Posters

I decided to make my poster a bus stop poster. I found the dimensions for this at: http://www.vinyl-banners.co.uk/billboard_poster_sizes.htm .

The images below are of billboard advertisements generally found at bus stops.

I found that they usually have a main image or message in the centre to draw people’s attention. The adverts tend not to have too much information on them and sometime’s it is not clear exactly what is being advertised until the consumer looks at the advert in more detail. Often the logo of the company being advertised is relatively small and in a corner or at the bottom. The posters aim to draw attention first and then provide enough information to make people explore what is being advertised further.

Some people would argue that advertising is to do with creating false needs. This is why I have chosen to use a slogan of “Have you bought your Southend Sports Paper today?”.

Edward Bernays would say that the secret to a successful advert is to give the illusion that a consumer’s subconscious desires are culturally acceptable. Therefore, adverts often use techniques to manipulate the natures of the consumer’s desires instead of changing or altering the actual product. The advert is making the consumer feel that they are suitable for the product and therefore making the product desirable. Notice in the Carling advert (below), it claims to be made with "100% British barley", perhaps this a way to make us feel better about purchasing the product by using our cultural pride to make the product desirable. It is also associating the product with patriotism. I have tried to use this tactic by implying that the Southend Sports Paper is ‘yours’ and in Southend is culturally 'acceptable'.