Samsung GALAXY camera - Rediscovering life through the eyes of a child.

The beauty of this advert is the emphasis on nostalgia of childhood. It begins by noting that the advert has been entirely shot using the Samsung GALAXY camera (hint hint, nudge nudge!). Children are shown using the camera, looking at vibrant environments and capturing special moments. The advert cleverly dips in and out of the audience’s perspective of looking though the camera lens.

Last year’s analysis focused on the use of an interactive template (Goldenberg, Mazurksy, & Solomon, 1999). It is a very neat technique allowing the audience to realise the quality and the usability of the Samsung GALAXY camera whilst experiencing the product by reminiscing about the wonder of childhood. It is as if the camera has literally captured our memories.   

The end message of ‘rediscovering life through the eyes of a child’ has been associated with the Samsung GALAXY camera. By linking the camera to a positive concept it transfers the nostalgia to the camera (Partkanis, 2007). The rediscovery of ‘wonder’, ‘freedom’, ‘sharing’, ‘light’, ‘life’, ‘nature’, ‘storytelling’, ‘colour’ and ‘night’ suggests to the audience that the camera will help take you back to a simpler time, where everything appeared much more magical. Even I found myself reminiscing about my childhood.  

A study by Lott and Lott (1960) had people receive a reward in the presence of a neutral person. They found the positive aspects of the reward were enough to increase their liking for the other person – through association.

The advert also uses attractive looking children (and animals). Physical attractiveness is a heuristic (i.e. shortcut) to the belief that these people are good, kind, honest and intelligent (Cialdini, 2007). These attractive children work as a persuasive tool to help change the audience’s opinion of the camera (Chaiken, 1979). So if attractive children are using the camera, then it must be good, right?

This was proved by Chaiken (1979), who found when communicating a persuasive message attractive people (vs. unattractive people) were the most persuasive on targets; this was because they had more effective communication skills.

The subtly of this advert works extremely well – making you think about how wonderful childhood was, bringing back lots of happy memories of ‘sharing’, ‘nature’ and ‘storytelling’, making you forget about the product. Once the nostalgia is fading, and you remember it was an advert about the Samsung GALAXY camera, you think (with a happy feeling)… the quality was pretty good.     

References:

Cialdini, R., B., (2007). Influence (rev): The Psychology of Persuasion. HarperCollins.

Goldenberg, J., Mazursky, D., & Solomon, S. (1999). The fundamental templates of quality ads.                 Marketing Science, 18, 333-351.

Lott, B. E., & Lott, A. J. (1960). The formation of positive attitudes toward group members. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 61(2), 297.

Pratkanis, A. R. (Ed.). (2007). The science of social influence. Psychology Press.

Youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llfmXfbaSto

Natasha Morris