PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION: LESSON 1

ACTIVITY 1: MULTIMODAL TEXTS

Observe the following banned commercials or posters from the internet. Write your
suggestions on how to improve these materials.
Observations:

_The advertisement shows a model with lips wide

open to take a bite of the “super seven incher”
burger along with the tagline emphasizing the
phrase “it’ll you’re your mind away” with large and
bold white letters as well as the terms “it just
tastes better” which displays sexual implications
to the viewers._________________

Suggestions:

_This ad poster created a controversy when it was

1. released in 2009 which made the customers and
viewers uncomfortable and insulted. Many ad
creators used sexual means to captivate the
attention of customers and make their products
popular for selling, however, the said ad poster
gone beyond the proper and acceptable method.
This ad may attracted the target audience but it
showed sexually offensive ideas that made their
product abhorrent then banned. The visual,
gestural and linguistic aspects shown in this ad
must be changed to appropriate elements without
using “sex sell” technique to give respect to the
customers._______
 Observations:

__In this campaign, we can see two women with

petite and fat body. The context in the upper ad
contained the allusion of sexiness with relation to
the size of the breast of woman using the phrases
“flat” and “can you be sexy without being busty?”
In the other context, the brand used the terms like
“extra-large” and extra-sexy”_ indicating the
sexiness with regards to the body shape.

Suggestions:

2.
__Dove is one of the brands that uses controversial
means to make their ads famous. Since viewers
have different perspectives, many of their ads were
seen as insulting and racist but some of it
empowered women and promoted the concept of
feminism. This ad must improve its visual aspect
because the letters are too small and its color does
not compliment the white background so the
words cannot be easily read. The ad creator must
be careful in choosing vocabularies and misleading
ideas to avoid misinterpretation. Confidence and
beauty of any color and sizes can still be promoted
in many ways without oppressing the feelings of
the audiences.

3.

Observations:

__The ad commercial of a product made by PONDS

showed a tube of Pond product with a gesture of
defeating the black chess piece by knocking it off.
The skin-lightening facial wash was featured with
the tagline “DARK OUT, WHITE IN” which may be
interpreted as removing dark spots in the skin that
results to whitening.

Suggestions:

_PONDS is also a brand known for its racist

commercials wherein some audiences were
insulted by the concept chosen for these
advertisements. The visual and spatial aspect in
this ad are good, however, the linguistic and
gestural factor must be improved to elude
 misapprehension. The gestures and vocabularies in
the tagline “DARK OUT, WHITE IN” can be derived
as racism by the viewers, where some of them
interpreted that “dark skinned people are losers
and considered dirt that needed to be removed”,
and ”white people are always the winner ”.

Observations:

_In this ad poster, there is a semi naked woman

who seems to be in a sexual pleasure and a tagline
“satisfaction guarantee” which specified a sexual
allusion implicating the competent service of the
Bayan Telecommunications Company.

Suggestions:

4. _The visual and gesture elements used in this ad

poster specifically the image is not acceptable for
the target public audience so it is recommended to
change into proper. The tagline must be replaced
with appropriate words because it indicates sexual
innuendo specially when put beside the said image.
Gaining subscribers and viewers can be gained
using correct means that is suitable and respectful
for the target audience especially this kind of ad is
set to be place in billboards which can be freely
seen by the younger audience.

Observations:

_A billboard can be seen in the photo with a tagline

“Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse años?” made by the
Napeleon Quince promoting its 15 year old brandy.
The tagline was emphasized with its bold and huge
5. letters along with the image of the alcohol
beverage on its side._

Suggestions:

_ The tagline evoked the attention of the public

audience as well as several women’s and children’s
organizations in our country since its meaning can
 be implied into different perception wherein it can
be translated in English language as “Have you ever
tasted a 15 years old (young woman)?”. The tagline
in the advertisement must be changed into
acceptable way of promotion instead of the said
mantra that noted the patriarchy in society, malice
and sexism. __

Mcdonalds, “Dada” Commercial

https://youtu.be/nbp9xSpDOXA Observations:

_The commercial showed a family dining in a fast-

food chain as advertisement of McDonalds. A
daughter was questioned by her mother while the
father carefully handing her french fries under the
table to get the child’s favor over the mother. I
observed that the child was lying that all her
features were inherited from his father specifically
her dimples. The expressions and actions of the
artists are on point while the English subtitle can
be easily seen with its white color that
compliments the black background.

6. Suggestions:

__The commercial showed the action of dishonesty

and bribery which was not a good teaching for the
viewers specially the children. The young audience
may learn this gestures and apply it in their lives
which can be harmful for their personality and
well-being. The child may be happy for the food
earned from the bribery and dishonesty since she’s
still young and naive but the dangers she may
acquire in her adulthood are not a joke. The
concept of this advertisement must be changed,
even though the spatial, audio and visual aspects
of the video are good. A happy family cannot only
be portrayed like showed in the commercial so
changing its content is necessary.

Reflections:

Analyzing the concept of the multimodal text is important to portray a good composition in
different forms of communication. The semiotic aspects must be thoroughly considered to avoid
misinterpretation and prohibition like what happened in the advertisements above. I noticed that the
visual, audio, spatial, gestural, and linguistic aspects in the multimodal text have a great impact on
the presentation of these ads which can affect the result of the communication between ad creators
and audiences. Transmedia is one of the means for companies and businesses to connect with
their customers, however, many of their promotions and commercials sometimes go beyond the
acceptable norm as a way of marketing. I realized that the inspection and evaluation must be done
by the authorities before showing the commercials in public, however, the resources in our country
were limited so the ads with inappropriate contents were mostly banned only after the public’s
protest. Even though we have the Advertising Board of the Philippines Inc. (Ad Board), few can still
be slipped in their investigations. 
I concluded that consideration of the basic aspects of multimodal texts and elements of
communication are necessary for effective interaction, but the perspective and feelings of the
audiences must also be analyzed with regards to the content of the media. Furthermore, the cultural
norms in society should not be disregarded to avoid public disagreement and ad banishments.