Selling Ideas with Aesthetic Advertising

For my first blog post I just wanted to bring forth an example of advertising that I recently saw and really liked. This was actually exchanged through social media, which I think is a very interesting and important component to the tone and aim of the ads. To begin with, I saw a collection of pictures from an environmental agency that I thought were extremely well done. They bring forth something that I feel is incredibly important in modern day advertising, especially when it is involving print or still images; that being aesthetic. Everyone obviously understands that aesthetics play into consumer habits and trends but what if a company or organization isn’t trying to sell a product but instead an idea? It forces those in advertising to consider how to properly package and sell something completely intangible but important. Selling ideas and messages make up the backbone of communication but with new media, doing so without using things like video ads etc, is becoming increasingly difficult. For this reason I really appreciated the following two ads I found from the Ondazul Foundation, which is an environmental NGO. They are trying to sell the idea that the pollution humans have been spurting into the oceans around the world are deeply affecting not only the environment, but us as well.

 

 

Both ads are incredibly powerful and create an extremely emotional response in viewers that force them look at the small print. Seeing a product aimed at consumers in such a jarring way forces those that see this ad to think about how our habits as humans influence the rest of the world. The message essentially is that by hurting the ecosystems, we are hurting ourselves. The tag line raises an important question for viewers to consider as well. The shock tactic and simplicity of the aesthetics used give the ad a serious dose of stopping power. This is a perfect example of how similar organizations can target consumers through more traditional media routes, such as print ads. The ad feels modern and important and thus makes viewers actually stop and consider what it’s trying to say.