Friday, November 9, 2007

Dual Coding

I would like to begin by saying that I don't really watch tv any more. I hardly ever see commercials, so I don't really have several new examples to pull from, BUT I did see an amazing commercial the other day. The Vaseline "Sea of Skin" commercial definitely uses dual coding theory, you can look at it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0YRJQlwXws

The images are striking, interesting, and maybe a little shocking. They were very artistic to me. It also has a very calming voice praising skin, and what it does for us. The person speaking appealed to my emotions/used pathos. It was nice. I don't do much tv, but remembered this commercial because of the images...and that voice. They both worked together. His voice fit the images, and neither would have been as effective without the other.

I believe that this commercial uses Dual Coding effectively. I imagine that it would have been less effective if 50 Cent had been the narrator. That would have just been distracting, and I might not have perused the images properly; I might have even started singing "In the Club." The calm voice, soothing music, and stimulating images worked well together, and definitely helped the audience remember that Vaseline is all about the skin.

I enjoyed that commercial. :-)

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