Industry Issues 2 Chanel - ASA

Learning Objective:
To study The Chanel ad campaign with consideration given to Industry issues.

Key terms:
Viral Marketing - This is where the awareness of a product or ad campaign is spread through less conventional ways including social networking and the Internet. Viral marketing is so called because many of the messages use hosts to spread themselves rapidly, like a virus.

Regulator - A person or body that supervises a particular industry.

Advertising is one of the most powerful media industries and is additionally interesting in that it is also an integral part of all other industries we study.

All media texts need to market and promote themselves in order to communicate with audiences and achieve success.

The aim of all texts is to create a brand identity that becomes recognisable to an audience.
The ad industry has adapted to in order to reflect sociological change and consumer demands.
The industry has had to examine how it can best access a modern audience.
As audiences have changed aspects of their behaviour, for example television viewing habits, advertisers have been forced to consider new platforms, mobile phones for example.

The 2011 campaign featuring Keira Knightley came under an ASA ruling in 2013.

The section of the ad that caused the complaints was the undressing of the model by the photographer and the obvious sexual tension between the two people. This was seen to be inappropriate as it was scheduled during a children's film.

Task 1: 

Research the ASA ruling on Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. www.ASA.org.uk

Task 2: 

How did Chanel respond to the complaint? What key points were made?

The ASA

The Advertising Standards Authority

'The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. We apply the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of Advertising Practice. Our work includes acting on complaints and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements'. (www.asa.org.uk)

The ASA was established in 1962, its aim was to ensure that all adverts produced and broadcast in the UK are legal, honest, decent and truthful. They make and publish decisions about advertisements every week responding to complaints from the public. They monitor adverts regularly concentrating on high profile sectors, for example health, beauty and alcohol which are seen as more likely to breach the ASA's code of conduct.

Advertising plays a huge role in our society and advertisements now appear across many different platforms. 

Advertisements on the Internet are subject to the same rules as those in other media forms; it is the job of the ASA to monitor all advertising and they produce an annual report.

Not all complaints are upheld by the ASA. 

In 2011 the ASA received 31,458 complaints about 22,397 adverts.

Advertisements containing and broadcast to children come under particular scrutiny so that young people are protected and not exposed to adverts that may be harmful or misleading. One of the main concerns of parents is regarding adverts that are placed early in the evening during children's television and and may be inappropriate and advertisements that appear on billboards near to schools for the same reason.

Task 1: 

Write a couple of paragraphs to answer the question:

Why is it important to have a regulator like the ASA for advertising?

Consider:

The tactics of advertisers and how they make claims for their products.

The vulnerability of consumers.

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Case Study. Chanel, Coco Mademoiselle:

1. Who created this media message?  Why?

This is a print ad for Coco Mademoiselle perfume which is made by the Chanel Company. This ad campaign features print and television ads, as well as a mini-feature film in which actress and spokesmodel Keira Knightley plays the role of Chanel Company founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Knightley has starred in films such as Bend it Like Beckham, Pride and Prejudice and the Pirates of Caribbean series. The campaign was created to advertise or feature Coco Mademoiselle perfume and was released to coincide with the holiday shopping season.

2. Who is the target audience?  What text, images or sounds suggest this?  

Coco Mademoiselle perfume was released in 2001 to target Chanel’s younger market and as a new product line to the Chanel Company’s world famous No. 5 fragrance. The Coco Mademoiselle perfume is marketed as a less expensive option, typically selling for between $75 to $100 per bottle. With that in mind, it would seem that Chanel is looking to attract their “younger market” which might imply children as young as eight years old, or possibly the "tween" market (which is generally considered ages 8-12 years old) . Although the target ethnicity is not known, every spokesmodel for Coco Mademoiselle perfume has been a young, white woman. At $75 to $100 per bottle, one might assume the class to be one that could afford such an expense. In addition, Knightley is pictured wearing an expensive-looking pearl necklace.

3. What is the text (literal meaning) of the message?

Knightley is pictured nude wearing a pearl necklace and is strategically covered by a black bowler hat and a white dress shirt. A large image of the Coco Mademoiselle perfume bottle is prominently featured in the foreground. The Chanel logo is in all-white in the top-right hand corner of the ad and the words “Coco Mademoiselle” are in black to the left of Knightley. The only other text on the ad is “shop chanel.com” in small type in the lower right hand corner. The background has a “black and white” theme.

4. What is the subtext (unstated or hidden message)?

The designers of this ad appear to be going for a perceived “classic” look, utilizing a black and white color scheme, old-fashioned accessories and a sexualized female subject. It is important to note that Knightley appears nude (although strategically covered) in all segments of this ad campaign.

The ad also appears to send a message of an elegant lifestyle…one of wealth and privilege. It seems to both glamorize and define “beauty.”

5. What tools of persuasion are being used?

Symbols - This ad uses strong overtones of sexuality. Symbols include the use of the black and white design scheme and the props (bowler’s hat, pearl necklace and dress shirt) in an effort to promote the concept of elegance and wealth.

Celebrities - Keira Knightley is a film actress and has no connection to what
is being sold, aside from getting paid to endorse it.

See Language of Persuasion post.

6. What healthy messages are communicated? What unhealthy messages are communicated?

There really appears to be no healthy messages in this advertisement. The implication that buying and wearing this perfume will help the purchaser achieve elements such as beauty, sexiness, elegance, wealth and refinement is simply a fantasy that no product can provide.

7. What part of the story is not being told?

The price per bottle, between $75 and $100, and the ingredients of the perfume.

The timing of the launch of the ad campaign was of particular interest, as the bulk of the television ads were set to be released in early December, which seems to target the market that is buying for the Christmas holiday. This is a continued push for a consumer culture that makes promises of happiness and fulfillment through product purchases.

Knightley was paid a reported one million dollars for a one-year campaign with Chanel. However the cost, both literal and figuratively, of products like this one, often doesn’t provide the level of satisfaction the buyer might hope for.