The Greatest Show on Earth…

What other, more simple advertising signifiers, has the director used in the advertisement and why?

Commercial director Simon Delaney had to simulate what was used in the ‘Carry On Loving 1970‘ mise en scene so the audience would barley notice the CGI. The colours are numerous and range between bright and slightly pale with hardly any dark colours. As it’s set at a wedding, the men are in suits and the women in matching dresses and hats. This is very typical signifier of the 1970′s ‘Sunday best‘ culture, therefore the ‘new’ characters Brenda and Audrey wear the appropriate attire not only to disguise a females, but for a formal occasion. However, the unmissable burly physiques and clear stubble centers the audiences attention on the story revolving around Brenda and Audrey rather then the original ‘Carry On‘ characters who suddenly seem ‘normal’. This is provide a commanding focus on the product that Audrey and Brenda later promote.

The breed of ‘Carry On‘ films is known for its over the top, slapstick moments, not only found in Pantomomime’s but also in the circus, where many happenings are taking places in the same arena. The cuts increase in pace, to people falling or getting food thrown into their face. The music begins at the same time the doors open, the tittle ‘Carry On Cleaning‘ rises up and is sprawled across the screen in a yellow, cartoony font. It is a trumpet, that crescendo’s until the voice over begins and other musical instruments enroll. The sound becomes more unnatural throughout, with SFX of splats when a pie hits a face, glistening chimes when Bounty is unrolled and rolling bass when the housewives’ rear ends collide. The countess activities, embellished sounds and ongoing trumpet fanfares add to the mayhem that can also be found in the pantomime and the circus. Both events are known for mass appreciation because of the family focused atmosphere.

Soon we see a close up of a packet of ‘ordinary towel‘ in matching ordinary packaging, wet tissue is thrown around it in disgust and in haste. Next to this, calm and collective, a single, neat and tidy sheet of ‘Bounty’ is placed over a spillage. The extreme close up shows it literally soaking up the liquid with ease before it then shown ‘mopping and ringing‘. Glamorizing the product, by making life look easier with it manipulates the audience into thinking that their lives could be better with ‘Bounty Kitchen Roll’.

Could the producers be suggesting that the ‘Carry on’ mayhem is similar to the household meal times? Further more, can bounty really clear up all the mess at the end of the film?