Hyperbole Can Be Funny [Part 2 Media Meditation #2]

I have recently seen a series of television commercials for UbyKotex, a new line of feminine care products. The commercials are based on humor, and definitely caught my attention. Here's one of them:



Below you can find my analysis of the commercial relating to the 21st Century Media Education Tool Sets.

The Triune Brain:

The limbic brain was definitely engaged during this commercial. The music was light, angelic, almost fairy tale-like. The limbic brain continued to be engaged by the images that came across the screen.

The reptilian brain activated when the hissing cat shot came up. It was funny, but at first I was caught off guard.

Then, as always, my neocortex had it's own role while watching this video. I was analyzing the commercial as well as thinking about other commercials for the same type of product.



Eight Shifts:

This commercial is a personal shift. This type of topic wasn't always talked about, and now television is bombarded by feminine hygiene products. They can also be found online, which is a different aspect to commercials in general. This new media allows for people to share the commercials and products with people, especially through social media, like blogging, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

UbyKotex used an epistemological shift for this commercial as well. Like I talked about with personal shift, the brand went from talking about product to making a commercial about it and showing it using images. Images are definitely more interesting than someone simply explaining it.


Seven Basic Principles:

"Reality" Construction/ Trade-offs were utilized well for this commercial. The company used humor to criticize their competitor's commercials. They were basically stating that all the other commercials fabricate what it's like for women to have their period, making it seem like the feminine hygiene products were the solution to all of their problems. They made their product seem more relatable, because the commercial portrayed an average looking female who seemed to feel the same way as other people her age about the typical pad/tampon commercial.

Pacing were also used well for this commercial. It used different clips of what other commercials portray women doing while using their products. The pace was quick enough to keep my attention, and was consistent throughout the commercial. The pattern would be that the female representing UbyKotex would make a sarcastic remark, and a clip would follow what she said.





Persuasive Techniques:

This entire commercial is based on humor. It uses a lot of sarcastic comments that women can relate to. An example I particularly liked was when the woman stated, "I want to hold really soft things, like my cat" and then a hissing cat appears (0:06).

Simple solutions was also used. The commercial was basically saying that the UbyKotex understands women, so you should use their product.

Straw man was a strong factor in this commercial as well. It was solely based on making fun of competing companies to make their own company look good.

As with most feminine hygiene products, this commercial uses plain folks. This technique is used to make the girls in the commercial seem identifiable, and properly represent the company.