English 2 Paper #2
The American society of the present is largely dependent on automobiles. This fact is extremely obvious to anyone who even stops to think about such things, but the fact that many corporations are making millions of dollars a year producing and selling t hese machines can lead to complex advertising schemes. The majority of advertisements for automobiles have been carefully scrutinized and thought out before then camera men ever take a single shot, so what does the corporation want you to believe about th eir products? This becomes important due to the fact that we are all consumers and need to protect our investments.
Subaru is one corporation who has come out with a current product which has combined a wagon style car with a "Sport Utility" rugged endurance. At least that is what they have made the publics conception of their product to be. Without ever driving one o f these vehicles the public has a mental image of the type of handling, the interior, the durability, and other factors that are considered when buying a car. This is partially due to personal experience with the type of product, or even personal experien ce with the specific corporation. But the fact that many concepts that we as consumers have accepted are directly due to the type of advertising that the company has employed.
The outback has been packaged as "The World's First Sport Utility Wagon." This combines many images, as does the advertising scheme. Subaru is trying to combine many images into one vehicle so that the public will be able to see whatever they are looking for in this one car. The advertising images are also a mix of many different ideas and even cultures, but are designed so as to give the vehicle a rugged, yet comfortable appearance.
The first image that the company directly associates with the Subaru Outback is the term "First." This is designed to provide the public with the impression that this vehicle is a totally new invention. No other car manufacturer can claim that they prod uced the "First" vehicle of this type, but is this "New" vehicle really a new idea? The thought of combining a car with a sport vehicle has been done before. The "BRAT" was a vehicle that combined a car with a truck to produce a extremely unpopular produc t. The "BRAT" was constructed with a car body style where the back seat and trunk had been replaced with a truck bed. This product was a combination of a sport car and a truck which would make the "BRAT" the first sport utility vehicle. The need for the O utback to be the first is a predominant strategy for Subaru to employ. If the public sees a new product they are lead into believing that this new product is filling a gap that was, till then, left unaccounted for. Thus the public sees a need for this new product in their lives, bringing the car a sense of need to the consumer.
The second term, "Sport", shows the current trend and popularity with being inshape and the love of sports in general. Millions of dollars are spent every year to pay professional football, baseball, hockey, and other sports. The money to pay these playe rs comes from the ticket sales from the stadiums and the network payments for the TV rights. This money comes directly from consumers, i.e. the general public. Therefore the statement can be accepted as fact that Americans love to watch and be entertained by sports. Theoretical possibilities for this are the excitement without actually doing anything. Meaning that many people enjoy watching other people do things that they cannot do themselves due to the fact that the public can idealize these sports hero es and picture themselves in the situation of being a sports celebrity and enjoying the competition. The trill associated with driving is the reference that the company is associating with "Sport." This trill of driving dates back to when cars first becam e mass marketed in this country. The sport was just getting off the farm and into towns on a regular basis. The trill that came from being set free from life on family farms was invigorating and the feeling of wind blowing through your hair is freeing. Th e Subaru corporation is trying to tie the feeling of freedom and the fun of sports into their product
. The "Utility" phrase is in reference to the current trend of most popular vehicles. The current market for 4 wheel drive all-terrain vehicles is booming. The top selling vehicles have been in this category, Chevrolet Blazer, Ford Explorer, Isuzu Trooper, Isuzu Rodeo, Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, and other 4 wheel drive vehicles are very popular in the current new automobile market. Subaru is merle trying to enter this market with a new product that will combine their known products with this booming sec tion of the market. This brings into play the last of the introduction, "Wagon." The Subaru company has produced many types of vehicles but their primary selling vehicles are the wagon style sedan. They have been known for their reliability and quality. S ubaru is expecting that by packaging the new "Sport Utility Wagon" in a recognizable package that the previous advertising campaigns effects, coupled with the publics already established opinion of Subaru’s products will carry over on their new Subaru Out back.
The choice of a spokesperson is a scrutinized decision. To think that Subaru might have just picked Paul Hogan due to the possibility that, since he has been out of the lime-light, he would not be as expensive as a supermodel, or sports celebrity. This i s most probably not the reason he was chosen. The image that is associated with Paul Hogan AKA "Crocodile Dundee" is a bushman from Australia who is able to survive off the land. This is a classic western image, tying the product into the image of the Ame rican west. The western image is totally American, and that is the real attraction of the western image. The "Wild West" is seen as a period of total freedom. The cowboys are strong rugged individuals that could deal with the horrible conditions of the ol d west. This was seen as America and is still considered by many countries as the beginning of the American persona. By that I mean that up till the "Wild West" period we had primarily been a nation of imitators. The colonies and towns that sprung up alon g the eastern seaboard were settled by groups of people from countries such as England, France, Italy, Germany, and many other countries. These towns carried on their daily business in the same manner as they had before coming to America, thus merle copyi ng the culture of their previous homes onto the American soil. Many countries and people see the "Wild West" era as our first step in establishing our own cultural "American" identity. Paul Hogan is a cowboy, thus symbolizes the American identity and soul of the country, and that is why he was chosen for the spokesperson.
The other factor that Paul Hogan brings to the Subaru Outback is a sense of dignity and grace. This is produced by the British background. Although Australia was settled as a British prison colony, the current residents have long been non-criminals and primarily of British descent. The British Monarchy has an ere of distinction and grandiose brilliance that is associated with them. They are the most prominent symbol of what the British people strive to replicate in their daily lives. This association be tween nobility and the British public is not though of but exists and causes the opinion of the British persons to be raised to a high level. The classic British person would be the polite and distinguished individual who savers life and the finer things. This is a stereotype, but when in advertising stereotypical attributes are associated with characters so as to bring about the most ease of point. Rarely will a character being used in an advertisement fight against the stereotype that is associated with them. These characters are chosen for the stereotypes that they represent, and the rugged, distinguished, brave character that Paul Hogan portrayed in the “Crocodile Dundee” movies is one of the primary images that the Subaru company has imported onto th eir product.
The particular ad that was scrutinized shows the two tone Subaru Outback climbing over a rocky terrain with the wheels moving. A Chevrolet Blazer is following in the background, bottom left corner of the ad, with a majestic view of a desert as the backdr op. A few sparse trees are in sight and glow with a beautiful summer green that reeks of life. Immediately to the front right side of the Outback is a rocky mountain that seems foreboding, yet does not extend above the roof of the outback. The rock road t hat the Outback is sitting on is made up of smooth sided rocks, resembling something out of a rock quarry. The significance of all these things has been taken into account before the shot. The Blazer is shown trailing the outback, clearly being used as a device to indicate the superiority of the Outback to the competitions vehicles. This is supported by the comparisons made in the ad to the competitions vehicles, i.e. “how many vehicles have more cargo space than an Isuzu Rodeo, more headroom than a Jeep Cherokee, ground clearance like a Ford Explorer,...".
The advertisers have made a direct reference with the Blazer to the Outback’s better features and equipment. The desert view is the main ship upon which the "Wild West" era is brought into light and used. The beautiful green trees are a sign of the life that invigorates the Outback drivers, thus trying to drop the idea that the world will seem more alive from the inside of this car. The rocky mountain that is shown in contrast to the Outback is an important tool. The advertisers have used it in this case to show that the Outback is rugged as this mountain. They do this by showing it in immediate contact with the car’s silhouette. But while the car is rugged like the mountain they have also included that the Outback is an equal to the mountain. Neither is taller than the other, they stand the same height and thus are trust into parallel with each other. The rocks used appear phony, almost polished which instead of adding depth to the ad takes away from it slightly. The use of these "pansy" rocks instead o f rough, jagged, burly rocks is to accent the neat appearance of the automobile. Not a spec of dust sits on the Outback, the tires gleam a deep jet black, the rims although blurred are an attractive silver/gray with the rugged charchole underbody seeming indestructible. The other part of the ad that takes away from the total aspect of the work as a whole is the tire rotational blur. This was done in order to show movement, and to illustrate one of the ads main points. The “Riding comfort” of the Outback i s commented on in the ad and by showing the wheels rotating in what seems like a fast pace with the car not bouncing around on the extremely uneven road surface seems to illustrate the ability of the car to provide a comfortable ride at even the most dema nding surfaces. Yet a trick of photography has been used. A very slow exposure camera film was used so that the car could only be inching it’s way across the rocks yet the tires would seem like they were moving at a fast pace. The proof of this trickery i s shown upon close inspection of the Blazer and the background trees. By using this slow exposure film it caused the Blazer to be blurred slightly along with some of the background items which were still in the focus range, thus tricking the consumer into believing that the car would actually ride smooth on such a surface.
So through the use of tricky photography, precise angling, cleaver wording, and thought out imaging the Subaru corporation has been able to provide the consumer with the image that Subaru wants for their new product, "Outback."