Movement in Advertisements

Movement used in advertisements is a rather recent concept as advertisements in the past published on newspapers or posters are static, being printed on paper, while the television and the Internet have allowed for animations and video clips that made movement in advertisements possible. These advancements in technology have led to the creation of more and more dynamic advertisements and the broadening of possibilities for innovation and unconventional ideas used in advertisements.

Movement, or motion, is basically the continuous change in the position or configuration of a body with reference to a point in space. When an object is moving in an advertisement, be it a small object or the entire frame, it will bring attention to the object as change is occurring. It is a natural human reaction to notice bodies which are changing or moving as they are not static and boring. For instance, when a person moves around the peripherals of your vision, it is natural to notice a fleeting motion, thus turn your head to glance at the person.

The movement used in advertisements are similar to that of films or cartoons. It can only function due to the theory of the persistence of vision. Basically, the human brain or the retina retains an image for a short moment, causing the illusion of motion if a series of frames were played successively and quickly. This persistence of vision is required for us to appreciate motion in cartoons, and similarly, motion in advertisements. Although not scientifically proven, it has been known that a visual form of memory - iconic memory is used to explain the persistence of vision.

Due to our brains tendency to remember successive frames as an animation, movement in advertising can be used on many levels. Firstly, it can contribute to the narrating of the plot of the advertisement on the surface level. Most of the time in today's society, movement will contribute more to the general attractiveness of the advertisement as compared to static images as with movement used, the advertisement will be more eye-catching. Secondly, movement can be used to reiterate or reinforce a certain point in the advertisement that the producers want to drive home. This characteristic is crucial and prominent because it is innate that humans tend to notice and remember change in a frame. Sometimes, the same movement can be used a few times to emphasise a certain message, thus becoming the product's logo, as effective a brand identity as a generic brand logo such as the 'tick’ used in the Nike brand, a sound logo or music that comes with an advertisement that will remind the brain of it or slogans such as Nike's 'just do it’. Movement is equally important.

In fact, in today's society, movement in advertisements has become so common, it is now a given. As technological advances take place more and more rapidly, quick movement is now part and parcel of our daily life, for instance, MTV, where the images are quick and flashing. Thus, in advertisements used on television or on the Internet, movement is pretty much taken for granted and most of the time forgotten to be an effective method that can be employed in advertisements.