SE 2

Adam Clark
Prof. Leake
SE 2
04/04/2012
Cheesy Crackers Duel
The two food advertisements I chose to look at were TV commercials for Goldfish and Cheez-Its. They are both marketed to a similar audience, as they are competing products, and they both play off and negate each other in their commercials. The two commercials take very different approaches in their presentation; one being a more serious setting while the other is animated.
The Goldfish commercial is clearly aimed towards a younger audience. It is animated which appeals to younger people, and the goldfish are telling scary stories while they are “camping” in a Goldfish bag. A younger audience can easily related to this and it is something they will find interesting. Similarly, the Cheez-it is partially aimed at a younger audience, but also an older audience as well. The maturing cheese makes a bad joke, which would appeal to a younger audience as it is funny to them and gets them interested in the commercial. The commercial is not animated though, so it will also appeal to an older audience as well. Also an older audience can related to the immature argument the man and the cheese get into. The Cheez-it uses mature cheese so it can be seen as acceptable for a mature or older audience as well, where the animated goldfish may not appeal to an older demographic.
The selling point on both crackers is the same. They both start off by appealing to a particular audience to get their attention and finish by quickly talking a little bit about their cracker. Both crackers are baked and made with real cheese. This is important for both crackers to mention as it is trying to show them as real and not bad for you. Baking is considered a healthier method of cooking and they both use real cheese, thus are not an artificial snack. The goldfish say that they are “fun shaped” a major selling point on them over competing crackers like Cheez-it to a younger audience, while the Cheez-it commercial reminds its audience that it uses mature cheese appealing to its older audience. Since they both mention the same points it is clear that some values our culture wants in a cracker are real incredients and a snack that is not bad for you. Neither mentions the cracker as a healthy snack, but the baking method can be interpreted as not bad for you.
The Goldfish commercial uses distinction in a couple different manors. Firstly, when the camera view goes into the bag, the gold fish can be seen by their sleeping bags. These sleeping bags though are ribbons that Goldfish had won. One of them can clearly be read and it says “ 1st Best in Show.” This is noticeably their selling feature that sets them apart from competitors. This similar idea of their unique shape being the best is shown through the scary story one goldfish is telling the group. “When the woman opened the package there were crackers alright, but they were flat! And square!” as this is told the other goldfish gasp at the fact that there are square and flat crackers. This is a scary concept to them and by seeing this the goldfish are portrayed as the best cracker because they are not square and flat like every other cracker.
The Cheez-it commercial can also be seen using distinction over goldfish and other crackers. Cheez-it lets its cheese mature and this can be seen as negation towards Goldfish. The talking Goldfish are not mature, but the Cheez-it is mature because it is tested repeatedly to make sure. Being mature cheese, or better cheese is how the Cheez-it is better than a goldfish or other competitors.
Since both adds have parts that are aimed towards a younger audience, it can be seen that these snacks are mostly for them. Their selling points though are things that would appeal to the younger audience’s parents as it is likely they would be buying the snack for their child. The Cheez-it though does present it as a mature snack that is ok for an older audience as well. Both the commercials though talk about the prodeuct for only a fraction of the commercial time. This can be seen in countless other commercials as well. We are impulsive buyers and will buy a product that interests us, not one we know a ton about. It is about appearance not the composition of the food. Both these commercials focus on getting attention, not about how good the product is. Food advertising today is all about negation of competing products and visual appeal as both these commercials show.

Cheez-it commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGkXTsxJvd0
Goldfish Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwLgwBd6k0