus on the other information on the advertisement i.e. the release date, new album etc. The relation between image and text and the way it is layed out has been thought out with care as the image is the central structure to creating focus on other aspects of the advertisement and does not distract but capture the viewer in it`s unusual but complimentary choice of colours and image. There is not much I dislike about this advertisement, the only thing I would say that could be changed slightly would be the style and size of the name of the album as it seems to get lost in the extravagance of the advertisement.
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