Journal Seven

 

I found the Pro-Mark advertisement in the Modern Drummer (February 2010) and also in the February 2010 issue of Revolver. It was very difficult to find advertisements that were featured in two magazines, and this was one of the ones I found. At first, the denotative picture shows a clam, Buddhist-like man with his legs crossed, dressed in plain black clothes, and without shoes. It looks as if he is meditating, but the connotation reveals so much more. There is a startling yellow color that contrasts vividly with the background, and it is paint dripping down his hands from his drumsticks. The drummer is sitting right in the middle of the symmetrical layout and it brings all focus to him. At first, someone would not really understand the meaning until it is found out that the slogan for the ad is “Feel the color of music.” At that instant, a person can almost feel the cold, wet paint running down their fingers by looking at the magazine. I believe this advertisement is connecting the feeling between a musician and their feel for music by showing the peacefulness on the face of the drummer. The drummer and the colorful drumsticks are signs. The drummer is a sign for the targeted audience: people who play drums and want to feel “one” with their drumsticks. The drumsticks signify the musical instrument while the bright paint dripping off of them would be a symbol for the feel of the drumsticks to the person who is using them. This advertisement would be appealing to the viewers because it has a sense of peace encompassing it. It is playing with the viewer’s emotions by depicting that the musician will feel “one” with their correct drumstick and only feel bliss. This advertisement is very successful because it strikes a musician’s creative interest with the calmly bold advertisement, but it also speaks to the musician because each can relate to the sense of peace a person feels when able to practice art. Overall, the advertisement twisted the ad and the slogan together very well and the simple image got the point across to the target audience.