After we came out with a list of bad advertisements, we decided to work on Masterchef Malaysia's billboard advertisements because we find it confusing (in term of choices of words), weak call of action (there isn't any obvious "attractions" to pull people into watching the show) and bad communication towards the public especially those who doesn't watch Masterchef Malaysia (Misusing the words chosen and conveying wrong messages).
Below are series of Masterchef Malaysia's billboard advertisements that are found around the city:
"PEREMPUAN, ISTERI DAN TULANG" ?
Some people might read it as "TUNANG" instead of "TULANG" which convey even more confusing message. Plus, this sounds a bit sexist as they are trying to say that only women cooks.
"TOLONG! AWEK AKU HANTU MASAK" ?
Too confused to say a thing. *still confused*
"PENULIS NOVEL MANGKUK" ?
In everyday spoken words, "mangkuk" refers to stupidity. It's an insult. When they used it here, the message that reached the public sounds like a stupid novelist. That is indeed conveyed a bad message.
Sources said the choice of words that they used are describing the contestants jobs and kitchen-related words like "mangkuk", "masak", "tulang", etc.Thus, these advertisements might only speak to those who watch the show. However, all of these advertisements are displayed publicly on a gigantic scale. Most people, either drivers or pedestrians, would spend only few seconds to read the advertisements. When they put it this way, not everyone will understand. In my point of view, I don't understand a thing when I first saw these advertisements.
"Drama, suspens dan sentuhan masakan" is written in smaller font size. I'm assuming that the reason they used such confusing words is to attract people to watch the show which will include drama, suspense and cooking. But again, it's SMALL and it's on BILLBOARD. It's barely legible from a distance.
Reference:
Kenwooi. (2011). MasterChef Malaysia Billboard Adverts Suck. [Online] Available at: http://www.kenwooi.com/2011/12/masterchef-malaysia.html [Accessed 3 June].
Dear Alia, much like the comment I gave to Brindha on her input in Target Audience, you need to define what do you mean by 'weak' or 'bad' communication by MasterChef ads in Malaysia (this is at the beginning of this page).
ReplyDeleteActually, these billboards are some of the better Astro billboards.
ReplyDeleteNot the best examples of great billboards, but a step in the right direction.
Great advertising should leave a little for the imagination, so in trying to connect the dots, the reader internalises the message.
This may go over the head of some readers, but to the target market (Masterchef Malaysia is in BM, so target veiwers are BM speakers), they'd make out the interconection between a 'hantu'(ghost), and a 'hantu masak' (cooking fanatic).
And great advertising is about creating interconnections, because interconnections are...the basis of 'creative ideas'.
Again, not the best examples, but in my opinion, it's better than most 'straightforward with zero idea' billboards out there.