Kris D'Amico Photography

April 5th, 2009 by Kris

Let’s talk for a minute about this photo:

Although, the lighting in this image is not great but I love this picture!

This is an ad (Indian I think) for an Antacid, and obviously all these foods can give you or someone you know heartburn. That may make you feel like you’ve been shot in the chest by an AK47? Ok, maybe the concept is not as crystal clear as it could be. The reality of it is that this image has stopping power, but the orginal concept is not as clear as it could be. I contacted the agency that created this campaign to ask exactly what the concept was, and you guessed it – no response.

So this brings me to a question that I have to ask myself and often time my clients on a regular basis:

What is the most important thing? The product, the product’s feature, or the image itself?

In this particular instance I think that they decided, consiously or not, that the image itself needed to trump the product. Now I have not seen the rest of this campaign. Bur I’ve seen other ads for this product and they didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, so it may just be their MO. And for what it’s worth we are talking about this image, so it’s sucessful in that regard. But if I had not told you this was an antacid ad and you had never heard of Eno before, what would you assume this was an ad for? Dishwashing detergent (Defense Agaisnt Stains)? Weight loss product (These Foods Can Kill You)? Grocery store (Kill Your Hunger)? Do you see my point? As secductive as this image might be it does a poor job of delivering the product or the product features.

Just something to think about before your next shoot.