Let’s play a game! Suppose you are an ad director, and you are finalizing the concept and other details for your next ad for a financial advisory firm. You don’t have the budget for a fresh shoot, so you choose a pic from stock images available online. Here are the options in front of you. Let us know which picture you would choose, and why!
THE ANSWER
Body language is one subject where context plays a very important role. So to get to the correct answer from the choices above, remember two things –
- You need to tell us what picture works well in terms of the body language being shown
- The picture has to be used for an advertisement. So the correct answer should be the one as visible to the viewer not in terms of the actors in the picture
So let’s try eliminating, since we assumed these are the only options available. The one we would definitely not pick is option 3. Reason being although the advisor is showing something to the couple, all three are smiling, and the couple is young, which would make their ideal audience for financial management, but the lady is holding her neck with both hands. This shows her discomfort. The viewer of the ad would get a feeling she is trying to hide her neck, and that would happen if she were feeling insecure. So option 3 is out!
Coming to picture 1, this picture is great if we were discussing a good way in which people sitting across the table should interact. Good eye contact, advisor oriented properly towards his clients, and the laptop which would be a barrier if placed in between the two parties, is onto the side. But again here, the viewer would be watching this entire picture from a position where the laptop is hiding a lot of the couple’s body display. Not recommended. So option 1 is also out.
Option 2 works for us because the couple is leaning in, showing interest in the discussion. The advisor is not pointing with a pen or index finger to the brochure which is sometimes observed with sales people. He is seated upright, totally involved in the discussion. His thumbs up reveals his confidence. The lady does have crossed hands, but her direct eye contact, relaxed facial expressions and leaning in towards advisor tells us she is not closed to the conversation. Moreover, to the viewer of the ad, her crossed hands are not so evidently visible.
Hence our answer is option 2.
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