I have never laughed so hard at an ad in my life! After going over what makes an ad “effective” about two hundred times in several different courses over the years I would like to say I know a good ad from a bad one. Or at the very least an effective ad. When I say affective I mean its ability to get its message across whether that be written plainly on the advertisement itself or in how it’s portrayed. Some ads aren’t made to inform but to draw your attention. In my opinion this series of ads both draw you in and inform you of what they are about. What I love about them, their morbid humor aside, is how they get that message out. They don’t state the obvious, saying that RecycleMe.org is a website dedicated to informing Joe Public about transplants but instead fills you with morbid thoughts like “What if it was that easy?” while at the same time being comical. It’s ironic and who doesn’t love the smell of irony in the morning? I know what you’re thinking; what kind of sick-o would find this funny but just keep reading.
The message behind these ads is the exact opposite of what message you see at first glance. The detail in the ads for these fake stores is brilliant. Let’s start with Kidney Depot, the first of these ads that I saw. From the clearly happy woman to the disclaimer at the bottom, it is all consistent. While you can’t see it in the picture the disclaimer is written as a real one is, explaining the process of “refunding” a kidney; or if you move onto the next ad “refunding” a lung. Now I will be honest, I don’t find Lung Mart as comical as Kidney Depot but the consistency in the advertisement is still there and its message is still very blatant. If only “Respiratory Roll Back” existed! And if we move onto the third one I’ve seen, Heart Barn, we see….French. (I apologize; I couldn’t get a picture of this ad myself and had to find one online. This was all I could get). But even though it’s in another language you can see the reoccurring themes within the ad. One section says something along the lines of “Bring the family and you can meet Cardiac Carl”.
What I think I find so amusing about these advertisements is how they sucker punch the people who see them. Or at least that’s how I felt when I first noticed these ads. You see this sign for Kidney Depot and you can’t help but think “What the heck?” and the more you look at it the more you look at it the more believable it is. They look like real, honest to goodness ads until you see the sticker for RecycleMe.org at the bottom. If you didn’t know any better you might assume Kidney Depot was a real place or that Lung Mart actually was “just around the corner”. Do these ads lie? Absolutely not! They are ironic and sardonic.
These ads are very right though, “if finding organs and tissues were this easy we wouldn’t need donors”. Which brings me to another reason why I find these ads effective; they leave you thinking about them. I couldn’t tell you how many times I saw this and, after getting over my giggle fit, found myself wondering what the world would be like if we could simply waltz in a store and pick up organs. Where would they find the organs for these stores? The black market? Or would a Repo Man be employed? I should go to RecycleMe.org and find out.
Pictures were found on Photobucket.com. Toronto doesn't seem to have these ads in their buses so I never got to take pictures of them myself. Odd. They are all over Brantford though. If you click them they get bigger! Oh the magic of the interwebs!
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Works Cited
Hall, Sean. This Means This, This Means That. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2007. Book.
Haha, I remember those ads quite clearly because at a glance, I thought it was just another advertisement for people that want to buy extra hearts or a new pair of lungs to match their new shoes.
ReplyDeleteThen I realized how often do people buy new lungs to match their shoes, and realized it was a clever ad about donating organs.
Haha. All I remember was laughing hysterically on a bus and getting funny looks from people. They make me think of Repo! The Genetic Opera. (As if it wasn;t obvious since I quote that for my blog title).
ReplyDeleteBut yeah I see what you mean. I find them very clever. Very funny.