Photofaking

Of course, Photoshop does wonders for people with all its great editing tools. As a Graphic Design student, I use Photoshop for many benefits. Advertisements are made using Photoshop for the same reason and it's understandable why they make use of it. The reason for an advertisement is to sell a product/service and companies need to create the visual for it to be worth selling. I get that. You need to attract the eye in order to gain any attention. So should we or shouldn't we? It depends. It depends on how you are using Photoshop. 

Photoshop is definitely a great use for advertisements, good or bad. Though, it's the good advertisements that people take a second thought for. Plus, most people know that advertisements have Photoshop done on them, whether they care or understand it. Most people who see an advertisement focus on the product/service itself and that is understandable; that's what advertisements are for. The concern is editing an advertisement to the extent of lying. Being honest is what's right for anyone and that should be passed around. Advertisements are everywhere you go and people of all ages view them constantly. This means the younger generation will view them as well and whether they are getting an education or not, they spend their days learning. For someone to learn, they need to be taught and influenced and if they learn from these advertisements, they become influenced by them as well. Any information that is advertised in public can affect anyone, especially the younger generations who are learning every day. Exactly what should companies be teaching?

We should teach the truth in advertisements and not use Photoshop to an extent where it all becomes a lie. Being honest can help a company gain consumers as well because people can see right though them and they prefer not to be lied to. 'Pretty' can only do so much and it will not always count when it comes to people spending their hard-earned money on. Nor do people want their children learning from such advertisements because they prefer to raise them with proper morals. So, use Photoshop right or don't use it all.  

Mic Mac Mall Back To School Campaign

Honestly, this campaign is quite the head turner, but it's not receiving the right type of attention. The series in this advertisement campaign targets half their audience of who they're intending to target; stereotypical cliches of females and not one male. Their intention is to target an audience for Back To School shopping, though they only attempt to speak to the females. Last time I checked, school is attended by males as well. Regarding the design of the advertisements, they do not speak to the entire population of students. The advertisements use female cartoons holding female clothing and accessories and that does not target the male population. Just to clarify, not all females choose to dress as a stereotypical woman, which is another negative factor of their advertisements. Every person is different and that goes for peoples' styles as well, though, the cartoons consist of only stereotypical females. Whether they included males in their campaign, it would have still been considered insulting, especially if they sent the same message as they did to the females. The message itself received negative feedback, so to target both sexes with a negative message would probably fail. 

The agency does not understand shoppers; student or parent shoppers anywhere. The message they send in their advertisements are very insulting and sexist to the public, especially  to the parents. The advertisements have the people thinking young female students have no interest in school and prefer shopping over an education; thus, sending a message about their intelligence level. It gives female students a negative reputation, as well as having parents worried and insulted. 

I would not have run it because I clearly felt the message was sexist and insulting. Not only did this campaign lead to a decrease in shoppers, but it will not be forgotten. Though, they did donate a $5000 cheque and an apology for their campaign, it won't save the agency from their reputation. What's done is done and running that campaign already spoke of how the agency views females. 

The Facebook advertisements aren't as insulting as the others, though, it still only targets females. Having an education and shopping is for both sexes and the campaign clearly does not consider their audience to be of both sexes.