Coldplay Album Advert Analysis

The promotional poster is to advertise the release of Coldplay’s new album ‘Sparks’. There aren’t many colours in this poster as they are all quite dark and dull, yet there is clearly a yellow tinted light shining on him. This could represent enlightenment for him or it could be a representation of the album title, showing a ‘spark’. The typography on the poster is very blocked and repetitive. The text uses a font which grabs the attention of the viewer instantly because it gives the impression of importance as it is bold. This is used for the poster so that the viewer is instantly drawn to the poster. The colour of the text is also representative of the album because a spark is yellow and so it contrasts well with the theme of the album.

I think that the imagery in this advert is the most interesting because of the composition and what is included in the shot. Firstly, we see the lead singer of the group standing in what looks to be an alley way, and it seems very dark and cold because of the way he has fastened his jacket right up. The image is obviously lit by a yellow street lamp, which we can see through the yellow tint on the image, which is used to represent the name of the single ‘Sparks’. This is also used to add a very mysterious mood to the advert because this is the mood of the single, which is a very mellowing mood. Also there is a man standing in the background of the image, facing the other direction and so not paying attention to the lead singer. I think that this is also a representation of the moods within the song because it is showing loneliness and sorrow because the theme of this song is about being alone. I feel that this image represents this mood because it shows the main attraction in the image as being very alone, and the only other person on the image is facing away and not interested, therefore enhancing the feelings of loneliness for the viewer. I think that, in terms of Barthes’ theory, this is a very writerley text because the meaning behind it is not particularly apparent as to how the feelings are brought to the viewer, therefore giving the viewer the opportunity to incorporate their own ideas, feelings and experiences into this advert and make it personal, which in turn, will make it more appealing to a wider audience. I think that this is the sort of technique that I think we should be using for our advert because we are aiming to get these writerley feelings across to the viewer and so we will need to make sure that we use techniques that will make the viewer think about the advert for themselves, rather than give them the ideas so they can relate to it more easily.