Palm Pilot Magazine Ad

I saw an ad for Palm Pilots in a magazine today. The ad contains a hand covered with scrawlings about things the hand's owner meant to remember, whereas the Palm Pilot has a few organized entries and looks comparatively simple. The word 'Chaos' is written above the hand, and 'Order' is written above the Palm Pilot.

This Palm Pilot ad employs two main appeals: the need to feel safe, and the need for aesthetic sensations. The hand is literally covered with writing, and it is arranged chaotically. The background is a crowded, bright city with traffic clogging the street and red lights blaring. All of these things help to foster a feeling of anxiety in the viewer. The unsettling idea that we have forgotten something, that something needs doing, festers in our brains like an itch. Then, on the panel to the right, a solution is offered. The Palm Pilot is clean and simple, resting comfortably on a blank, white, relaxing background. The ad first instills a sense of anxiety and makes the viewer feel overwhelmed, then offers escape from it by presenting the product.

This ad also uses the need for aesthetic appeal to draw in viewers. The Palm Pilot is sleek, shiny, and mixed with aesthetically pleasing amounts of black, white, blue, and red. The Palm Pilot also is displayed in front of a simple, unobfuscated white background. Its appealing appearance is highlighted by the comparison to the frame on the left. The left frame has no concern for aesthetic appeal, with random colors mashed together in a jumble of confusion.

I thought this ad worked fairly well. It is well-designed, and I think its appeals of safety and aesthetics are subtle enough that people could be drawn in by them without realizing that the appeals are there. Even if the appeals were obvious, the message remains. With some appeals, once the viewer consciously realizes the advertiser's gimmick, the ad has lost. Rationally, everyone knows Burger King isn't going to get you laid, and Gatorade won't get you into the MLB. But, the main advantage this ad has over others, and the reason I think it is much, much better than other ads, is that it makes an actual point. Advertisers today are so caught up with lovemarks, underhanded psychological associations, and codes that they forget about their product. In my mind, an advertisement that makes a simple, obvious point about its product that is actually true is much more effective than subtle tricks of the mind.