Promotional Methods Used in the TV Show Pretty Little Liars

Compare the impact and effectiveness of at least two promotional methods from two different media platforms used by the TV show Pretty Little LiarsPretty Little Liars is a famous American TV series in the genre of Drama, Mystery and Thriller aiming at a target audience of teenagers. It is a TV programme full of enigmas as it is in the genre of Mystery. The series is aired on the ABC family channel and is based on a group of ‘pretty’ teenage girls who are trying to discover the real truth about their friends’ murder and who the anonymous person that sends them messages only their dead friend knew is. Each one of them has an ‘ugly’ secret which is revealed as time goes leading them on to actually identifying who the anonymous person really is. Pretty Little Liars is promoted through many media platforms. One platform they are promoted through is print. The poster above of Pretty Little Liars features many promotional materials to engage a wider range of audience to watch the series. . One major feature is the title/logo of Pretty Little Liars. This title/logo helps the audience identify that this is the poster for PLL (Pretty Little Liars) as it’s the same logo not only used in the poster, but also used in other platforms and media text WHY?. This typography is also written in a italic font to show the genre of mystery and thriller and also looks ‘pretty’ as ‘pretty’ is mentioned in the title. The typography also looks effective and fancy making it more memorable to the audience. As well as the title, the picture is also one of the major USP’s that promote the programme. The characters promote the programme as they have fame in real life themselves, which can lead the fans of the actress’ to watching the film and promoting it even further by telling others around them, which makes them a big USP. The picture of the characters can also aspire young girls to be ‘pretty’ like them, which is can be promotional again because if they have been aspired by them for the first time they can carry on watching the episodes. The characters are represented both as pretty and ugly which is conventional because the series are called ‘Pretty’ Little Liars’ and the dirt on them make them ‘ugly’. The body language of the characters also create enigmas and suspicions as the characters all have mysterious face expressions. One of the characters also is doing the whispering sign. These enigmas are promoting the programme as people may want to invest in to this ‘mystery’ by watching the episodes.Another big USP may be the mentioning of the channel ABC family. ABC family is not only promoting Pretty Little Liars, but they are also getting promoted by Pretty Little liars. People who generally like watching other TV programmes on the ABC family channel might be interested in watching PLL itself, after seeing the poster. People who tune in to ABC family only to watch PLL, may also be interested in other TV programmes that the ABC family hosts. This helps both PLL and ABC family get promoted, and is also a big USP.The tag line ‘Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret’ also adds to the effect as it is punchy and it creates enigmas which engages the audience to think about the mysteries of the girls with the ‘ugly secret’ and also engages them to find out why you shouldn’t trust a ‘pretty’ girl with an ‘ugly secret’ by watching the series.After reading this tag line, the audience that is viewing this poster can then link the tag line and the picture back together. The characters all have some type of dirt on them which also adds to the effectiveness of the enigmas, as when looked back to the tag line the ‘ugly secret’ may be the thing that makes the characters so dirty. They are ‘pretty’ but they are also ‘ugly’ as their secret is what makes them ugly.The connotations of the girls are that they all have a mysterious secret which can be seen by their body language. The shovel connotes death.This is is eye catching and is another enigma as the audience may wonder what link the shovel has to do with the series this is also unconventional as it isn’t something expected to be seen on a poster, which is one of the major possible connotations. However the dark background of a stormy weather may be something conventional as the genre includes thriller and it links back to the theme of mystery. The gender of the characters being female may also be conventional too, as the word ‘pretty’ is being mentioned in the title. As well a being promoted in print, PLL is also promoted through broadcast as it is a TV programme. One way PLL is promoted through broadcast is TV trailers. In one of the trailers for PLL, the trailer features many enigmas to lead on people to watch the series. The characters are actually enigmas themselves. For example one of the ‘pretty’ little ‘liars’ say “It’s payback time”. This is a big enigma as we don’t know what the pay back is and it sounds mysterious as the audience may want to find out what the payback is by watching the series. Also, there are a lot of arguments in the trailer which are enigmas too because the audience may want to find out what has caused these arguments and what these arguments may cause even further problems. In the trailer the characters are also represented as violent because of their actions as seen on the trailer. This may be conventional and unconventional in both ways. The violence may be conventional as PLL is in the genre of thriller and mystery meaning there can be some violence and gore due to the thriller part and this can link to the mystery bit, because the mystery can be what causes the violence. Even from the title ‘Pretty Little Liars’ we can expect at least some violence as the word ‘Liars’ is another issue that can cause the violence. However it can also be unconventional as it may attract teen audiences that are more interested in genres like horror which isn’t the genre of PLL. However, this is good because this means the promotion through the trailer is successful as there is a growth in the range of audience meaning more people will be interested and attracted to the series. Mysteries are one of the key things that get the audience interested in to films and series, and in PLL nearly the whole series are full of mysteries and enigmas which is why they include a lot of it in promotional materials like trailers as it is a good way of promoting the series because the mysteries is what engages the audience to watch it.We are also presented with anonymous messages that lead to events happening which are both linked to the mystery. Again these anonymous messages are all enigmas, and we are given scenes that are cut off which can lead to people watching PLL as the audience may want to find out what the anonymous messages have actually caused and they may want to watch it fully to understand.We hear quotes like “I was almost killed”, “what difference could one night make” and “it could change everything” from the characters that also are very good enigmas which can engage the audience watch the series because the audience may want to find out the story behind these. For example why was that character almost killed? What difference was one night going to make, and how could it change everything? To find the answer, the audience will have to watch the series. Towards the end of the trailer we are presented with a very effective cliffhanger.The character opens up a box, however we cannot see what is inside the box. The audience may want to find out what is actually in the box by watching the series. Whilst the trailer is played the channel ABC family is also being promoted on the bottom as it has been edited and put into the trailer to both promote the channel and the series. They are working synergistically because fans of PLL may be interested in the other TV programmes ABC family hosts, and people who usually watch ABC family may be interested in watching PLL.The narrator that talks through the trailer, also has a mysterious voice, and talks in a mysterious way, which is another thing that gets the audience interested. More mystery is added and the tension rises up. It helps the audience understand what they are watching too, because they are being guided through the trailer.The music also builds up to the tension, as a tense melody is being played whilst the characters say things and act in a certain way, which also tells the audience that the episode that is to be aired, will be a mysterious and a very interesting one as the dark choice of song, symbolises thrill and evil which makes the trailer even more effective and can make the trailer memorable in the minds of the audience.At the end of the trailer we are given details about when, which channel and what times the episode will be on. Instead of giving the title in a plain and a random typography, the logo of Pretty Little Liars is used so the audience can again identify and recognize that the trailer is for PLL. The channel information is also given and is used as another promotional material so both of the channel and the TV programme is being promoted.All of this makes the trailer are very effective and a successful on promotion trailer, and makes the series a must-watch.The target audience for Pretty Little Liars are teenagers. As it is a ‘teen drama’ and is based on the life of a group of teenagers, the target audience must be teenagers. PLL is also represented in the TV industry.Pretty Little Liars is overall a very effective TV programme, that can be identified and related with its target audience by using different promotional methods from different media platforms.