The Sun advert analysis

How does the advert use codes and conventions to appeal to its target audience?

This is an overt advertisement. The advert has used many codes and conventions to appeal to its target audience such as considering the technical, symbolic and written aspects. The white background colour of where the newspaper is placed is used to make the product seem simple and pure, just as the original ipod had tried to use this method. The shot is medium however the camera zooms in when showing certain images or is trying to highlight a point. Also just like in the iPod advert only the hands are shown, and some gestures are also imitated such as when describing the “26 inch panoramic mat” the hands touch the centre of the page and then the fingers separate diagonally as if on the iPod to zoom in. The sounds used are also that of which is the same to the iPod advert; the background music is playing along softly as the narrator is explaining the product. The narrator is another convention of an advertisement as it is someone verbally explaining the product to you which is always useful considering their target audience aren’t from middle class or above social groups and are from working class who may not understand certain advertisement techniques. Unlike previous the sun or newspaper advertisements this one does not show the price of the product which is unusual as it is a cheap product for only 20p and cheap prices almost always get more attention, however to make this advert seem like it is a well worth “expensive” product as it is a sophisticated advertisement in contrast to their usual exaggeration and role play adverts they have decided to not display the price instead show a few coins being exchanged for the paper, these actions in itself add to the simplicity of the paper and would appeal to its target audience who are mostly over the ages of 40, these are also the people who would appreciate the no fuss of “waiting for pages to download” .

How is new technology represented in the advertisement?

In this advertisement of the sun newspaper they are mocking apple’s ipod /iphone and trying to persuade viewers that this newspaper is much better than the ipod. To do this they imitate the original ipod advert by copying their style of advertising using the same white background, only viewing of hands, and the narrator’s voice. From this advert we can tell the sun dislikes this new technology as it is taking away their readers. Sharing content is just as easy as with a smart phone, simply pick it up and hand it out as opposed to e-mailing friends and posting links. – simple and effective. At the end they mention this newspaper has been this way since 1969 – Shows how they are proud of their heritage as a national newspaper and they look to the past for inspiration as opposed to the future where things become more complicated like “hidden charges, contracts” reception for network etc. they try to justify their high “newspaper standards” by mentioning all images are “photo real 3d” which is an improvement of their technology. “The UK’s best hand held for 40 years”  this is the headline of the paper Mocking Smartphone’s as newspapers were delivering this service a long time before Smartphone came around.  Another way they mock the new technology is when they mention the “Pen-touch interface” as a feature people can use on this product this is Sarcasm as using a pen is no “new technology” also as it is normal for touch screen smart phones   however they parody this by showing the hand holding a pen and writing on the paper then scribbling it out. , which shows they are trying a tradionalist point of view as u cannot simply erase what you have written on a screen by pressing the delete key. 

What does the advertisement tell you about the values and ideologies of the sun newspaper?

The advertisement tells me that this newspaper values the classic form of reading news and getting information from a newspaper as this has been the method to do so for hundreds of years. They dislike the ipod and point out their faults and use it against them to persuade readers to read the sun. They criticise the ipod indirectly by naming these faults e.g. there are no hidden charges and no contract. No squinting at sports on a tiny screen. No turning it sideways to see it better” etc. they have a very traditionalist and conservative point of view. They are pro status quo and value old traditions. From this advert we can tell that the newspaper does use forms of escapism as it does not show any real or international news about the current affairs concerning governments and people , this could be an ideology of theirs to keep the working class people narrow minded and not exposing them to too much information apart from “junk news”.

How does the advertisement appeal to its audience?

The suns target audience are working class males from a C2,D,E, social class. Who are into typical males things such as sports, girls and entertainment news. This advertisement however is opening up to a wider audience of the ipod industry, as when viewers first see this advert they may think it is an ipod advert because that is usually their style however they are introduced to the sun newspaper, as this advert looks more sophisticated in comparison to the actual newspaper they have not shown their usual explicit images of women on the page 3, the celebrity males shown are well known entertainers, however they do show one image if Rihanna  in a very revealing outfit which is typical of the paper and would grab attention from their usual audience. Also British formula one driver Jennson Button, this use of celebrity endorsement appeals to a younger audience of youths who are users of the new technology such as Smartphone’s. The readership of females are smaller however there are pages dedicated to them such as the fashion and gossip columns.  During the advertisement when they are describing the “photo real 3d” they zoom into the image of Simon Cowell who is contemporarily best known for his show the X factor, he is a very significant figure in the entertainment/music industry, this would appeal to a very large x factor audience and people who enjoy celebrity gossip. In the sport section to advertise to there more primary audience they have one of the world’s best known football team’s manager sir Alex Furguson which would largely appeal to the footballing youth.