How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation?

Traditional concepts of representation in the media often show the audience the specific media product, directly connecting with the viewers and what they want to sell. The idea is to advertise the product's qualities and how they can benefit the viewer, with no irony or mixed messages so as not to confuse the audience in what they are presenting. For example, the advert for Loreal 'Roll-on True Match Foundation' shows A-listers Evangeline Lilly and Eva Longoria advertising a foundation made for 'matching your skin tone' with 'no streaks'. The women are attractive, with perfect skin to signify that the foundation will give similar results to the audience. They also appear happy with the product as they smile seductively at the camera, uttering Loreal's famous quote: "because you're worth it".

The foundation may stand out amongst the different techniques of how to apply make-up, but the advert itself is just one of many airbrushed models pouting at the camera and commenting how 'amazing' or 'perfect' the product is for them. The idea is to trick the viewers into thinking that they will be as beautiful as the models in the adverts if they purchased the product; whether it may be flawless skin, longer eyelashes, fuller lips, or luscious hair. Of course, what many viewers fail to realise, or simply overlook, is the fact that the women in the adverts are often photoshopped in order to appear more attractive- rather than the product improving their appearance, it is the computer.

An advert challenging this traditional idea of make-up adverts portraing a "fake" beauty is the 'Dove Evolution' advert. Aired in 2006, the advert begins with an ordinary and natural woman staring at the camera. During the process of the advert, she is constantly pampered to improve her appearance, and then later photoshopped to make her neck longer, her cheekbones more defined, her eyes larger, and her hair more tidy. The camera then draws back to reveal the woman's face on a large board advertising a new foundation, with the irony being that the foundation was not the only thing applied on the woman to make her look appealing to passers-by. This method of an advert within an advert is post-modern by its use of challenging the audience into their idea of beauty, and opening their eyes to the decietful tricks of advertising.

The advert, concluding with the phrase: "no wonder our perception of beauty is distorted... take part in the Dove Real Beauty Workshop for Girls", doesn't try to sell its message through attractive celebrities, but instead seems to criticise them as it favours a more natural and geniune beauty instead. With its post-modern edge standing out amongst the crowd of advertising, adverts such as these are often open to parodies and pastiches.

The most popular parody of the 'Dove Evolution' advert is the 'Slob Evolution' where a young and attractive male goes through a similar process of being changed, expect rather than being beautified he deteriotes into a slob through his continous intake of beer, cigerattes, and fast-food takeaways. The advert is humorous, and in a way pokes fun at Dove's message of 'natural beauty' as it suggests that there are people in society who are very attractive without being photoshopped; not to mention the idea of this being a 'natural man' so therefore he must be beautiful, according to Dove's message.

Another popular post-modern text that challenges traditional messages is the infamous Cadbury's Drumming Gorilla. Aired in 2007, the advert features a Gorilla building himself up to play the drums whilst the opening of Phil Collin's "Something In The Air Tonight" begins to play softly in the background. As the camera slowly zooms in, the audience can sense the tension of the gorilla as it seems to be waiting for its 'moment', before breaking into playing the drums. Surrounded by its traditional colour of light purple, and with the opening words "a glass and a half full production", the audience can guess that the advert belongs to Cadbury's, and prepare itself to be shown the company's latest chocolate. Yet the advert completely throws back its audience by presenting something that has nothing to do with chocolate, more so of this excessive feeling of 'sensation' you can get when waiting to eat it- "I can feel it coming in the air tonight".

Through its peculiar message, the advert caused an uproar in mixed reactions and parodies and re-makes. Audiences became intrigued why a gorilla, out of all things, would play the drums- making them stop to watch the advert rather than switching the channel. Afterall, isn't this advertising's main goal- attracting the attention of the viewer? On YouTube, the advert currently stands at 4,331,689 views, with its next post-modern advert, "Cadbury's Eyebrows", achieving 5,475,132 views. The advert's bizarre content attracts audience's through its quirky and different technique of advertising; viewers are able to remember it and thus remember the product- with the sale figures for Dairy Milk boosting by 9% since the advert to prove their success.

Cadbury's use of post-modernism is more popular than its past traditional methods of advertising chocolate, with Cadbury's Dairy Milk from 1982 achieving an adequate 14,495 views and Cadbury's Flake from 1985 standing at 111,676 views. The ratings show how audiences are bored with traditional adverts and their 'normal' method of advertising; the suggestive way the girl in the Cadbury's Flake advert bites the long stick of chocolate has been seen before. If anything, its predictable and audiences won't be interested in watching.

Through its post-modern style, the advert manages to invite the audience into taking part and being involved in the chocolate. Dozens of popular parodies made by viewers have been posted on YouTube, ranging from a "Christmas version" to an "Eastenders spoof", with the song used, "Something In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins soaring back into the music charts at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart and number 9 in the UK Download Chart. This proves how the advert has appealed to all different groups and ages. The parodies suggest a tone of familiarity; if a viewer is able to explore in the advert and enjoy making their own version, then there is, in a sense, a type of connection between the advert and its viewer; making them more inclined to purchase in its products.

Yet despite the phenomenal success, the Cadbury's gorilla also recieved some criticism. Reviewing on the 'TWA' (TV's Worst Adverts) website, one viewer commented: "What is the meaning of this? Eating mass-produced middle-market chocolate is like being a giant ape? It just makes NO sense at all!". A viewer such as this is perhaps used to the more traditional and 'straight-forward' technique of advertising where the audience is simply shown the product and its attributes without having to connotate or read between the lines. Nevertheless, the overall reaction of audiences was mainly positive, proving that post-modernism maybe is the key ingrediant to attract audiences in representation and media texts: "The advert is not meant to be relevant to the product, it's to simply "to make you smile", and it certainly made me smile. I haven't saw an advert for so long, that captured me the moment my eyes fell upon it, and didn't let me go until the end. It's brilliant!"