Sunday, 3 November 2013

OUGD501: Study task 3 - Constructing the other

Iron Bru Adverit

           

For this task I've chosen to look at the Iron Bru advert. The drink is portrayed as a kind of reminder that the man himself is Scottish. It uses the English lad and his 'annoying' traits to anger the Scottish man, so that when he drinks the Iron Bru he's reminded that he is Scottish, and then he is able to deal with the fact that his daughter’s boyfriend is British. The advert uses otherness in a humorous manner, it allows the Scottish audience to compare themselves with the negativity of the English and remind them why they are Scottish.

The advert starts by showing a working class, middle-aged Scottish football fan reading a magazine called Scottish stuff. His daughter enters and introduces the man to her English boyfriend; he starts to get agitated and proceeds to drink his Iron Bru, which calms him down. The lad then takes off his jacket and is wearing an England '66 T-shirt; he then proceeds to reach for another swig of his Iron Bru. The advert is comparing the stereotypical British lad with his patriotic symbolisms with the arrogance of the Scottish man, which connotes that the Scottish are better because they have Iron Bru.

The man is portrayed as being quite working class/ common. He’s reading a magazine called Scottish stuff, he’s wearing Scottish colours and bagpipes are playing in the background. This is eliminating the middle and upper class; it’s making the working class feel proud and patriotic, as If it’s better to be the workingman.


At the end of the advert the picture frame reads ‘Iron Bru, gets you through’. It’s a very blunt statement, as if it’s fact. It is showing Iron Bru as this Scottish working mans drink, no other drink can compare to this.


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