5 Ascent Gum

Art With A Strategy Jef I. Richards states, “Creative without strategy is called ‘art.’ Creative with strategy is called ‘advertising.’” I believe Jef is right, each advertisement is a creation with strategy to best capture the attention of potential consumers to sell their product. There are no mistakes in an advertisement. Each detail has been designed and thought through in an attempt to sell their product. I will evaluate an advertisement of 5 Ascent Gum to better understand why they designed the advertisement as it is, if they met certain appeals, and if they were able to create a successful advertisement. I will illustrate 5 Ascent Gum’s advertisement. First I will describe the 5 Ascent’s Gum Advertisement details. The 5 Ascent went for a simple bold approach with a white small title of “5 ASCENT GUM” centered at the top of the page. The background is completely black. When you see the
advertisement the first detail you see is huge white bold capitalized letters centered towards the top half of the page that read “AN INTENSIFYING WINTERMENT.” These letters are made to appear as frozen ice and it’s light source illuminates the right side of the ice letters. At the end, the letters are breaking into little particles of ice that remind you of diamonds. The letters really stand out with the black background. Beneath the letters there is a horizontal line of ice with icicles hanging on the right side like it would on a roof of a house. Next they show the actual 5 Ascent winterment gum package underneath the horizontal icicles line. This gum package is almost lost in the page as most of it is black. On the package a giant number 5 stretches from top to bottom on the right side of the gum package separates the black and the crystalized ice pattern on the right side. The words on the black side of the gum package read “ASCENT” in the first line with a snow flake, and then “ …AN ESCALATING WINTERMINT” on the second line. After that at the very bottom of the 5 Ascent advertisement in a small case font with capital letters it reads “STIMULATE YOUR SENSES.” This is what the overall advertisement design consists of. Now I will note the visual elements of the Advertisement. This advertisement is one page with a vertical design. The entire design is centered so it seems like a stable design at first glance. I then noticed the balance shifts your focus to the right side of the page in multiple ways; by illuminating the letters as they break into particles, by having the icicles on the horizontal line only on the right, and by having the actual gum package details of a crystalized pattern on the right side. More space is vacant on the left side. One might conclude that this decision rebels against the balance of the page, but I believe this slight imbalance was done on purpose to make this advertisement more appealing and less standard. The contrast between the dark and light is also not equal which results in stressing what light objects they do have on the page. This allows the viewer to notice the light object right away because it has more of a visual pull. Another visual element is the texture of the ice letters and the particles that break off of the ice letters. This page lacks a variation of color. The color consists of black, white, and a some blue on the package itself. In a magazine this may draw more attention to the advertisement because of how bold and simple it appears to be compared to the busy designs and words of magazine. Visual elements such as; arrangement, stability, balance, contrast, texture, and color help to understand the art of the advertisement itself, and it’s effect towards the viewer. The details of the design matter especially when reviewing the visual elements of the advertisement and it’s affect towards future consumers. I will also describe what appeals this advertisement consists of.
First I will conclude the primary appeal from Jib Fowls’s lists of appeals for this advertisement as the “need to satisfy curiosity.” Jib Fowls recognizes 15 basic appeals in his Article “Mass Advertising As Social Forecast.” This list contains various needs the marketers use to best sell their product. When I looked at the 5 Ascent Gum’s advertisement I was extremely curious what the flavor “wintermint” taste like. This advertisement markets the “need to satisfy curiosity” to it’s future consumers. Next I believe the secondary appeal is the “need to escape.” I concluded this appeal due to the particles of ice breaking free from “AN INTENSIFYING WINTERMINT.” 5 Ascent is marketing a new flavor of gum. I think the “need to escape” could be to avoid the old unexciting flavors, or the “need to escape” bad breath. The secondary appeal from Jib Fowls’s 15 basic appeals is the “need to escape.” These two appeals; “need to satisfy curiosity,” and “need to escape,” are efficiently used to advertise 5 Ascent
Gum. Now I will analyze the effectiveness of 5 Acsent’s Advertisement. First I will state my personal opinion. When I was reading “GameInformer Magazine” I happened to flip to the 5 Ascent Gum’s Advertisement. As a college artist, I immediately was drawn to the striking simplicity of the advertisement when compared to other complicated designed articles. After imagining how to create the advertisement as a future graphic designer I felt like this advertisement was lacking something. I agree the initial simplicity seemed to capture my attention at first, but I feel there should be more ice designed behind the gum package to help separate the package from being engulfed into the background. In order for this advertisement to be effective the viewer would go out and buy their product. I did not buy 5 Ascent Wintermint Gum. However, I believe this advertisement could be affective to appeal another audience (or one who was more interested in gum). In my personal opinion this advertisement was interesting but average. In addition I will briefly review the success or loss for this advertisement’s elements and appeals. In general this advertisement purposely chose to go against some elements to draw attention to their product and message. With art being held to high standards in regards to the elements an marketer views this as an opportunity to stand out. 5 Ascent Gum’s advertisement was imbalanced, had lack of equal contrast, and was simplified on purpose. Then when looking at the best represented appeals of this advertisement I think they succeeded. This advertisement does portray a “need to satisfy curiosity” by presenting a new flavor, “wintermint,”with multiple references to ice adding to the customer’s curiosity. It also displays a “need to escape” with the breaking away ice particles. Jib Fowls’s two appeals are indeed represented in this advertisement. Overall this advertisement was successful in terms of grasping attention and appeals, but for me it lacked developed and balanced elements. After evaluating the success of this advertisement I have concluded
5 Ascent’s gum advertisement successfully manipulated the elements and used certain appeals to capture its audience. I have not yet bought 5 Ascent’s Wintermint gum, but I am considering the “need to satisfy curiosity” and may buy this gum in the future. I agree with Jef I. Richards when looking at 5 Ascent Gum’s page, it was created with strategy so we call it an advertisement.