Advertising Themes of Curiosity and Humor in Pop art Oeuvres (Essay Sample)

Advertising themes of curiosity and humor in pop art oeuvres
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Introduction
Pop art, a form of art that developed as a reaction to the dominant abstract realism aimed at creating emotions and feelings among the audience, rather than the image of the artwork (Tickner, 2012). Mostly used in advertisements, pop artists differentiated an object from its natural state and incorporated other unrelated materials to come up with a unique, yet creative and captivating image with little resemblance to the original object (Tickner, 2012). With the understanding that captivating images and pictures lure customers into buying a product, advertisers relied on pop art in creating appealing advertisements. Compared to passive consumer behavior, active consumer behavior has direct impact on sales, as actively, customers will purchase products subconsciously (Mukherjee & Dubé, 2012). This way, companies use emotional and arousing pictures to induce customers into buying. Various manufacturers used pop artists in creating advertisements for their products. The advertising themes in these images focused on having direct impact on consumers immediately they saw the advert. This essay discusses the advertising themes of humor and curiosity in four oeuvres by pop artists, the shopping bag by Roy Lichtenstein, yellow brillo box by Andy Warhol, Campbell’s soup cans, and Coca cola advertising.
In advertising, a theme is a central, repetitive message whose main idea is promoting awareness and as such, has a more profound impact to the consumer than individual adverts. While themes focus on creating brand loyalty and induce demand through curiosity, they also create humor depending on the artist’s approach to design (Sennett & Daly, 2014).
Shopping bag by Roy Lichtenstein
Lichtenstein used comic in creating images that had humorous effects on the audience. His approach to design, heavily influenced by advertising wave had an immediate effect on the audience; especially the target customer base saw him create many successful adverts. In addition to advertising images, Lichtenstein also created other comic works for exhibition during his art career (Roy Lichtenstein, 1964). The shopping bag, one of his classics shows the extent to which he used imagination and humor to capture the attention of the audience. The oeuvre, which is a normal shopping bag, has a picture of a cooked turkey in a bowl engraved on its side. This captures the attention of any person, evoking the desire and curiosity to have a turkey meal. Looking at the bag, it is humorous to imagine a shopper currying a cooked turkey in such a bag (“Turkey Shopping Bag,” 1964).
Yellow brillo box by Andy Warhol
Warhol, an American artist explored the relationship between the artistic expression, celebrity culture and entertainment elements common in the American society in the 1960s. He became famous for his controversial art works, which involved various forms of media, ranging from the drawings, paintings, prints, photography, silk screens, film, sculpture, and music. In the yellow brillo box advert, Warhol focused on creating curiosity among the consumers on the contents inside the box. Intentionally, the choice of yellow color for the box arrests the attention of the consumer, raising curiosity, consequently prompting them to buy. Soap pads are less appealing to people, as they have nothing fancy. Yet, the packaging, as marketing experts argue, changes the customer perception, increasing their chances of buying. The box has a catchy image that remains in the mind of the customers (“Yellow Brillo Box,” 1964.)
Campbell’s soup cans
Warhol, one of the most successful ad artists of his period also created an ad for Campbell’s soup. Commonly known as 32 Campbell’s soup cans, the artist focused on all 32 varieties of canned soup offered by the company. Using printmaking method on thirty-two canvases, the artwork featured popular culture of the 1960s. Arranging them in a neat canvas, a customer looking at the ad would want to know how one, if not all the soup types tastes. Through such curiosity, a person would end up buying one, or all of the soup varieties by the company (“Campbell's Soup Cans,” 1962.)
Coca cola advertising
The oeuvre is a painting of four differently colored coke cola bottles. Each set against a backdrop of different colors is captivating to the eyes. Each of the four bottles has a unique color from the rest, while the background...