Week 7 Color-- Mercer

I was excited about this post because I love colorful ads!!! I am never really into monochromatic ads, simply because I love color so much. I did notice this one in a very old magazine that I have in my craft box though, and I found an image of it online to share on the blog. The color of this monochromatic ad is, clearly, white. The model is wearing all white, the background is white, and his hair is even white. He even has very little color in his eyes... which does seem a bit creepy but definitely looks right in the ad. I think that the lack of color is perfect for Calvin Klein-- it shows how clean and fresh the brand is. I also think that it's slightly more high-fashion and trendy than the normal Calvin Klein ads where the models aren't so starkly white and seem a little bit warmer. The frostiness of the ad certainly has a lot of power and readers will definitely stop to check the ad out. Though I prefer ads with lots of color, I do see the success of this ad, since it makes me look at it as a super trendy and cool designer.

One of my favorite ads to date is the Toyota Prius ad that came out this past year. Here is the video for the commercial:

In this commercial, the beginning is dark and white and grey-- like the colors of nighttime and snowy days. As soon as the Prius drives past any spot, the grey and white disappear as humans (dressed in colorful clothing to look like grass, plants, the sun, etc...) pop up and bring tons of color to the screen for daylight and summer. They all have their hands to the sky, which reminds me of the positive connotation associated with hands raised to the sky that Professor Taylor has been talking about in class these last 2 meetings (not that that has anything to do with color in this ad, but still!). The use of so many colors in this ad really makes me quite happy. The music ties in with the colors and truly puts a smile on my face. I like the way that as the car drives down the road, more and more colors continue popping up. The color in this ad is incredibly effective-- it shows a beautiful portrayal of the brightness of the environment, and certainly makes me want to drive an eco-friendlier car (I do in fact drive a Prius, but if I didn't drive one before I would want to after seeing this ad). I truly see this as an incredibly successful ad that portrays precisely what it needs to portray.