Ad Review: Life Takes Visa

Credit cards are easy to promote. What is more fantastical than using a magical card to buy whatever you like! (And of course not include the dreadful part of actually paying off the card in the advertisements). Visa came up with their new campaign (semi-new, it has been around for a year or so) titled “Life Takes Visa.” They took a whimsical, organized, and humorous perspective on the spending of money. They effectively correlated their television ads and their print ads. 

Often pastry food stores, when placed with choreographed dancing can take off a fanciful, suburban, fairytale vibe (I would love to use the word whimsical again). They use bright colors, then place in the middle of this dance (of life), a gentlemen who chooses to pay with cash, and how that stops everything in his life and what is going on around him. In the bigger picture, Visa is trying to say: Visa is easy. Everywhere takes Visa. Not everywhere takes American Express or cash. Visa is safe, Visa is fast, Visa will help you continue in life. You won’t have to stop and think about things, you can just buy buy buy (the American dream). And the commercials are very American. The second one features a football team, the New Orleans Saints, and tennis player buying tennis balls with cash (a less American sport) thus holds up the whole patriotism of the football day.

We see this continuing in their print ads effectively. Also by having the words “Life Takes” it also means life takes from your money, life happens, accidents happen, things unaccounted for have to be paid for. However, what fills in the gap of what “life takes” is Visa. Through their print ads, they try to show individualism, and how your Visa card represents you and what you want to do.