Ancillary Research - Gorillaz Advert

Gorillaz Ad

This advert by the Gorillaz for the album “DEMON DAYS” Is pretty basic and doesn’t involve that much typography or visual elements in fact there is only one set of four small images the rest is just vast array of emptiness. I find it hard to see how if at all this advert is going to attract more viewers than other adverts.

There is no real main colour scheme within this advert since most of it is just a blackened background with some basic white text. In fact the only colour that is shown is within the four main animated characters within the four boxes. Since there isn’t a lot of colour I would have imagined that the advert would then not stand out amongst all the others. Yet then again this advert could relate to more is less and that the viewers should automatically recognize this advert as being linked with the Gorillaz. The image within the advert is actually the same image as the one on the album so not only to people recognize who the band is but also what album to look for.

The lack of elements within this advert could actually link with the band and there preferred genre of music which is alternative. Usually adverts are bright, colourful, eye catching and the typography usually contain some kind are legible yet mad font.

Since this advert has decided to be different to the others this not only relates to the genre of the band but who this advert is targeting, which I would suggest is teenagers. The band is actually run by one person (Damon Alburn) and the bands group consists of animated character. This is not only different but also kind of childish as animation is usually linked with cartoons and cartoons with children and in some cases teenagers’ e.g. Family guy. Also teenagers are seen as sub cultural and different just like the band and how they are portrayed.

The characters within this advert are shown all facing the same way each with very serious and grave faces, much like those of a stereotypical teenager look or also known as the Kevin. Not only does the facial expression relate to a stereotyped teenager but their entire style as well. The characters attire hairstyle and even make up, all link with the stereotyped attributes of a typical, modern teenager or the perfect definition of the antonym that is hegemony. Not only is the style of the advert relating to teenagers but also to a more modern audience. It could even relate to the idea of a post modernism since

I personally prefer this adverts more abstract idea more than the usual in your face, noisy and luminescent approach, simply because it’s easy to read, see and observe also because the advert links with the album cover relating the two together. I also like how this advert attempts to be different compared the other adverts and albums.

Ancillary Research - Red Hot Chili Peppers Album Advert

 This advert poster for the album “By the way” by the Red hot Chili Peppers appears very chaotic and disordered almost as if it where graffiti. The roughness of the advert constantly relates to the fact that this band’s genre is mostly rock based. Along with the messy layout this advert contains multiple colours, types of typography and symbolism, all of which can accumulate together and produce many different advertising aspects.


The layout is a complete random mess portrays to the viewer’s just what type of band they are… And from the disorderly layout I would suggest that this was a rock related band as rock is usually associated with untidiness. Not only does the layout inform the viewer about the band but it also allows the poster to stand out and catch the viewer’s eye. Since the layout is out of the ordinary and differs greatly compared to other adverts thus allowing it to stand out and make the viewer look twice.


The typography is also very different compared other adverts, all the texts look as if they have been roughly painted on again relating to the scruffiness that is rock. But the text doesn’t just show what type of genre the band is related to but it also links to the specific targeted audience which in this case I would presume would be teenagers who are also seen as a very messy generation. The fact that this advert is specifically targeting there audience will help in obtaining an audience which mostly contains teenagers and possibly young adults. But by doing this they are restricting the overall amount of audiences. Some of the text is so rough and similar to the background that it has almost become completely illegible, this has most probably been done to add more of a rebellious/ scruffy effect and make the advert appear like a sort of rebellious poster not to dissimilar to the 1959 Cuban revolution posters by Che Guevara.


Amongst all of the disorder and mess there appears to be a half-naked drawing of a woman smack bang in the middle of the advert. Even though she can be clearly seen as a person the way she has been drawn is again very messy and rough, so even though she may be different compared to the rest of the poster she still can relate to it by being in such a state. However she is half naked but at the same time she is clearly not trying to be seductive… What with it being a fairly bad drawing, but this shows that this poster is instead being non-conformist. Since nudity in public is technically illegal in most, if not all western societies by her showing signs of nudity it again is showing the rebellion that rock is usually linked with.

 This advert is clearly following in Theodor Adorno’s theory in a way that would suggest that the audience is mass. After analysing the poster I found that there is only really one main objective and that is to show the audience that this band along with its album is related to some form of rock. In turn this would suggest that the creators of this advert assume that nearly all rock fans are mass and all like the same themed genre as there is really hardly any other elements within this poster that would try and advertise to an individual audience.

Ancillary Research - Depeche Mode Album Advert

This advert by the band Depeche Mode contains a fairly simple yet colourful/retro styled effect that captures the audiences’ attention. The vast array of bright colours that contrast against the darkened areas of the poster stand out more because of the contrast which can then catch the corner of a customer’s eye, also the fact that the colours are all different makes it more appealing and attractive to the audience’s eye. The geometric shapes surrounding both the band and the lighting effects show a form a retro which was a popular trend in the 1980’s which is when the band formed so then the retro style not only shows what type of band they are but also just how long they have been going for. Even though the estranged lines show the older aspect of the band they have been edited to appear newer and more modern the colour scheme has been added to the once retro styled pattern to not only appeal to the older generation but also to the newer/more younger audience.

The typography is also rather different; the name of the band is the biggest with two unusual fonts for the first letters of each word which could in fact confuse a younger audience who might not know who they are and therefore think that the band is called Oepeche Mode due to the misleading font located on the first letters of each word of the band title. This disruptive font could narrow down the total number of possible customers who would be interested in buying the product. The rest of the font appears very basic and straight, the type of font you would expect from Arial, this is really quite dull and adds no real interesting aspect to the poster but I suppose it does get the message across pretty clearly. The only piece of text that is in a different font is the title of one of their number one songs, the font not only allows the text to stand out but it also fits in with name of the song which is “Wrong” this allows people to recognise the text and since it is featured on the poster it would most likely be a popular song in which people can then link with thus grabbing their attention. We however wish to use different yet legible types of fonts within all of our texts to not only grab the audience’s attention but to also relate to the name of the song that is featured within the single album.