PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

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INFLUENCES AND CONSTRAINTS PLACED ON PRINT ADVERTISEMENTS

by Andrea Johnson

INFLUENCES:

Print ads are influenced by their belonging to this particular genre in several ways. Influences on print ads include past successful techniques and the medium used. For instance, there are certain techniques, which prove to be successful when making a print ad.

Adbusters provide a particular example of how to make a print ad. Here we see that in a print advertisement, the image should appear in a particular place, as should the written text. Examples such as these influence ads because they show that certain formats are more successful that others. Adbusters also provides support for their particular format by showing that certain parts of an ad receive certain percentages of attention.

The medium used also influences the form and content of print advertisements because it supports particular form and content, while at the same time being unsupportive of others. For instance the medium of print supports the use of still-images but does not support moving images; it supports the use of written text while it is unsupportive of spoken words such as voice-overs.

CONSTRAINTS :

The influences upon print advertisements also place constrains upon them. Print ads are constrained, in that there are limits, which are set for them by the genre. When these limits are ignored or stepped over, an ad is no longer a print ad. For example, the genre of print advertisements require that the ad use the print medium (that it appear in the form of print), thus if the ad instead uses the medium of television it can no longer be called a print ad but instead becomes another type of ad, in this case it will referred to as a television ad.

The content of a print advertisement is constrained to the use of still-images and written text, the use of moving images and verbal text go beyond the boundaries placed on print advertisements. Therefore, if an ad includes verbal text and/ or moving images it is not considered a print advertisement.