Visual Arguments Assignment

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Durex: a visual advertisement analysis
Advertising is one of the essential tools in marketing today. In the media space today, firms globally are constantly trying to appeal to their target markets by creating the most appealing ads. Firms are in constant competition trying to outdo each other and come up with the best campaign that will earn them the largest market share. However, in this competition, the advertisements may have positive or negative results. One such example is the Durex brand, a subsidiary of Reckitt Benckiser.
So many critics have come with many different reasons that work in the disfavour of the company. The advertisements have elicited so many criticisms over the years. Some people feel that these advertisements should not be aired at all. Others believe that they should be aired with censorship and that they should be aired at family-friendly times, i.e., after 10 pm. And before 6 am.
A few criticisms have been launched against such advertisements. For one, critics claim that such productions encourage risky sexual behaviour and immorality. It is noteworthy that to carry out a successful advertisement of such kinds, a lot of pleasure and desire has to be exhibited for the campaign to receive a following. As is common fact, sex sells. This, in turn, encourages the people among the population and the viewers. The popularity of such campaigns also gives the viewers the impression that is engaging in sexual encounters as shown in the advertisement. As much as the ads are made in good faith, the results in the population might not be as good. Either way, one of the goals of the campaign, to ensure maximum viewership and increased sales will be achieved.
Secondly, such campaigns introduce the young population to sex and such-like encounters way ahead of their time. Children and teenagers are curious and visual, and they tend to absorb and experiment what they see. If the children are exposed to such material, it is highly likely that they will likely act on their curiosity. It might happen through research or incitement by their peers to try out what they see (Macklin and Carlson 24). Child psychologists encourage parents to censor what their parents are exposed to in this age, but with technology being all around us, such advertisements eventually get to them one way or the other. In this case, they have adverse effects rather than contributing to the well-being of society.
Human beings are visual, naturally. If a man sees a particular clip over and over, it is very likely that subconsciously, the clip will keep replaying in his mind even while engaged in other activi...