Products or Images?
What are they really selling?
If an alien were shown an advertisement and asked to describe what product that particular company were selling, in most cases the alien would not know. The reason that the product itself would be unclear is that it is not actually being shown because the product is not what is most appealing to the consumer. The ideal or image that is most likely projected is the attention grabber. The fantasy that is being put forth by the company is what the consumer is really investing in.
People like to buy things that represent what they admire or respect. Products and brands have symbolic meanings and project certain images (Mehta, page 82) in the case of the ENYCE brand of clothing the ad portrays an image of living in an inner city and leading an urban lifestyle.
It shows young attractive individuals who appear to be cool, relaxed and enjoying themselves. The men look tough and strong, while the women look stylish and comfortable. The reason that the clothes that are being sold are not simply shown on their own, is because people buy the image they wish to express to others. Individuals prefer products that match their self-concept since these purchases provide a means of self-expression. (Mehta, page 82) If a person wishes to project an image of being cool, tough, confident and relaxed in the city than they could relate to this ENYCE ad and wish to buy the products, regardless to what the product looks like. The person is not, however, investing into the quality of the clothes or the affordability, but the association of being cool or happy. This reason is why companies have turned to using a fantasy or image to sell their products. Value-expressive attributes or image of the product rather than functional attributes and informational claims are often used in advertising. (Mehta, page 81)
Products often promote things that are valued by everyone such as happiness, romance, sex and other things that most people desire. Images often vary as product images do, but many of them play on what that target population wants as a whole. Everyone wants to be happy and self confident in everything they do, and this can be seen in ads of every kind.
What are the aspects of an underwear advertisement that make us want to buy them? “Hanes Her Way” by Brittany Gray, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, analyzes an underwear advertisement by Hanes. Gray describes the starting scene as a “mild, relaxed morning.” She goes on to describe the music being played, “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star and acknowledges that the soft ballad complements the pleasant setting. As the male actor speaks about how his wife’s white cotton underwear reminds him of his mother and his childhood, the commercial “fades out on the Hanes trademark.” By describing the commercial in detail, and backing up her statements with evidence, Gray states that this commercial depicts the fantasy of women well enough to make them want to buy the product.
Victoria’s secret is an enormous empire consisting of different kinds of merchandiser sold in the s store from, lingerie and beauty products and dorm products. Through the years its popularity has increased among young teens and adult women in a significant level and along with this their marketing methods. The commercial being analyzed for this paper is the 2013summer ad.
Advertisements are one of many things that Americans cannot get away from. Every American sees an average of 3,000 advertisements a day; whether it’s on the television, radio, while surfing the internet, or while driving around town. Advertisements try to get consumers to buy their products by getting their attention. Most advertisements don’t have anything to do with the product itself. Every company has a different way of getting the public’s attention, but every advertisement has the same goal - to sell the product. Every advertisement tries to appeal to the audience by using ethos, pathos, and logos, while also focusing on who their audience is and the purpose of the ad. An example of this is a Charmin commercial where there is a bear who gets excited when he gets to use the toilet paper because it is so soft.
In the 1997 article Listening to Khakis, published in the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell effectively paints a vivid picture of the thought and science that goes into advertising campaigns. Gladwell begins his paper by focusing on the Dockers’ advertising campaign for their line of adult male khaki pants, which he labels as extremely successful. This campaign was the first line of successful fashion advertisements aimed directly toward adult males (Gladwell, 1997). This campaign was cunningly simple and showed only males wearing the pants being advertised with the background noise filled with men having a casual conversation (Gladwell, 1997). This tactic was used because studies showed that Dockers’ target market felt an absence in adult male friendships. (Gladwell, 1997). The simplicity of the advertisements was accentuated as to not to deter possible customers by creating a fashion based ad because, based on Gladwell’s multiple interviews of advertising experts, males shy away from being viewed as fashion forward or “trying to hard” (Gladwell, 1997).
The meaning of a picture results in different opinions from many viewers. These images, such as artwork and advertisement, have become a source of communication in this new age of society. The advertisement I chose was a Coach perfume advertisement, a popular brand marketed towards women. This advertisement has a combination of physical features: lighting, text, and camera angles. These provoke an emotional appeal received by pampering with the perfume and gathering a sensation of love and peace, causing the audience to buy this product. A woman is born a nurturing loving creature. The world can make a woman harsh and intimidating, but when wearing this perfume it brings out the natural essence and reminds women of their true power but also
They want to show a “sparkling version” of the product and that implicates that, “if you buy the one, you are on the way to realizing the other” (26). So the portrayal of gender is essential in advertisement when it is trying to catch the viewer’s attention, since gender norms can be considered as a form of silent language in the society. Simply put, it can be said that gender roles are “a language which needs no complex translation by the viewer, just transmission through the image” (Capener 3) and therefore it is important for the advertiser to utilize the imagined gender roles within the advertisement
This made it easy for advertisers to depict a way of life in advertisements that created the picture of what people needed to purchase to prove their place; which is still a tactic used today. In order to sell commodities E*TRADE has created an advertisement that reinforces the Yuppie values of the past while differing from the overt nature of 80’s advertisements. The E*TRADE advertisement is a prime example of the yuppie way of life. One was a unashamed desire to get ahead through mental work. Another trait that this ad shows is the Yuppie desire to marry an equal counterpart. The last factor is a fixation with physical fitness. With all of that said, this E*TRADE ad is far less overt with its reference of the yuppie desire to show their class through consumer goods.
Advertisers aim for an attractive advertisement depends on what audience they wanted to aim for. This is a way to make a good way of attracting people to make efficient money by using stereotypes, and psychologically
Wallerstein, K (1998) Thinness and Other Refusals in Contemporary Fashion Advertisements in Fashion Theory, Volume 2, Issue 2, pp.129–150. London: Berg. Williamson, J. (1978). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. London: Marion Boyars.
The act of consumption has been the primary means through which individuals in society participate and transform culture. Culture is not something already made which we consume; culture is what society creates through practices of everyday life and consumption involves the making of culture. When attempting to understand certain acts of consumption it is necessary to observe the relations involved in production and consumption. Through technological innovation, the fashion industry has been expanded to play a prominent role in consumers’ purchasing decisions and styles are becoming less difficult to obtain. With the expansion of department stores and shopping being viewed as a leisurely activity, this has continued to transform the act of fashion consumerism. The functional interests feature a rational attachment to clothing items. Symbolic benefits involve status and prestige to fulfill the achievement for positive self-esteem. Further benefits include a provided experience for the individual consumer and the created use of imagery and desire used to enrich one’s life.
Advertising generally tries to sell the things that consumers want even if they should not wish for them. Adverting things that consumers do not yearn for is not effective use of the advertiser’s money. A majority of what advertisers sell consists of customer items like food, clothing, cars and services-- things that people desire to have. On the other hand it is believed by some advertising experts that the greatest influence in advertising happens in choosing a brand at the point of sale.
and disappointment and also a way to connect.” Despite the over excessive use of food in ads, overeating is not the only. eating disorder influenced by the media. In most ads, especially for cigarettes. and beer, thin, beautiful women are used to promote the idea of “having a good time”, which helps endorse the product.
Estee Lauder’s beauty product is one such advertiser. In an August 2004 issue of Vogue magazine, enclosed was a two-page ad campaign intended to sell Estee Lauder’s “Future Perfect Anti-Wrinkle Radiance Moisturizers SPF.” This advertisment is appealing to the consumer because it stresses the importance of remaining young by the use of this product. This advertisement then goes further to stress that, “The past is forgiven, the present is improved, and the future will be perfect.” This advertisement includes three alluring models, all of which are of different ethnicity but essentially have the same physical attributes. This image is used to appeal to all sorts of American women. The models all have famished bodies; this includes their angular, somewhat gaunt faces and protruding collarbones. Located right below this image is the company’s slogan which reads, “ESTEE LAUDER. Defining Beauty.” The attempt is made with this advertisement to define beauty with images of starved and malnourished models which Estee Lauder claims to be the standard for beauty.
The absence of clothing has become omnipresent in today’s advertising. Some ads focus on the removal of clothing, while others focus on no clothing at all. This idea is ever-present in fragrance advertising, as it forces the viewer to focus on the product over the appearance of one’s clothing. The absence of clothing creates a very specific mood for the ad: sex. The ad is able to portray a meaning that is not even included in the ad just by removing pieces of clothing. Fragrance advertising, such as Gucci Guilty, uses sex as a tool to sell a product without knowing anything about it.
There are a lots and lots of advertises that contains a bit of exaggeration, sex and a message to make the consumer feel an association going on by using or buying that product. For example, Coors light beer commercial contains a lot of stuff that might get people to feel an association going on if he or she drinks that Coors light beer. On one of the Coors light beer commercial, there's a commercial that shows couple of young man and woman drinking Coors light beer and playing volleyball up on the Rocky mountains. A lot of people especially the people around their 20's would be convinced that if he or she drinks Coors light beer, then they could enjoy the coolness of being young and active. Since the commercial contains both sex, it would refer to the people aroun...