There is this ad in QLD by RACQ which shows a lady in a dark empty parking lot trying to start her car. After a few tries, she sighs in frustration and begins calling home. After a few rings, there is no answer and when she looks to her left, a man suddenly appears at the window and asks " do you need any help?". Obviously distraught she refuses to accept it as this man could potentially be some serial murderer or rapist. The camera zooms out and you hear the answering machine of her home.
When I saw the ad, I was with my brother and father and I said that the random man is too friendly and should've used a more seedy, scary looking guy to be at the window. My brother out of disbelief says " But that will draw people away from RACQ!" . My dad and I look at eachother in shock and then begin laughing our heads off as that "stranger" obviously was not RACQ. My brother totally misinterpreted the ad. I told this story to a couple of people and the majority (minus a couple) understood the ad. Unfortunately we got into a huge discussion, debating whether or not the man was from RACQ. Here is my argument:
When I saw the ad, I was with my brother and father and I said that the random man is too friendly and should've used a more seedy, scary looking guy to be at the window. My brother out of disbelief says " But that will draw people away from RACQ!" . My dad and I look at eachother in shock and then begin laughing our heads off as that "stranger" obviously was not RACQ. My brother totally misinterpreted the ad. I told this story to a couple of people and the majority (minus a couple) understood the ad. Unfortunately we got into a huge discussion, debating whether or not the man was from RACQ. Here is my argument:
1) The mood music is scary , lonely giving the impression that it is a place you wouldn't want to be in.
2) The lighting is very dark and gloomy.
3) When the man appears, it is accompanied with short orchestral screechy music. Which obviously makes him a scary person , not someone from RACQ.
4) The lady doesn't accept his help because he is a stranger and you can't trust anyone these days.
5) RACQ is not a good samaritan service that helps random girls in empty parking lots.
6) THE AD DEPICTS A MESSAGE THAT IS COMMON SENSE: If you had RACQ, you wouldn't be in THAT SITUATION, RACQ helps you avoid those scary situations!!!
7) The first person I argued with is a person who didn't understand a simple skit which everyone else understood.
8) THe other person thinks she has seen the ad but vaguely remembers that the stranger was Santa Claus? ( in a Christmas special??)
9) The 3rd person who randomly joined in was a trouble maker who hasn't even seen the ad!
* EDIT: Cousin has just informed me that during christmas time, they did add a Santa Claus.
- Cousin also agrees with me and says RACQ wears yellow overalls or those fluro jackets, not dark blue overalls (blue collar worker).
What does everyone think?
What does everyone think?
5 comments:
I think you're right - the ad certainly gives the impression that the situation is not a good one to be in but I think the 'stranger' comes off not looking too creepy. Yes, he is meant to be portrayed as coming out of thin air and not to be trusted, but I don't think he portrays himself as a seedy guy.
If RACQ had used a more seedy person in their ad then they would probably have been criticised for unhelpfully adding to stranger paranoia...
Perhaps your brother didn't get it because kids these days aren't taught to think critically - and that his opinion is just as right as yours (post-modernism...) but you know that it isn't :P
I agree that the stranger looks a little too friendly however I don't think it is possible to interpret that ad in any other way! hahaha we talked about this for about 5 hours straight at camp.
MUHAHAHA I FOUND YOUR BLOG, and your brother is DEFINETLY RIGHT.
1) The mood music is scary , lonely giving the impression that it is a place you wouldn't want to be in. = Obviously to capture audience's attention. Pretty much every advertisement has happy,light-hearted music, who's going to pay attention? Creepy music draws people in to think, ooh what's this about? What's going to happen? And keep watching it til they see the RACQ LOGO!
2) The lighting is very dark and gloomy. = to set the sinister, suspenseful mood , alikening to the objective of the music.
3) When the man appears, it is accompanied with short orchestral screechy music. Which obviously makes him a scary person , not someone from RACQ. = this is to decieve and build up the climax of "who is this mysterious person?!"
4) The lady doesn't accept his help because he is a stranger and you can't trust anyone these days.= The lady doesn't accept his help cause she doesn't want to trouble him. It's normal, think about it. If you were out and the atm didn't work and someone asked if they could help you, obviously you would be like "no no it's okay don't worry about it" and try to figure it out yourself. Wouldn't you?
5) RACQ is not a good samaritan service that helps random girls in empty parking lots. = However, you did point out that her car didn't start --> Obviously why he's there, much?! As for the empty parking lot, the camera needed to focus on the scene at hand, having a full parking lot would just distract from her, from him (and i believe he has a racq van behind him.. maybe seeing things again.) If you were trying to take a closeup of a particular pencil on a messy desk, woudln't you sweep everything else away so you can focus solely on the pencil?
6) THE AD DEPICTS A MESSAGE THAT IS COMMON SENSE: If you had RACQ, you wouldn't be in THAT SITUATION, RACQ helps you avoid those scary situations!!! = Excuse me, why wouldn't you be in that situation, random occurence> common sense? Sure you can do preventative things for your car, but i think the real message RACQ wants to convey is that WHEN YOUR CAR BREAKS DOWN, WHICH CAN BE ANYWHERE, MAYBE IN AN EMPTY PARKING LOT WHERE NOONE ELSE CAN HELP YOU, RACQ WILL BE THERE.
7) The first person I argued with is a person who didn't understand a simple skit which everyone else understood.= lul. can't help you there.
8) THe other person thinks she has seen the ad but vaguely remembers that the stranger was Santa Claus? ( in a Christmas special??)= in your face. Santa Claus- a friendly figure replacing another friendly figure = RACQ GUY.
9) The 3rd person who randomly joined in was a trouble maker who hasn't even seen the ad! = but he was lol. :P
* EDIT: Cousin has just informed me that during christmas time, they did add a Santa Claus.
- Cousin also agrees with me and says RACQ wears yellow overalls or those fluro jackets, not dark blue overalls (blue collar worker).
= when you take the fluro yellow jacket off, the overalls are all dark blue. =.=
I hope that you can see the light and find closure and move on, Ivan. :P
wow that was a huge comment jo! all i'll say is, i am still not convinced by your argument :p, your opinion is valued though
i agree with ivan *high five*
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