Spoof Ad Final - Meade

Spoof Ad on Starbucks Coffee

Ads by themselves

Starbucks actually has ads in bon appétit

And here are the ads in other contexts

Essay Analysis of Spoof Ad

My name is Cynthia Meade, my design is titled Pretentious Cup of Coffee and it is a spoof ad for Starbucks Coffee. The materials used were digital illustrations, photo textures and type. The work was completed on April 25, 13.

            The design is predominantly designed for print; the first piece is meant for a magazine, or printed as a large poster for a bus stop, while the second design is meant for a billboard, train or bus ad, but can double as a banner ad on a website because of its horizontal composition. The subject of the ad is not to attack Starbucks for solely its pricey coffee, but poke at the fact that they charge as much as they do for sub-par coffee; they are trying to sell you an image of being the better brand because only better people purchase their coffee instead of stooping low to buy others’. I took their preexisting ads and changed the text, logo and illustrations to still resemble the original but still be critical, so the texture, typeface choices, color palette and the arrangement of the items in the compositions are similar, keeping both looking different but unified.

            Despite buying the rare Starbucks Coffee, there is a personal disdain for the brand and their coffee because I can get better coffee at a cheaper price and not have them benefit for being a pretentious company, so I bring that sort of mean, yet witty demeanor to the spoof. Other spoofs I’ve seen of Starbucks are weak in that they attack the price, while that is just part of the issue, and don’t end up doing anything other than spoof the name and maybe logo. Compared to my classmates, I feel like my design is among the better designs because it’s clean and gets the message across, along with being able to also be creatively funny. I’m not entirely basing my design off any other designers other than the designers who created the original ads. My approach was to mimics their questionable design as accurately as possible to appear like its one of theirs. So I’m taking their idea of being the better coffee, but twisting it, since buying Starbucks has become such a huge phenomenon in the past few years. Starbucks Coffee has become a growing event, in a sense.

            My intent with the design is to get people to simply think twice. When reading the ad, think about why you buy Starbucks and question if the quality is even worth the price, or are you just buying the coffee because there’s one on every corner, it’s quick, and hey, it’s Starbucks, you’re contributing to the trendy aura you’ve been working on conveying all the while getting caffeine into your system. It’s not necessarily meant to diminish their number of consumers, but perhaps make them think twice about what they choose. The target audience for this would mostly be college students and adults on the younger side, that go to work and because the mismanage time in their mornings, need coffee but want the convenience of being able to get Starbucks while on their way to work, so hopefully said audience views the ad and does think twice, does think about it for a moment.

            Overall I think the design is successful enough for the intended purpose, in that it mimics the original ads well, is visually pleasing enough to draw attention, and witty enough to make you remember.