Changes of Aesthetics and Visual Style of advertisements
The advertisement styles changed over time to accommodate the aesthetic idiom of the time. The stylization of the advertising imagery entails structural moulding by means of specific artistic expression in accordance with the general aesthetic vision. Newspaper advertising utilizes images and letter to communicate itself to the audience effectively. Analyzing aesthetic components in the advertisements enables modern society to understand the interrelation of art aesthetics and commercial value of product.
It's vital to observe the appearance of comics, cartoons, and caricatures in advertising pictures, which are employed to produce a comical impact by alluding to a certain physical or behavioral attribute of a person. The use of humor in advertising is a common technique that, in addition to its aesthetic value, serves as a cultural and social construct. (Dubois, 2010) In the Campus Camera Advertisement in 1942 in Polytechnic Reporter, an intriguing comic was depicted to show the importance of equipping cameras in classrooms. Instead of traditional ways of promoting, the campus camera company utilized an indirect yet effective method to attract Poly students who might have no patience reading straightforward ads.
Another visual design of advertisements incorporates photos of celebrities into the design elements and uses the celebrity effect to design the ad panels so as to attract consumers. Celebrity endorsement is usually connected with huge corporations. Smaller, lesser-known businesses are increasingly turning to celebrity influencers to market their products. (Hashaw, 2019) A celebrity endorsement may help a company gain credibility and reach new customers. The celebrity impact refers to a person's capacity to influence others, who may help a company gain credibility and attractiveness. (Hashaw, 2019) The "All Star" Tobacco advertisement in 1950 in Polytechnic Reporter includes nine baseball celebrities’ portraits to promote the cigarettes. As an engineering school with a majority of male students, this ad could be incredibly appealing to Poly students since baseball was a popular sport among men; therefore, they were inclined to purchase the same cigarettes as their idols.
Furthermore, visual tactics indicate a fusion of various and varying percentages of these aspects, and they are rarely seen in a single portrayal in the aesthetic of advertising images. Composition is a fundamental creative tool that plays a significant part in orienting picture perception. Combining both visual and contextual components, the advertisement can be constructed in such a way that it determines how the audience understands and interact with the main information. The 1958 Thinklish Advertisement in Polytechnic Reporter demonstrated an essential combination of pictures and texts when explaining what the company was for: it offered 25 dollars to collect a brief portmanteau word to summarize a situation. By incorporating vivid images and direct contextual information, Thinklish aimed at Poly students who were intellectual and willing to take on challenges to create more value.