Introduction to advertising

 Introduction to advertising: blog tasks

Create a new blog post called 'Advertising: Introduction to advertising blog tasks'. Read ‘Marketing Marmite in the Postmodern age’ in MM54  (p62). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. You may also want to re-watch the Marmite Gene Project advert above.

Answer the following questions on your blog:


1) How does the Marmite Gene Project advert use narrative? Apply some narrative theories here.

Marmite uses Propp's theory of the character spheres through its representation of marmite as a damsel in distress (2013) that needs to be saved by the heroes who are the marmite rescue team from the neglect of the consumers who are the villains. 

2) What persuasive techniques are used by the Marmite advert?

Emotional appeal to the saving of marmite, Slogan of 'hate it' or love it'.

3) Focusing specifically on the Media Magazine article, what does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

Advertising seeks to make us dissatisfied with our present selves and promotes the idea that we can buy our way to a better life. ‘All publicity works on anxiety’

4) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

We refer, either knowingly or subconsciously, to lifestyles represented to us (through the media or in real life) that we find attractive.

5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

In 2007 an 18-month, £3m campaign featured the 1970s cartoon character Paddington Bear. These adverts continued the ‘love it or hate it’ theme, Paddington Bear is shown trading his well-known marmalade sandwiches for Marmite sandwiches

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

Popular culture is everything to do with regular society and how the average person consumes while high culture is to do with the much more high brow aristocratic feelings and mannerisms and marmite plays on this by Ma’amite series of advertisements, typifying the irreverent nature of their product – breadsticks form a crown and the Queen’s corgi dogs replace the lion and unicorn. The motto ‘One either loves it or hates it’ 

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

postmodern consumers are simultaneously aware that they are being exploited, yet also prepared to play the game Postmodern consumers get the joke and, in doing so, they themselves may become promotional agents of the product through word-of mouth.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Postmodern advertising, like the postmodern humour of programmes like Life Is Short, may transgress boundaries of taste in order to make audiences question notions of what is real and of value in society and so in the advertisements this is shown through the #Marmite neglect, Marmite’s 2003 ad featuring Zippy from the children’s television programme Rainbow, Unilever’s campaigns admit that not everyone will want to buy their product. Companies normally try to maximise their potential consumer-audiences, so to admit that this is a targeted niche product might seem to be against conventional advertising wisdom.