There should be a law passed against the use of babies in an advertising context that aid to the deterioration of society, but that’s just an opinion. I have seen many ads that are just poor taste. Maybe a law is too far fetched but seriously, what are advertisers thinking!
The little miss coppertone ad (top) although it seems very sweet an innocent, it leads some groups in society to a pattern of “monkey see, monkey do.” This behavior gives way to beauty pageants which, sometimes, reinforce the idea that people should be valued primarily for their physical appearance. But how do you go from cute advertisements, to a suppressive behavior by people?
Who was to know that the cute Little Miss Coppertone ad could have potentially been a contributor to a person becoming Miss South Carolina in a contest like Miss Teen USA 2007.
Toddlers used in commercials also have mixed messages, put this ad of a baby holding a “safety razor” for instance.
Whatever the message Gillette is trying to convey; if a young child sees an ad with a baby playing with razor blades, looking like he’s having the time of his life. It is potentially harmful for those kids that do attempt to shave them selves, as a result of getting influenced by the imagery that the ad depicted.
These are examples of older advertising campaigns and although Gillette has moved on to better advertising, Coppertone has held on to their older imagery. The image of the little girl getting pulled on by the puppy is now an iconic image and the “monkey see, monkey do.” effect is proven by thousands of people replicating the iconic image.
Today the advertising world is full of baby imagery. Cute, innocent, defenseless babies. Babies that after birth are named after company names. Like GoldenPalaceDotCom Silverman whose parents got paid $15,000 to name the newborn the casino web site as a name. Where is society going with this?
It seems that advertisers and the corporations paying for the ads should have enough morals to realize that using babies as subjects is wrong. It may be insignificant in some cases but can be seriously damaging in others.
Lets take a current baby campaign like E*Trade’s talking baby. What is the point that E*Trade is trying to make? Is it that people should be capitalistic since birth? Or that we are all babies at heart? The reality of using babies in a campaign, is clearly just to get attention. Some may consider this use of this imagery exploitation of babies. Some may consider it a strategy.
Humans brains are wired to respond to the sight of a baby. It is almost impossible not to notice one if it is within our sight.
James Breeze from usableworld.com.au shows us research that support evidence that babies take priority in our attention. We are wired to be subconsciously influenced by the baby’s actions. Are the babies calling for help, are they afraid or interested by something? What is the baby doing? We don’t really think about these things when looking at an ad. Through video tracking of eye movement you can gather data showing what people are looking at.
The image below shows an ad of a baby looking at the viewer. As it can be seen, the majority of the time spent looking at the ad is scrutinizing the baby, while the content of the ad is barely acknowledged.
The next image is of a baby that is looking at the content of the advertisement. It is very clear that the subconscious effect is focalizing on the message and not just the baby. This effect of diverting the focus from the baby to the text is key for people who use babies as objects in advertising to get optimum results.
So why are companies like Sonic and McDonald’s used such imagery to advertise their brands? The logic is mind-boggling. Specially when the imagery depicted is reaching a creepy level.
Some ads use agitational imagery to get to an interesting point across but the fact that they are using disturbing imagery will have negative ripple effects that may not be identified until it is too late.
This is why some ads should be look at with a conscious mind and people should realize that some depictions are clearly out of line and could affect society in a negative way. When we start glamorizing the neglect of children, thats we know that advertising has gone too far.
These issues need to be looked at, specially since we have a new baby boom occurring right now. There is a record number of babies being born, and everyone is thinking about babies weather in a positive or negative way (Lets hope positive). If we don’t do anything about the regulation of imagery in advertising, we will definitely be seeing more side-effects due to the poor choices made by corporations. And the least that people should do, is to be aware of all these issues.