Week 7: Analyzing Ads

– ARG

Instructions
Choose an advertisement below. Then, evaluate its message and features
through atextual analysis.
 “IT'S SCARY BUT TRUE, EVERY AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL IS
DANGEROUS.”

Drinking alcohol is dangerous it can change everything in people’s life. I choose this
image among the other advertisements because it catches my attention since many
people can relate and the majority of people like this hobby and some people have
difficulty avoiding alcohol in their system. Drinking alcohol can change everything in
people's life. It has the potential to alter a person's personality and worsen people's
attitudes. In this advertisement, they’ve used a photo to provide the message of their
overall commercial. They had do their photo taken to demonstrate on how people
change when they are under the influence of alcohol. People can change
themselves because they cannot control the effects of alcohol on their bodies. The
use of a picture of a smiling woman symbolizes the good character of a person
before drinking alcohol, while the image of a scary woman symbolizes the bad
character that person may have if she is under the influence of alcohol. There are
also people who are scared if they are under the influence of alcohol because of the
urge of their bad behavior and there is a tendency that they might harm other people.
A person under the influence of alcohol can change their behavior, attitude, and
personality.

Aside from the image, this advertisement also states, “It’s scary but true, every
amount of alcohol is dangerous" implying that they are promoting the avoidance of
alcohol consumption. They're attempting to convey the negative consequences of
consuming alcohol. It states that any amount of alcohol is dangerous because it has
the potential to harm people. They're trying to convey the idea that almost anyone
under the influence of alcohol can do bad things if they're not in control of their
actions. It says something along the lines of “these substances brings out the horrors
in humanity” or “these substances turn us into monsters” which is a very strong
statement represented by strong imagery. I believe the designer knew very well the
message that he/she needed to spread and he/she made it very clear by this image.

To conclude, this advertisement has a lot of meaning. When critiquing an

advertisement, we must look at it more closely in order to grasp its meaning. The
image depicts a woman holding a glass of beverage. It is from a campaign that aims
to raise an awareness about the horrors of alcohol and substance abuse. The
message being sent by the campaign is made very clear, it is that substances can
alter the reality of how a person is, and that message is presented by the woman’s
face being obstructed and morphed into some horror material with a very deformed
figure. This advertisement is trying to communicate the message with us about the
negative effects of drinking alcohol and how it can affect our personality, behavior,
attitude, and also the most important our health. I agreed on the message wants to
deliver by the author but instead of that, we should drink responsibly if we want to
drink and enjoy the moment of our life.