Audience—whom are you telling about the ad?
The audience to whom this position paper is directed would be to those people who feel uncomfortable with harm perpetrated to the environment that do not realize that they are directly supporting harm to the environment by patronizing Victoria’s Secrets.
Purpose—why are you telling them about how the ad works?
The purpose for informing people about the advertisement, as stated previously, is to inform people who do not realize that Victoria’s Secret’s is a great contributor to the environmental disaster of deforestation. Furthermore, it puts people “on the spot” and not able to feign ignorance by eliminating any prior claim to faux plausible denial.
Context—where, when, and how are you addressing them? (Imagine them reading this paper) If there was a manner in which to address individuals it would be by presenting the essay within the context of a magazine article designed to raise public consciousness and awareness.
Thesis—what overall point are you trying to make? (Use it as an example for great marketing.) Please list the ad’s own audience, purpose, and appeals here.
There are those people whose luxury items hide them from the stark realities of the world, a reality that they are contributing to harm while being able to plausibly deny knowledge of the harm, so shocking them out of their plausible denial remains a major component of reversing the negative trends that they cause.
Organization—what points are you going to make and in what order? Why did you choose that order? (i.e., why do you think this order will be most successful with your readers?)
- 1. To introduce the ad
- 2. Explain what the ad means.
- 3. Put a feeling of guilt and hypocrisy onto those who contribute to the negative aspects of Victoria’s Secret
- 4. Challenge those who acquire the catalogues to amend their ways.
Rough Draft – Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret
There are a number of ways that a message can be delivered. Unfortunately, a polite manner of speech is oftentimes ignored. Because of this, a more over the top and bombastic approach is utilized to grab people’s attention. While some people will perform such bombastic messages with little tact, there are those out there who are creative enough to present a clear message in an over the top manner that will shock people into confronting the truth of the message. Such is the case with Forest Ethics’ campaign to awaken the public in regards to “Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret.”
So what is “Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret?” Basically, the lingerie company Victoria’s Secrets publicizes its stock by way of a large catalogue that chronicles the multitude of clothing items that they offer for sale. Of course, the catalogue is printed on paper, a great deal of paper, as there are literally tens of thousands of catalogues printed every year. Since the production of paper requires the deforestation of rain forests, the purpose of Forest Ethics’ ad campaign is to raise public awareness by shocking the public with the true facts as to the devastation that the catalogue printing business is causing.
Ultimately, there needs to be a question asked in regards to whether or not this is a “great” ad. To answer that question, one must provide a twofold answer. First, is the ad great on an aesthetic level? Second, is the advertisement effective in bringing about the proper response that the ad is supposed to bring.
Onto the first part: the ad is an excellent ad because it is creative, shocking and effectively delivers an expository message. In other words, it is very clear in what it seeks to present. If there was a negative to the ad, it would be that the ad is a bit too expository in its design, but similar ads targeting the cigarette makers were quite effective in terms of changing public opinion about smoking, so perhaps an overly expository message is not as bad as it would seem.
As for the second part, the effectiveness of the ad is contingent on the personal feelings of those who see the ad. In other words, there will be certain people who just don’t care about deforestation. Oh well. There will be some people who will take the ad to heart and follow its directives, so to that degree, it can be a successful ad.
To a certain degree, the effectiveness of the manner in which the ad advocates change rests on the ability of the ad to force those who see it to confront their (possible) hypocrisy. That is to say, if a customer who has purchased a great deal of inventory from Victoria’s Secrets in an individual who espouses a platform of environmental advocacy, then the individual must make a decision as to whether or not actually commit to making a change in terms of supporting a business that is an “enemy of the state” as far as environmental disasters go, or to reverse one’s purchasing decisions as a means of convincing the power to be at Victoria’s Secret to reverse their policies and, perhaps, expand online catalogue distribution as opposed to the traditional paper method. Also, by publicly exposing the Victoria’s Secrets company, the ability for people to claim plausible denial about the deforestations the company has been responsible for is greatly reduced if not outright eliminated.
While the advertisement is a bit excessive in the manner in which it presents its subject matter and thematic concerns, it is a creative ad that can help sway opinion and drive people to action simply by presented a very bombastic message that is virtually impossible to ignore.
Final Draft – Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret
There are a number of different methods in which a specific ideological message can be delivered. A manner of delivery that falls into the category of polite speech is, sadly often ignored. Because of this, bombastic, over the top approach is utilized to deliver the message. While certain individuals will present bombastic messages with no regard to tact, there are those who possess a faculty of creativity that allows them to present a clear message in an over the top manner that will shock people into confronting the truth of the message. Such is the case with Forest Ethics’ campaign to awaken the public in regards to “Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret.”
So what is “Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret?” Basically, the lingerie company Victoria’s Secrets publicized its inventory by way of a large print catalogue that itemizes the multitude of clothing items that they offer for sale. Of course, the catalogue is printed on paper and there are literally tens of thousands of catalogues printed every year. Since the production of paper requires the deforestation of rain forests, the purpose of Forest Ethics’ ad campaign is to raise public awareness by shocking the public with the true facts as to the devastation that the catalogue printing business is causing. This places a great deal of onus on those individuals who patronize Victoria’s Secret in a manner which forces them to actualize their complicity in the horrors that deforestation can cause.
Ultimately, there needs to be a clear examination as to whether or not this is an effective ad campaign. In short, is the ad a “great” ad? To answer that question, one must provide a twofold answer. First, is the ad great on an aesthetic level and secondly, is the advertisement effective in bringing about the proper response that the ad is supposed to bring.
Much of the ad is effective in the way it parodies the classic 1970’s style sexist ads. It is effective in the way it throws those conventions out and takes what is supposed to be visually stimulating and turns it into a visual nightmare. Granted, it is a bit over the top, but it still manages to be effective. The ad is creative, shocking and effectively delivers an expository message. In other words, it is very clear in what it seeks to present. If there was a negative to the ad, it would be that the ad is a bit too expository in its design, but similar ads targeting the cigarette makers were quite effective in terms of changing public opinion about smoking, so perhaps an overly expository message is not as bad as it would seem.
As for the second part, the effectiveness of the ad is contingent on the personal feelings of those who see the ad. In other words, there will be certain people who put their personal purchasing freedoms above any political or environmental advocacy and have no real interest in the problems of deforestation. However, the ad will be successful if it reaches a decent segment of the population and is able to convert a portion or percentage of said demographic. To that degree, the ad can be extremely successful.
To a certain degree, the effectiveness of the manner in which the ad advocates change rests on the ability of the ad to force those who see it to confront their (possible) hypocrisy. That is to say, if a customer who has purchased a great deal of inventory from Victoria’s Secrets is an individual who is sympathetic to a platform that endorses environmental advocacy, then the individual must make a decision as to whether or not actually commit to revoke support for a business that is an “enemy of the state” as far as environmental disasters go, or to reverse one’s purchasing decisions as a means of convincing the power to be at Victoria’s Secret to reverse their policies and, perhaps, expand online catalogue distribution as opposed to the traditional paper method. Also, by publicly exposing the Victoria’s Secrets company the ability for consumers to claim plausible denial about the deforestations the company has been responsible for is greatly reduced if not outright eliminated.
While the advertisement is a bit excessive in the manner in which it presents its subject matter and thematic concerns, it is a creative ad that can help sway opinion and drive people to action simply by presented a very bombastic message that is virtually impossible to ignore.
