I found the topic for today, ads, interesting because they constantly are influencing us and our buying habits even when we are unaware about it . This is a point that Dr. Bezio makes in her podcast when discussing how ads are intentionally meant to target our unconscious ‘lizard brains’. This resonated with me because I often feel drawn to buying certain products even when I’m not particularly sure why I am drawn to them. Additionally, I used to be one of the people who had a preference for buying brand name products, over the store brand, even when they were more expensive because they felt more trustworthy for no good reason; this is a habit I am trying to break.
The ad I chose for today’s blog was one in a series of Subaru’s “Dog Tested. Dog Approved.” ads. The various ads depict golden retriever dogs representing a family partaking in normal human activities, such as stopping at a rest stop, teaching a kid to drive, going to a local car wash, and more. The ad that I choose depicts two two dogs representing the parents dropping their puppy, child, off at their first day of school. The “parents” look reasonably upset after seeing their “kid” head into school, a feeling many human parents can relate to. I think these ads are particularly effective because dogs are a very popular pet with Americans so these ads can more easily appeal to a wide range of demographics and resonate with many people. Additionally since no humans are shown in the ad, it can appeal to many demographics, for example across gender, race, and age lines. I found it interesting now watching the ad back that quite literally nothing is said about the actual car, its safety features, or any other factors that are important to potential car owners. Subaru is counting on the appeal of the dogs to sell their product. Even though a dog driving a car is not normal, as a dog owner I know I always smile a bit when I see one of the ads. My family actually owns two Subaru’s, one of them being the car that I drive regularly, so I guess these ads do work or at least they did on my family.
Dogs plus cars always make for a good ad. I think your point that because no people are present that it can appeal to a wide demographics is a good one. Most people like dogs, or are at least indifferent, so the ad is inoffensive and has a low risk of offending anyone.
There are two things that I find especially interesting about this type of ad. First, people are so quick to assign human emotions and parts of the human experience to animals and even inanimate objects. We empathize with animals as if they are human and are feeling things and interpreting the world the way that we would. For example, when a dog whines, we image the dog feeling human sadness. Second, as you mentioned, Subaru doesn’t highlight any of the car’s features in this ad. It relies entirely on the conscious and subconscious emotional connections that the audience makes with the dogs.
I think this ad is interesting and effective in its choice of using dogs instead of humans to represent a family. Dogs are widely loved by many and can invoke feelings of adoration, caring, and a willingness to pay attention and care about the subjects; thus, by using dogs, this advertisement invokes an emotional response by the audience in general, and a feeling of affection towards the subjects and add overall.
There ads are very effective in branding them as eco-friendly, even if they might not be more than any other car brand. Associating cute dogs with their product makes the vibe of the Subaru seem outdoorsy and lovable. This also goes into what Dr. Bezio talked about in today’s podcast, where we buy things with our pets in mind, when really they don’t care what car they are driving in!