Textual Analysis: British Airways – London 2012: Home Advantage

British Airways – London 2012: Home Advantage

This advertisement uses features such as:

• Real Time
• Repetition - This advert was made for multiple viewing as viewers can notice something different each time they watch it.
• Dramatic Action – This advert shows an aeroplane driving people through the streets of London, to the Olympic stadium.
• Music & Sound – The song “London Calling” by The Clash plays all throughout the advert. When creating this advert, they must have thought this song can help people find their sense of patriotism and get excited because London really was calling people from all over the world to come and be a part of the games. We hear the diagetic sound which supports the action such as the plane engines, the beeping of the overhead signals, and the milk bottles rattling. At the end of the advert, the volume of the music drops, and we hear the cheering of the crowd in the packed out stadium.

This advert is a dramatization in which an aeroplane drives through the streets of London to take passengers to the Olympic stadium in time for the games.

There is no exclusive target audience for this advertisement. British Airways want to get their message across to everyone. There are no specific genders, age groups, social classes or ethnicities that this advert would appeal more to. They just want to get their message and feeling of patriotism to British people all over the country.

As official sponsors of the London 2012 Olympics, British Airways have created this advert to pass the message onto The British people, telling them not to go abroad on holiday this summer, but to stay here and support the British athletes in their bid to win Olympic glory. The theme of patriotism is strong throughout the advert, and we see the union jack several times in different place and in different forms like face paint. Just before the advert end the words “Don’t Fly. Support Team GB” appear on the screen to sum up the purpose of this advert.

When making this advert, they took care to ensure every social group is represented. We see white people, black people, brown people, children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged people, elderly people, people that looked working class, and people that looked middle class. They tried not to exclude anyone in order to support their idea of unity, of everyone getting together, feeling patriotic and supporting the British athletes. However, I did note that although they tried to include everyone; there were no Chinese people, or upper class people featured in the advert.

I think this advert takes a light but fairly formal tone.