Comparison of Two Ads in The Parenting Magazine

Flip through of any parenting magazine and you will be amazed at the amount of knowledge you will get. One is inundated with tips on how to take care of children no matter the age, healthy tips and all issues that concern a home. Being a parent, I have been more conscious on how I relate with my family. Parents should always be knowledgeable about the influence of good parenting so that the child can grow productively (Pitt, Berger and Sheenan 23). One way many parents get updated is by reading magazines.

Magazines have remained an influential source of information. Messages are not only found in the editorial content but also on the advertisements presented in magazines. The messages may be explicitly placed in the product being advertised or may be implied in the images being used for a given advertisement.

Whether the advertisement message is stated or unstated, the messages provided in magazines advertisements may act as a repetitive visual reinforces, the normalizing behavior of individuals. Magazines also give real-life situations and solutions a given topic. Recently as I flipped through a given magazine, I came across two advertisements which caught my eye. Being a parent to a one-and-a-half-year-old, I was able to relate to this magazine on a deeper, more personal level than the other magazine covers. The two adverts Tater Tots and

Gatorade energy chews. One was a product that could be taken by children ages 4-17 while the energy snack was mostly for teenage, especially young athletes who were continuously looking for new energy snacks in the sports market. The Tater Tots advert was in the children sector while the energy snack was in the sports section. Both this adverts were on food even though for different children age brackets. Both adverts appeal to parents, probably that’s the reason they were featured in a parenting magazine. While both ads are categorized as food ads and targeted to parents, they are different in several aspects. The most striking difference is how the ads are presented and the first impression they get from their audience. Other differences include visual characters used in the advert, background, presentation and target audience. Considering all these differences, I think Tater Tots can be appropriate for further publication and can bring in more customers.

Tater Tots Advert

Tater Tots are pieces of deep fried grated potatoes which are served as a side dish. They are cylindrical in shape and have a crispy outside which is always colored They are common at school-lunch cafeterias as well as fast food restaurants. Children love them and this advert caught my eye. First, the advert features a baby girl. Her facial expression was one which looked at you wondering why you had not yet bought Tater Tots. In front of the girl were Tater Tots dressed like small cartoons on top of a plate. The advert had text written,” if it’s not Tater Tots, it’s just another Imi-Tater”. The word “Imi-Tater” was incorrect and that made the advert interesting. The text was readable and the clear. Tater Tots advert was targeted to children especially with the imagery of the carton Tater Tots as well as parents since they would be the ones owning the magazines. The advert has a child which speak volumes. Children would be interested to read once they saw another child in the magazine. Parents would know that Tater Tots is suitable for children since it features a child from a normal life setting. The ad has a few words in its advert which ensures its target audience reads. The ad in this way tries to argue that Tater Tots is suitable for children and automatically suitable for adults. Text at the bottom part of the ad shows it was established in 1954 hence proves quality and validity (Virpi 370).

Gatorade Energy Chews

Gatorade energy chews are taken to stir up energy inside the body. Gatorade chews preps muscles for action as they resupply energy levels of an individual. The advert showed two hands catching the energy the right hand showing the effects of the energy boosted by the chews through his hand. The ad has a background of a locker room where sports students or individuals have a change of clothes. The locker room is blur but clear on showing the two hands which come from different sides holding the chews (Virpi 371). The advert has two words text at the center. “Fool Fuel”. The two words are each on one of the energy snacks. Fuel is on the right while fool is on the left-hand snack. This clearly shows that one who eats a normal energy snack is a fool while that who eats a snack on the right-hand takes in fuel-or something to stimulate the energy levels. Additional information is at the bottom of the ad on the importance of taking Gatorade energy chews. Gatorade energy chews are targeted to teenagers involved in sporting activities. However, I think it’s mostly used by adults.

Comparison of The Two Ads

Both ads are found in the parenting magazine hence aimed at children, teenagers and parents. Tater Tots advert shows a busy (Buchanan 3). There are so many features the audience can check. In the Ad “If it’s not called Tater-Tots, it’s just another Imi-Tater”, the target audience has a very broad range of potential buyers. My estimates were that it targeted children ages 4-17. After a phone interview with Teddy Walker, a Texas A&M University-Commerce student, he states that “college students were just as likely as elementary and high school students to purchase and consume tater-tots. I dug further into my investigation and found an article published by The New York Times called “Childhood: Obesity and School Lunches” that states elementary schools have even given it its own day, Tater-Tot day. This is a product that is widely consumed by ages 4-25 and beyond.

However, the last Ad I chose was “Fool Fuel”. Out of all the ads, I identified with this on a personal level since I am a college basketball player. These small Gatorade gummies are something that I would buy for myself as well as for my kids when they begin playing sports. I asked all of my former teammates if they had or would try the chewable Gatorade product and all but two answered yes. There was only one other teammate of mine who had children so I asked if this would be something he would purchase for his son when he began playing sports, he answered yes. I think the “Fool Fuel” ad targets athletes, primarily at the high school and college level.

The Tater Tots advert was more involving as compared to Gatorade energy chews. The energy chews only showed hands which were not interesting as compared to the advert with a little girl and an interesting facial expression. The hands show in the Gatorade advert are adult hands hence mostly meant for teenage and mostly adults. Both ads have few texts at the center of the advert which is okay. Consumers are more drawn to a few words in an advert as compared to one with many words. I think their context is okay. Tater Tots shows a plate showing it’s supposed to be eaten using a plate while Gatorade is featured on a locker room showing it’s taken by sports individuals. Tater Tots fulfill its goal easily as compared to the energy chews.

Conclusion

After review, the advertisement giving appropriate evidence in reaching out to its audience is the Toter Tots advert. I arrived at this after reviewing the key points on adverts and advert publication. Both advertisements’ achieved their objectives, but I would choose Toter Tots as more involving, more interesting and having the right visual setting to the right target audience.