Love CHOCOLATE!
Posted by: Elle on: October 18, 2009
Such advertisements are very common in the Korea market. Companies often scout for celebrities or singers to advertise their products simply because they understand the theory that ” The Medium is the message” (how to deliver the message is more important than what the message is).
In this video, the message is being delivered through the song. We could also see the ability of the media to influence its audience by employing the tactic of using the popularity of the band to persuade the audience (mainly fans i supposed) to consume their products. Only companies who have the advertising budget can engage themselves in such act of publicity. From the lyrics of the song, it attempts to influence the audience to buy their product. For instance, ” Chocolate Love! Will you be able to resist this magical charm!” may convince the audience that it is indeed wonderful to own ” Chocolate” and the power of it is irresistible.
Notice that there are no specifications or features mentioned in the video but the dance moves and the song being emphasized. This is one strategy to attract the audience’s attention before filling them up with the boring part. (specs)
Hence, a development is seen in mass media, (having the ability to influence audience) from the limited effects theory (where audience select the information they want from the abundance of availability). They can still choose today but they are somewhat “forced” to think the way that benefits the media. Mass Media is being smartly used by companies as its influence is prominent in the society.
So what do you think of local advertisments?
18 Responses to "Love CHOCOLATE!"
October 25, 2009 at 5:53 am
Well, local advertisements also make use celebrities and the most successful few are the recent JetStar Joanna Peh and Vitagen Felicia Chin. ‘Using’ celebrities certainly works as fans will support them somehow. Some fans may drink Vitagen more just because of her. The effect can range from minor to major. However, they may not be the most cost effective as spending money engaging a celebrity is not cheap especially for 1 that is very famous. And moreover, such commericals lack creativity in most cases and will lose out in competition for Best Commerical. Even if this is so, companies will still use the celebities way as their main aim is still to generate more sales. They don’t care how it is done, so long it’s legal. All they just want to see is the results which is more sales. Winning Best Commerical prize will be a bonus.
Personnally, I must said the advertisements using celebrities is quite effective to me, especially S.H.E
I just bought OSIM uKimono. In the past, when S.H.E endorsed Casio watches, MP3 players, I also got buy. But lucky for me, I only do that, because it my beloved S.H.E. See, the power of love operating in another aspect here? Just because a person truelly love something in this case, S.H.E, he can do anything for them. But for me, there is a limit still, hehe. So when you met the special someone in your life, remember to love him/her with no limit, completely.
Oops, I out of topic again, haha. Let come back for a final statement that sounds something like below:
“Company advertises to pay and Company pays to advertise”… What it means is some companies advertise to pay others while some companies pay others to advertise. Either ways, they have 1 ultimate goal and that is to achieve more sales. 
October 25, 2009 at 8:40 pm
many times the marketing outweighs the actual value of the product..
as we can already see from wee meng.. his love (obsession?) with s.h.e. has made him purchase the osim product.. the casio products.. etc.. does he really need them? maybe he does.. but more often than not we merely subjugate ourselves to the powers of marketing..
that’s what celebrity endorsement is about in the first place anyway.. we get people whom everyone likes to endorse a product that perhaps not everyone needs.. but that everyone “don’t mind getting”..
but i still believe that for advertisements, it’s not just about the “star power” of the endorsers (the celebrity in this case).. do you remember the M1 advertisement recently where 4 models totally unheard of starred in? what about the mastercard advertisement? what about the visa advertisement with that fat man dancing all over the world?
we don’t know the models.. but look at how everyone’s talking about the advertisements! that’s the power of mass media.. and you’re right.. the medium is the message itself.. end of the day.. the media is there for a purpose.. which is to generate sales.. =)
October 26, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I agree that the power of media cannot be undermined, no matter how it has been mainipulated by companies to achieve their agenda. What i can understand from the use of media is that it could work like a charm to influence the consumers. To cite one example, most advertorials of facial products would use faces of celebrity and by doing so, it convinces the public that the reason why these celebrities have soft and supple skin is accredited to the brand of the facial products that they endorse for. This would in turn send a message to the consumers that the particular brand of products is of premium quality and is effective. Utimately, the main aim of these companies is to garner more support from the masses to boost sales. It has successfully convinced consumers to have faith in their products through the extensive publicity. Thus, the sole main objective is met and that is to boost sales.
November 1, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I think advertisements are a thing of the past. With the rise of technology, people can now choose to consume when needed. Advertisements can be easily overlooked. Furthermore, to find ways to force advertisements upon people will only result in further rejection. The Chocolate advertisement may seem innovative, but it will not be long before it gets old and boring.
The graveyard of technology draws near with each passing second.
November 3, 2009 at 4:57 am
Hi Li Ni!
Were they really promoting chocolate or was this clip a music video? I think this advertisment was really refreshing because of the unique referance to chocolates. In this clip I felt that more focus was placed on the girls loving chocolate than the actual chocolate itself. And amazingly I felt like buying the chocolates anyway! There were still subtle hints of the chocolate’s presence however, as shown by the chocolate made doors and the choice of chocolate-ty colored clothes the celebrity girls wore. This commercial is also really smart in the way they combine song and promotional purpose together.
Compared to this commercial, I think our local advertisements are more dull even with the use of local celebrities to enhance the commercial. Take the tour bus advertisment starring celebrity Moses Lim for example. That commercial was so dry!
November 6, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Hi dear,
In Korean I believe that they are many crazy fans who go all out to support their idols. Hence using celebrities in their advertisement is effective and very successful. However, bring it out of Korean, and this advertisement is an absolute failure. This just shows how it is important to make an advertisement to suit the market and target audience.
In Singapore, advertisements seriously lack any creativity. Even using celebrities in advertisements, I believe that companies are actually wasting their financial resources. These celebrities have practically no effect on us Singaporean. (Or perhaps I’m just speaking for myself since I find it stupid to be fanatics) However I believe we can’t blame the lack of innovation in Singapore’s commercials. Which company is willing to pay so much more just for creativity? Not to mention the Creative Directors here locally are paid really miserably compared to those in other countries. Where’s the motivation to become better then? And since there is also a lack of strong competition amongst the companies, there is also a lack of need to produce really good commercials.
Do comment on my blog too! 
November 6, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Hello! I think we can’t really compare Singapore’s ads with Korean ads because: 1) They occur in different context. Singaporeans and Koreans have different points of view and will hence take different approaches in producing ads. 2) Singapore and Korea media networks are quite different. For instance, Singapore’s media networks are limited, and they would want to show as many commercials in a given time as possible. Such a long commercial would thus not be able to find its place on a Singapore media network. Also, Singaporeans may have differing perceptions of such ads as compared to Koreans. Singaporean culture is different from Korean culture and thus producers will tend to produce ads that cater specifically to Singaporean audience. Yep.
November 7, 2009 at 3:36 am
using celebrities in advertisements is rather common nowadays. this is especially common in countries like korea and taiwan where the media market is huge. celebrities may endorse more than one product, for example show luo who has around 15 endorsement deals with them and s.h.e. as mentioned. these celebrities are convincing (ethos) and easily persuade the consumers to buy their products, as mentioned again.
personally i feel using celebrities is effective but in singapore the use of celebrities is pretty useless because the media market is so small here.
November 8, 2009 at 2:46 am
I feel that most of the time when celebrities are used in advertisements, the companies are trying to draw attention to their products based on the popularity of the celebrity and not the actual product itself.
Even with limited information displayed of the product, just based on the status of the celebrities themselves will entice “star-struck” fans to go and enquire or even consume the products.
Thus, I feel that most companies, even local advertisers, will use celebrities as a spokesperson for the product as it’ll be the most effective.
November 8, 2009 at 4:50 am
HELLO!
CHOCOLATES CHOCOLATES! Who deosnt love chocolates? haha.
Anyways, I do think that celebrities do play a huge role in advertising especially those with large fanbase. The alrge fanbase would definitely boost the sales of the product because fans would trust their idols and want to be alike with what their idol purchases and uses. As much, celebrities can play an important role. Aside from that, those who are not fans of the famous person would still purchase the product because their is some form of credibility.
November 8, 2009 at 5:15 am
I agree with you that many companies use the the strong influence of mass media to their advantage.
Somehow or other, I feel that chocolate is often being treated with some relation to sex. That is something which I really do not understand.
However, I do not agree with celeste’s comments above. I do not think that Korea has a high context culture. To that, I’m actually referring to South Korea. I feel that South Koreans have a rather balanced mix of high and low context cultures. Like I mentioned during the 1st group’s presentation during com, the south koreans stood up for their own rights in the demonstrations and strikes in the recent years. If they were to be in a high context culture solely, then what happened would not make any logical sense at all. Of course, I would say that they are partially high context as many still conform to the norms and beliefs in the country.
=)Kai Ting
November 8, 2009 at 7:11 am
hey! so here my comments that you wanted! haha:)
i tink that it’s a great idea to use music video as a way to advertise products, be it handphones or just some ordinary products that we use everyday. Because this is the way to capture attention! Nobody just want to hear all those specs about the products and i don’t think that people have very long attention span nowadays so by using music or even famous celebrities, this would be able to capture their attention longer, also making them to remember the products even clearer! Hence i find no harm in it and actually supporting it because this will also allow advertisers to think of more interesting ways to advertise products.
serina:)
November 8, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Indeed, celebrity endorsements for products are very common in Asian countries! Even famous American actors who don’t usually appear on advertisements in their home country (i.e. Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster, Leonardo DiCaprio) actually agree to the deals made in Japan. I think it is because of a strong “fan-culture” that makes the advertisers decide on using celebrities as a selling point.
Moreover, since most Asian countries are high context, they don’t really pay attention to the words, but rather they pay attention to the medium that’s being used to communicate a message to them.
do comment on my blog too!
http://becauseimacommstudent.blogspot.com
November 8, 2009 at 6:09 pm
that said.. i think sometimes for the rational consumer.. they will still fall back on the specs of the products to make their purchasing decisions..
the thing is that.. companies sometimes spruce up their products with so many specs and new functions that are relatively useless (or perhaps.. only good-to-haves) for the average consumer..
in any case.. it’s all part of the marketing methodology.. =)
November 9, 2009 at 3:24 am
Hello Lenny(:
Definitely, mass media has influenced our lives in a great way. We see all forms of adverts everywhere these days and undeniably, it has very well become our way of life since it has become increasingly pervasive.
Since there is a demand for consumers to see more of their idols and pop culture is deeply rooted, we cannot blame these businesses for using idols to market their product. So we can expect to see more of such adverts in future.
Local adverts seems to be using the same people over and over again. so nah, its not as appealing as their counterparts as compared to adverts in Korea, Taiwan or Japan. No offense, but i see adverts as our way of life and it simply enables us to choose as a wise consumer, giving us greater ability. but sad to say, this marketing gimmick is only applicable to the big and rich, small businesses simply do not have the ability to play in today’s market.
Hope this helps and it doesnt go out of point(:
November 9, 2009 at 3:34 am
Personally, i feel that local adverts are too intellectual. Most of them arent very catchy. We require to use some of our imagination and think through them a little before we get what the businesses are trying to portray of their products. Perhaps, this is also another form of advertisement targetting at different audiences.
November 9, 2009 at 4:42 am
I feel that local advertisements are a tad too boring! Due to too many red-tapes, advertising agencies have to sacrifice their creativity for ‘family-friendly’ advertisements. Try youtube-ing various product commercials and one can easily find a handful of bold, creative and hilarious advertisements, each never fail to deliver the required message.
Using celebrities in advertisements are very common in Asian countries like Taiwan, China, Korea etc. Although Singapore has her own share of celebrity advertisements, she is still incomparable to the formers. As viewed in the above video, engaging new girl group such as f(X) to endorse the product is a very effective way to boost product sales. Another successful example is Japanese candy brand Pinky, who engaged highly popular Koren boyband DBSK to endorse their product as well to star in its commercial. After the commercial was released, Pinky’s monthly sales significantly doubled and its products were wiped out instantly.
Hence, I feel that Singapore could be more relaxed in their regulation for commercials and that we still have much to learn from other countries’ style of advertising! =)
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October 22, 2009 at 7:29 pm
HI LI NI!
I agree with you that Korea is a High context society. The use of celebrities’ popularity for companies’ advertisement is a method of using something viewers will like, instead of promoting the benefits of the product as what Low context society, which emphasise the importance of direct speech, would do.
However, on the other hand I think that there is a growing trend of companies choosing a normal person (as in, with not extremely well known) to front their advertisements, as they feel that the audience can better relate to them than celebrities. Similarly, this idea is also similar to the ones used in High context societies.
cforceleste.blogspot.com