The first of these adverts is a Pepsi poster and the second is an Amnesty advert at a train station.
Pepsi are well known as the worlds second leading soft drink but generally do not have a positive moral connotation. Amnesty on the other hand are well known for being one of the worlds leading organisations for human rights and have a very strong moral standing.
The most notable thing about the pepsi advert is the colour which stands out above the rest of the image. The whole poster has a strong blue theme across it which does wlel in representing a sense of cool and cold and connotes the sea and the sky. These in turn connote purity and innocence which give the brand a sense of goodness while making the drink itself seem clean and refreshing.
The Amnesty advert is much plainer however, which works well in presenting the message. The advert is actually printed onto glass so that the background fits to whatever environmemt the display is placed in. By using the glass, the advert becomes reality instead of a flat, unoriginal poster and the message comes across as being more important. The seemingly mundane grey of the background choice signifies a gritty reality of the world which makes the advert believable and the consumer directly relates to whatever it shows (After all, this location is reality).
Compared to this, the Pepsi advert has very little scope for reality and is much more about selling the one particular product. Compositionally, the advert has no look of reality as the cups are slanted and have no apparent surface level to rest on. Coupled with the changing size between the two cups, this creates an effect almost like the cups are exploding out of the image towards your eyes. Two cups suggest that the advert addresses more than one person at a time and it denotes the idea of a party environment with several friends sharing the enjoyment of Pepsi together.
The background pattern is reminiscent of ice or snowflakes which again signify the cool purity of ice and the freshness of snow. The condensation on each cup is another sign for the cool, refreshing effects of the pepsi and connotes a hot environment with the feeling of needing to cool off and rehydrate by having a drink. The snow flake-like design also confusingly connotes winter which contradicts the condensation on the cups because they would need hot weather. The sparkling glittery white effect in the very middle of the poster creates a sense of value by denoting diamonds and precious jewels and the shimmering effect is another link to purity and worth.
All of these themes are completely contrasting to those in the Amnesty advert. The advert features a young black child holding some kind of automatic assault rifle. The tone of the advert is set from the first glance, and already the child loses all the usual connotations of innocence and purity and gains all of the negative connotations that the gun holds. The child actually becomes almost unrecognisable as a child and his image takes on a much less human vibe. The child is black which immediately signifies Africa similar countries and his clothes are basic and dull which signify a poor country and links back to Africa. Along with a globally shared knowledge of conflict zones at least on some basic level, the story of a child soldier becomes the definitive theme for the advert, as we can tell from the way he holds the gun that he is not just holding it but that he uses it. The dark theme of the image continues through the use of the empty bullet cases on the ground which suggest that the gun has been fired recently and connote death and destruction. The boy is stepping confidently over the cases toward the viewer and looking directly in their direction which directly involves the viewer and directs the advert at them. The image is interesting because it has so many signifiers of the darker side of Africa, yet it never specifically mentions the continent at all.
In fact, the Pepsi advert does well to signify the United States too. The style of cup itself connotes fast food and the stereotypical American style red and blue disposable cups. It also has connotations of very American style entertainment like sports stadiums and also links to cinemas. By doing this, Pepsi can easily advertise their product as being entertaining or being a part of an entertaining experience.
Despite their huge differences, many of the techniques used to suggest are similar between the two examples and they even share some themes even though they are on opposite ends of the scale.
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