Custom «Analyzing Advertisements» Essay Paper

Introduction

Advertisements play an increasingly important role in the life of the modern society. Their goal is to make specific products desirable so that potential buyers would choose the items advertised. If in the earlier days ads were simple and appealed to the needs and wants of people, they are more sophisticated nowadays. The usage of computer designing and psychological techniques has led to creating some outstanding masterpieces.

This work will be dedicated to analyzing two advertisements: one related to the automobile area and the other – to toiletry items. Based on those examples, one can perform analysis of two ads: the former advertises a luxury car and the latter – hair conditioners for women and teenagers.

2014 Jaguar F-Type

Automobile Magazine advertises 2014 Jaguar F-Type for those who have a taste for luxury cars. Scarlet-red Jaguar Convertible with dark grey interior is placed against snow white background of Spanish-style courtyard. The ad is further supplied with a promotional text and smaller images of Jaguar F-Type in motion in different landscapes when the automobile is shown from various angles. With that, the automobile appears in silver and scarlet-red colors (Zenlea).

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The advertisement is targeted at people who can afford buying luxury cars. The quoted price starts at about $70,000 and thus immediately determines the audience.

The general mood of the picture is very appealing. The combination of red and white produces a captivating effect that draws the reader’s attention and leaves a very strong impression of the car. The scene is selected very professionally to allow displaying the automobile in the foreground and emphasizing its streamline forms. Other objects in the minor pictures of the ad have skillfully matching landscapes and backgrounds, while the seeming simplicity of the main picture background produces the whole white-color scene just to single out the main ad object – scarlet-red Jaguar image presented from a very smart angle.

The ad layout forms a very appealing proposal and gets the potential buyer’s attention much before the textual part becomes engaged. However, the text completes the task providing a very compact but at the same time exhaustive information about the car. The phrases like “base engine is a new, supercharged 3.0-liter V-6”, “F-type will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds” and “495-hp supercharged engines” deliver just the right information to the reader. The font size is selected well enough to complement the images and supply sufficient information for the size of one page. The text is located right under the main picture and above minor images.

The word choice is good, sentences are quite long but very easy to read and grasp information. Play on words is not very common; however, words are picked so that the reader would ‘see’ the hidden characteristics of the car. The phrases like “elegantly simple’, “hallowed but stale”, “rasped soulfully” and “woefully expensive” are very descriptive. They produce the atmosphere of the advertiser’s monologue addressed at the potential buyer. However, they are not too sophisticated and do not intimidate the reader with ‘smart’ phrases.

The ad presents some clear-cut claims which are targeted at luxury car buyers. It presents a product, which has defined and proven advantages for the price to be paid. For instance, the new Jaguar is positioned as an “iconic” type; it is presented as a part of the brand expansion and is shown as “adapted to modern circumstances”. Those statements get people’s interest. As already mentioned before, the language is quite elaborate but does not seem deceptive or evasive. The product is quite skillfully described and its benefits are clearly shown. It is evident the advertiser wants to show such features as wealth, prestige and strength.

The product occupies the central part of the ad. Its size is much bigger than that of the other ad elements. As it was mentioned before, colors make an important contribution to the ad; in fact, they play a decisive role in presenting the car. The ad conveys a lasting impression and produces a desire to own such an outstanding automobile.

Dove Conditioners

‘Woman’s Era’ magazine advertises Dove conditioners to women and teenage girls. The ad displays a picture of a young dark-haired woman with her hair looking very attractive and a bit blown aside as if by the wind. She has her hands together and her eyes are lifted, while there is a happy smile on her face. She looks as if she were sending a silent 'thank you' prayer or wanted to show her admiration to someone she is looking at (Dove Conditioners).

The advertisement is targeted at women and, apparently, young women and teenage girls. It presents Dove hair conditioners that can be used by people of every social class and income level.

The general mood of the ad is very positive. It is the emotions expressed in the picture that leave a very good impression. The young woman in the picture was quite a successful selection since the image in the ad portrays a person who is not a beauty magazine winner but has very appealing facial features and presents a very fresh and pleasing appearance.

The layout of the advertisement is well done. Its central and right parts are occupied by the picture of the young woman, while its left part includes the text and directions for use. The background color is white with grayish half-tints towards page edges. The background color was selected in order to stress the young woman’s image and avoid unnecessary visual distractions. This way, the reader can give his undivided attention to the picture and then switch to the text.

The text part is short. However, it starts with an unusual statement, which catches the reader's attention, “The answer to your hair prayer.” This text has larger font size and is presented in a different color than the rest of the text. Then there goes another statement-answer, "Dove conditioners", which is displayed in bold and even larger fonts. This statement dominates the whole text and, in fact, is the main focus point and the culmination of the whole advertisement. It is intrinsically linked to the young woman’s picture and, in fact, presents a statement, “Her hair looks so beautiful, because she uses Dove conditioners.”

The rest of the text contains just basic information about the conditioners. However, it also includes phrases like “more than just a shampoo”, “additional care”, “repair damage” and “grant your wish”, which add to the interest of potential buyers. Additional graphic symbols contribute to the whole picture and help to present the complete picture of the product.

The product claims are clear-cut. The product is targeted at women, especially young women and teenagers, who want to repair their hair or keep it in good condition. The words like “rough” and “dry” mentioned in the first part of the text are balanced by “care”, “moisture”, “smoother” and “softer”. That sends the following message, "If you are not satisfied with your hair, our product will take care of it.” And again, looking at the happy smiling woman next to the text and seeing her smile, one gets the hidden message, “Your ‘prayer’ for good hair will be answered, too.”

The actual product is not located anywhere close to the center of the ad. And it does not need to be there since its effects are the most important feature of the advertisement. The client is happy - her hair looks great. And that is what counts. However, the conditioners are displayed in the left part of the ad so that the potential buyer would know what they look like. A little logo “Hair therapy” and the Dove symbol in the right upper corner also add to the positive impression of the advertisement. They operate on the subconscious level by sending a message, “It’s Dove. It is not just another conditioner. It is hair therapy.”