Digital manipulation has altered our perception of the image.

Technology and the possibility of using it in different ways has developed extremely fast
and the speed with which it continues to develop increases even more. Digital manipulations
are used in almost every visual image in media. These manipulations have been made so
professional that without knowledge of digital manipulation, it is almost impossible to see
them. Images without these manipulations one can consider being boring or unattractive. To
get an audiences attention, real things in pictures have been made more impressive than they
are in real life. The boundaries of reality have been stepped over due to the progression of
technology. Nowadays using technology for everything is possible; whatever your imagination
is, now you can realize it. For example; there are falling angels with an earthquake when they
reach the ground in the Lynx Excite advertisement; a Coca-Cola advertisement showing an
exciting and animated world inside the drinking/vending machine which becomes animated
when a coin is dropped in; and a Mller yoghurt advertisement where all the grumpy world has
been turned in to cartoons. Moreover peoples mind and perception have been used to all these
changes and effects so that they think it is self-evident and very often they do not even notice
them. According to Matt (2008) effective advertising should - grab people attention, be clever
and creative, speak loudly, do not make audience think too much, choose colours that pop, but
make sense, be informative, stand out and be memorable, give off a feeling, show not tell and
use humour: use metaphor. However, are there more advanced technologies and digital
manipulation required to make the advertisement more effective? This question will be
researched by comparing two recent television advertisements and two print advertisements.
In Virgin Atlantic advert Your airlines either got it or it hasnt
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbib-A6NpW8), many digital manipulations have been used to
make it look more impressive. The advert takes the viewer in to a metaphorical flight with
Virgin, showing the brand image and qualities; a glamorous, faultless and impressive airline.
There have been used effects such as; different people size, flying people, enlarged airplanes
engine and more others that have been supplemented with amazing lighten effects. Behind the
complex array of effects, you can see the demonstration of the power, the size, the customer
service and the attitude of Virgin Company. As Barry (2008) has suggested the difference
between Print and TV advertisements is that on screen the idea can be slightly more
sophisticated. Although the audience can definitely notice the impressiveness of the brand, the
several digital effects that have been used impact the credibility and one could get mislead by
the changing advert. As Long and Wall has said (2009): A brand is a benchmark of quality that
may, in turn, reflect the trustworthiness of the brand as a guarantor of quality, but it is also
something more. Moreover the advert grabs audiences attention with its impressiveness. It
can be seen that the creative department has put in effort to create this advert and you have to
be clever to make an advert that not only shows but also gives the feeling of this companys
power, mood and tone, and that also makes the ad informative.
The other advertisement is Subaru Baby Driver
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qf8OGLqE1s&feature=player_embedded), where compared
with the previous Virgin advert, less digital manipulations has been used. A father stands by his
car and gives last indications and pointers for his little daughter. He then gives his car keys to
her and steps back, and only then the audience can see that it is actually young woman.
Though, in her fathers head she will always be his little girl. There is really clever metaphor in
advert which shows and gives a feeling in a simple way that this car is so save that even the
father would allow his little girl to drive. This simple way of showing and understanding how
parents feel about letting their child drive a car for the first few times, is a smart method of
how to grab target audiences attention. It makes you feel instead of thinking. However this
advertisement is not completely original as State Farm drive safe program TV Commercial
in 2009, first created the idea of fathers emotions about giving his child car keys. What this
shows is that digital manipulations are not the only effective method to give viewers feeling
about the brand.
Print adverts use digital manipulations as much as Television advertisements. To make
the image look appealing and interesting and to grab peoples attention, they sometimes use so
many special effects that in the first look it is impossible to notice all of them. Reaves (1995)
suggests that while newspapers prefer not to use digital manipulations in order to maintain the
pictures credibility, advertising uses many digital manipulations to entertain their audience.
Two print advertisements have been compared, assessing the appearance on how much digital
manipulation and effects appear to have been used.

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/golds_gym_burger
In this advertisement it can be seen that it is not real which clearly indicates that technology,
computer programs and other special effects have been used to create this ashes burger. It is a
demonstration of burning calories. This ad conforms to what Barry (2008) has said: the
concept should be understood without having it explained to them in the script. As this image
is only a metaphor people are not expecting to see how the calories have really been burned.
By showing people a burger in a different look, this ad grabs their attention. With help of
technology and digital manipulation this advert stands out and catches a second look from the
audience.


http://www.adwomen.org/2011/06/vog-socks-by-ilkay-gurpinar/
In Vog sock advertisement you see a woman with six legs, like a spider. With digital
manipulation effects advertising specialists made each leg look like her real leg. Only with
logical grasp we can understand that it is impossible. She looks like an alien, so here there have
definitely been used manipulations. The picture looks interesting and it catches the attention.
However it makes you wonder what else is not real in this picture and you notice that there is
nothing behind her. She is just standing in the middle of pink nowhere. Though, this ad
represents the brand very well. This light pink tone used in the picture shows women in a soft
nature. Also one of the womens sexiest part legs has been represented noticeably. This image
creates the desire to know something more about this product.
Savedoff (1997) has said: Each process has attached to it beliefs, practices and
conventions that affect our understanding and reading of the image produced, and that the
artist employs to achieve his or hers desired effect. Advertising should be understood as an art
piece where an artist has used different effects to create enjoyable and appealing piece of art
with a deeper meaning and everybody has their free will to look at it or not and interpret as
they want. On the other hand advertising agencys as an artists work is to make advertisement
interesting and attention grabbing and make sure the deeper meaning and information has
been received in the right translation. Long and Wall (2009) has suggested: Consumers are
looking for instant gratification and are impatient and lose interest quickly if not stimulated.
People themselves are looking for more new, interesting and impressive things. In this case
technology and digital manipulation is one way how to keep audience entertained.
Digital technologies have been developed rapidly as well as human perception of what
they can do. However, there does not always need to be countless special effects to gain the
audiences attraction and attention. Using too many digital manipulations means the credibility
of the product or service can be lost. There are several different and clever ways of how to
create appealing advertisement. For there are so many different people, there are different
perceptions and opinions of what is exciting and appealing advertisement. One can consider
natural looking advertisement more interesting and trustful; other can be more excited with
digitally manipulated advertisements. Though, more or less all people are familiar with
technologys development so they understand that all the things that can be seen - cannot be
trusted. Moreover advertising cannot be considered as absolute realities reflection. Rather it is
like art, where several effects have been used to entertain public.
Bibliography.
Barry P, (2008), The Advertising Concept Book. Think Now, Design Later. A complete guide to
creative ideas, strategies and campaigns. Published by Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Long P, Wall T, (2009), Media studies; Texts, Production and Context. Published: Pearson
Education Limited.
Moriarty S., Mitchell N., Wells W. (2009), Advertising. Principles and Practice. Published by
Pearson Education.

Webography.
Matt (2008), Spoonfed Design. 10 Principles of Effective Advertising.
http://www.spoonfeddesign.com/10-principles-of-effective-advertising [Accessed: 8 November, 2011]
Reaves S, (1995), Visual Communication Quarterly. (Volume 2, Issue 1), Magazines
<VS>Newspapers: Editors Have Different Ethical Standards on the Digital Manipulation of
Photographs [Online]. Available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15551393.1995.10387514 [Accessed: 8
November 2011]
Virgin Your airlines either got it or it hasnt advertisement video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbib-A6NpW8 [Accessed: 8 November 2011]
Subaru Baby Driver advertisement video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qf8OGLqE1s&feature=player_embedded [Accessed: 8 November
2011]
Joe la Pompe (2011) Can I Borrow Your Car (And Creative Idea)? [Online]. Available at:
http://www.joelapompe.net/category/tv/ [Accessed: 8 November 2011]