I chose the Kenneth Cole ad from The Contemporary Reader in between pages 100 and 101 to analyze. The ad has a man and woman pulling one another towards each other and we can assume are about to kiss. The ad is for men and women fragrances. We only know this because in the bottom right hand corner it tells us and has two little containers that when I first looked at it, didn't really know what they were. Something also unique about the ad is the man and woman are both in what seems to be undershirts, and I don't recall the last time I wore cologne only when I had an undershirt on.
With just that little evidence above we can state that the company is using sex to sell this product. On top of the symbol alone, the marketer put the slogan "WEAR ME OUT." From here we can say that the two were most likely out at a bar or social gathering and all because one of them at least were wearing the fragrance it attracted the other. So the company is telling the consumer to wear the fragrance, and you will attract the opposite sex. Based on the suspected age of the actor and actress, the target audience is most likely young adults.
These kinds of ads are everywhere we look. Sex is in my opinion the most popular hook for advertisers to use. In this ad for Dior perfume, they are using a few different hooks, but the main one being sex by having a half naked women as the eye catcher. What is also going to draw in the consumer is it's a well known celebrity, Natalie Portman. Some consumers may assume as well that the advertiser is referring to the magazine Playboy by naming her Miss Dior. Playboy is a huge sex symbol in our culture today. The target audience for this ad is more than likely young women and Natalie Portman fans.
Both ads are classic examples of how advertisers use sex to sell their product to the consumer. In my opinion I believe the Dior ad is the more effective, simply because they are using a celebrity to back it up. The Kenneth Cole ad is better in the sense though that they have a slogan in it to spark the consumer's prediction of the future with this product, so they do have a better overall message. These types of ads can be seen anywhere from billboards to television.
Work Cited
Dior . Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://d1535dk28ea235.cloudfront.net/preset_65/ natalie-portman-miss-dior-perfume-ad.jpg>.
Good job comparing these ads. It all comes together well.
ReplyDelete