Manipulation in Advertising: Picking up Eggland's Best to Put down Guilt Eggs. White, oval, fragile eggs. So simplistic in design, unassuming in appearance, and essential in a healthy diet. Who knew that Eggland’s Best most recent advertisement (see Figure 1) in Family Fun magazine would make eggs synonymous with manipulation? A few weeks ago, I took my son, Leo, to a routine doctor’s visit with his pediatrician. Like most moms sitting in that physician’s waiting room, I picked up one of the doctor-provided magazines. Glancing through the glossy pages the magazine, nothing held my interest for long until my eyes landed on the Eggland’s Best “It’s so EB” advertisement (2013). While scanning from the top of the page to the bottom, my
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One of the most prevalent emotions busy, overworked mothers experience is "mommy guilt.... In fact a whopping 94 percent of moms in a recent BabyCenter[.com] survey fessed [sic] up to feeling shame over [various] issues." (Lack, n.d.). Eggland's Best reveals their knowledge of this common trend in the layout of the top two-thirds of the advertisement page, in which the “real estate” of the page tells a narrative through a collage of five separate 2” x 3” images. What we end up with is a storyboard, starting with a centered picture of an egg with the red EB stamp of approval, signifying expert inspection and approval. The eye then travels to two images, scrambled and fried eggs, to show Eggland's Best eggs look just like “ordinary eggs”. From there, our eyes view a happy family consuming the eggs, telling us our husbands and children will not only eat the eggs but also enjoy them, and finally a smiling wife/mother, implying we will feel proud of ourselves. This narrative manipulatively preys on our "mommy guilt" by promising we will be "good" mothers by purchasing Eggland's Best eggs. Above the storyboard collage, the advertisement draws readers in with a “hook” or attention grabber located at the top of the page: “Hungry for the best in taste in nutrition?” As with most hooks, readers feel compelled to answer, but knowing mothers are overworked and busy, Eggland’s Best takes over the hard work by giving us the answer in the very center of the page: “It’s so EB”, punning the traditional answer of “It’s so EASY”. Though loathe to admit it, what busy, overworked mother doesn’t want easy? Eggland’s Best masterfully plucks the strings of our "mommy guilt" by promising an easy AND healthy
One of the most prevalent emotions busy, overworked mothers experience is "mommy guilt.... In fact a whopping 94 percent of moms in a recent BabyCenter[.com] survey fessed [sic] up to feeling shame over [various] issues." (Lack, n.d.). Eggland's Best reveals their knowledge of this common trend in the layout of the top two-thirds of the advertisement page, in which the “real estate” of the page tells a narrative through a collage of five separate 2” x 3” images. What we end up with is a storyboard, starting with a centered picture of an egg with the red EB stamp of approval, signifying expert inspection and approval. The eye then travels to two images, scrambled and fried eggs, to show Eggland's Best eggs look just like “ordinary eggs”. From there, our eyes view a happy family consuming the eggs, telling us our husbands and children will not only eat the eggs but also enjoy them, and finally a smiling wife/mother, implying we will feel proud of ourselves. This narrative manipulatively preys on our "mommy guilt" by promising we will be "good" mothers by purchasing Eggland's Best eggs. Above the storyboard collage, the advertisement draws readers in with a “hook” or attention grabber located at the top of the page: “Hungry for the best in taste in nutrition?” As with most hooks, readers feel compelled to answer, but knowing mothers are overworked and busy, Eggland’s Best takes over the hard work by giving us the answer in the very center of the page: “It’s so EB”, punning the traditional answer of “It’s so EASY”. Though loathe to admit it, what busy, overworked mother doesn’t want easy? Eggland’s Best masterfully plucks the strings of our "mommy guilt" by promising an easy AND healthy