Blog #5

Recently, I have been noticing billboards more than I have before. One thing that is very evident and obvious is that billboards are much more simple than TV or print ads. This, of course, is because we need to get the jist of the ad in a few short seconds. I can stare at a print ad all day and analyze the crap out of it, but with a billboard, I only get a few seconds to spot everything that is going on before I zoom past it. I find that billboards are only effective if they are simple. That is, simple to look at and simple to understand. Usually, these ads give us direct orders or tell us a simple fact that will get us thinking. I have seen billboards that are too busy and have too much going on so I can't process it before I see another one. If only one propaganda device is used, that is okay. The direct order is probably the most effective. It tells us to do something, and since we are already in our car, it might be easy to do that. Such as "Visit us at..." or "Get your own..." A direct order can speak to the specific target market but make a vague claim about it. This vague claim or unfinished claim gets the specific audience thinking and pushes them to look more into the product or service. Overall, I think that billboards are used more as a reminder than a selling point. They remind us of a product or drill a brand name into our heads. The simpler the better.