Represent NHS Blood & Transplant campaign: blog tasks

 1) What is an advertising campaign?

An advertising campaign is a series of advertisements that share a singular theme, message or idea. These are used to raise awareness of an issue or of the brand itself. The best campaigns have an emotional impact on audiences.

2) What is the objective of the NHS Represent campaign? 

The objective of the NHS campaign is to get more diverse people to donate blood because they are more likely to have a unique blood type.

3) What does this advert want people to do once they've seen it (the 'call to action')? 

This advert wants people to donate blood to save a life.

4) Why is the advert called 'Represent'? 

This advert is called represent because there are many people who represent our communities, jobs etc, but there isn't enough people who represents blood donors.

5) Why have the producers chosen celebrities to feature in the advert? Give an example of three well-known people who appear in the advert and why they are famous - make sure you write their names and spell them accurately.

Ade Adepitan is a Nigerian-born British television presenter and wheelchair basketball player. Chosen because He believes that we take blood for granted, there may always be a shortage of blood for anyone even himself.

Mariah Idrissi is a British model, public speaker, and online personality. chosen because She is giving blood herself, 2% of aisian communities are donating.

Aaron Christian is a movie producer who made the movie LONDON LOCKS. Chosen because He wanted to raise awareness for community in for donating blood and wants to do his part.

6) What are the connotations of the slow-paced long shot of empty chairs at the end of the advert?

The connotations of the three chairs represents the 3% of diverse blood donors, also represents the lack of diverse people donating, The empty chairs sends a message to people like it is your duty to fill that role, to sit on that chair and donate or to give a sense of responsibility or desperation to that dire need of blood.

7) How does the advert match the key conventions of a typical urban music video?

 the close up gives status because it implies they’re important enough to have a frame to themselves. This video consists of mostly closeups and neutral angles of not only herself but other people as well which subverts the usual key conventions of urban music video because it shows that they are equal and you are equal, There are some sense of low angles that show that they powerful but not in the sense where they are looking down on the viewer. Sections of direct contact with the camera is also used, perhaps maybe to show the seriousness in the cause. she Shows a clear display of emotions where she uses lots of gestures and body movements to communicate certain emotions, however her expressions mostly remains neutral. 

8) How does the advert subvert stereotypes? Give three examples (e.g. ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, age, class, disability/ability etc.) 

Unlike the usual stereotypes of rap songs, men in large gold chains, angry gestures and movements and mainly people who are in gangs, there is a diverse selection of people. There are disabilities shown like Ade Adepitan who is a wheelchair user that plays basketball. These famous people are shown to have normal lives or lives that can relate to lower class people because they are all human. Even the woman herself that rapped this song is shown to be wearing makeup but with clothes that are considered casual and some not-so-visible earrings, which she does not flaunt  but rather speak about how no matter who you are you can still donate, which subverts the stereotype of a male rapper, who would flaunt their riches and look down on others.

9) How does the advert reinforce certain stereotypes? Could there be an oppositional reading where some audiences would find this advert offensive or reinforcing negative stereotypes?

This advert reinforces the stereotype of rappers too, she uses lots of gestures to communicate a message. There is an oppositional reading, some viewers may find this advert a bit unfair because there were mainly famous people and people with high paying jobs but not people with low paying jobs and are not noticed. This can give people a wrong impression because the lack of poor people might suggest that they cannot help in the cause.

10) Choose one key moment from the advert and write an analysis of the connotations of camera shots and mise-en-scene (CLAMPS).

By the end of the advert, the scene shows a zoom in towards three empty chairs in what seems to be a clinic, the zoom in can suggest that those chairs are important. The three chairs are a link towards the 3% of black and Asian people who donated their blood, The emptiness suggests that not enough people are donating blood . The lack of movement in the scene suggests the lack of action of us, showing how we are not taking action to save lives. Props used are the three chairs that are used in clinics or hospitals for people to donate blood. The scene around the chairs shows a room with windows behind the chairs with the blinds closed, perhaps this symbolises how the world does not see the issue or how the world cannot see how vital this problem is. As the camera zooms in closer towards the chair in the centre from long shot to medium long shot, This can perhaps suggest that we must focus on this issue and to have us start donating blood to save lives, maybe the chairs can also suggest lives, empty could mean that people are losing their lives?