Ads + Existing Art = Humor (Modern)

      While the composition of the Kellogg’s ad from the previous post allows the reader to ponder how the art itself (Venus personified) would interact with the product, the ad below suggests a way that the end consumer of the product can use it in a creative way to interact with a famous piece of fine art. The right-hand panel of the ad shown below reads: “New Handycam Stamina: Up to 15 Hours continuous recording”. The visual of the piece is of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famed painting Mona Lisa. The portrait is framed by white L-angles and the letters REC are seen at the top right-hand corner: these additions are to alert the viewer that we are seeing the painting through the lens of a Sony camcorder. However, what we see is not the painting as we know it—instead, Mona Lisa has her eyes closed and her head tilted forward. She is asleep! This Sony ad insinuates that a customer, with this camcorder, could potentially tape the painting long enough to see the subject “go off-duty” so to speak. This ad plays on the fact that this painting draws an almost never-ending crowd of viewers everyday, at its home in the Louvre art museum in Paris. A reader gets the joke not only in recognizing the piece, but also by understanding the culture that surrounds it.

Suggested Target Audience:Technologically-savvy individuals with higher education

Suggested Modern-Day Media Vehicle: Digital Photography Magazine Website (Website associated with print version of photography and videography website)

Rationale: Since the ad focuses on the product attributes that would likely only matter to someone using the equipment often, and since the ad relies more on the consumer perhaps having seen the painting in person, an individual with a little more education and a little more technical knowledge needs to be reached. 

     There are a large supply of advertisements which reproduce fine art and add copy or make small changes to the art to produce a humorous outcome. Due to the abundance of religious works in art history, they are an often-used genre. Below the reproduction of this advertisement in his book The Fine Art of Advertising, Barry Hoffman has written a comment: “Fra Angelico’s Annunciation depicts Gabriel giving Mary the news of her pregnancy. For those of us who experience intercourse with partners who are less than divine, this alternative pregnancy test will have to suffice” (Hoffman, 35). 
     The print ad has reproduced the 15^th Century painting and given Mary a thought bubble of dialogue that reads, “Thanks, but I already know”. Below the reproduction is a picture of the product and the tagline: “The most efficient pregnancy test” (Hoffman, 35). Clear Blue Pregnancy Tests has used this painting as a way to suggest that their product is so effective and efficient, that it can even detect pregnancies from divine intervention. The joke is more accessible because of the religious nature of the painting—even if a consumer isn’t familiar with this exact work, it is likely that they’ve seen a depiction of an annunciation scene from another artist, or are just familiar with the exchange said to have taken place between Gabriel and Mary from religious lore. “Many of the paintings of religious scenes seem oblivious of the offense they may give to anyone who thinks that the need to sell a product doesn’t justify desecrating sacred images and icons” (Hoffman, 32). Hoffman’s comment brings to light that while art can be put into ads to produce a humorous outcome, it almost certainly means that the art object loses most of its prestige value in the process.

Suggested Target Audience: Women 18-40

Suggested Modern-Day Media Vehicle: Marie Claire, or similar women's fashion or lifestyle periodical

Rationale: Since pregnancy tests are most relevant to women, the ad must reach them exclusively

Hoffman, Barry. (2003). The Fine Art of Advertising. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.