Framing in advertising

Media framing as a concept aids me in understanding commercials and ad campaigns such as the Old Spice “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” commercial and McDonald’s “My Me Time” ad by enabling me to view the contexts of the ads for what they really are: carefully crafted settings designed to illicit a specific response from the viewer.

Framing is the act of presenting a subject in such a way as to tell an audience how to think about the topic. It is a common force in media of any sort to frame a message in order to curry favor or disdain and attain a certain reaction from that audience. Everyone from journalists to screenwriters to directors to advertisers utilize framing by specially composing not only the tone, facts, and images presented but also the context in which they are placed in order to portray their product in the manner of their choosing. 

            Advertising commonly uses framing as a method to present their products in a favorable light and hopefully increase sales of their products and services. One such example is the recent and popular ad for Old Spice body wash called “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. In the commercial, a handsome African American man directly addresses the women in the audience and tells them that while none of their men will ever be him, if they use Old Spice body wash they can at least smell like him. While the setting of the commercial – changing from a bathroom to the deck of a boat to riding a horse – and some of the actions – diamonds flowing out of the hand of the man followed by a bottle of Old Spice – are intentionally ludicrous, they clearly frame the product as absolutely positive with no possible downsides.

            Another example of framing in advertising is the new McDonalds commercial entitled “My Me Time”. In the commercial, a series of young adults in various situations are portrayed in settings of low desirability, such as a man in the rain, a woman forgetting where she parked her car, and a man on a driving range having golf balls launched at his vehicle. In each circumstance, however, the person involved is not complaining but rather quite happy due to having a McDonald’s frappe drink. This obviously increases the desirability of the frappe drink in the eyes of the viewer by presenting it in such a way that it seems an absolute good and something everyone should want.

The ad does not point out the caloric content of its drink just as the Old Spice ad does not point out any foreseeable negative aspects of its body wash. That information does not serve the purpose of the advertiser and therefore is not included in the frame. It is in this way that advertising frames are utilized to sell their products on the basis of attractive imagery.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

My Me Time: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_mLSVLByKA