Junior Prom: Ameritrade’s Attempt to Break away from Traditional Marketing
Ameritrade, an investment consultant, has an advertisement out, in a recent issue of Wired, which is comprised of a largely romantic silhouette. Featured at the top of the page is a scene straight from junior prom: a young man pinning a corsage on his date. Except it is not a corsage. Rather, it is a boutonniere with green undertones and made of hands which sits centered in the image. It’s a bit out of place for a female to be receiving a male prom accessory and even stranger that this accessory would be made of human hands. This uncomfortable feeling is strengthened through a disconnection between a young, romantic scene and the purpose of the advertisement,
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Interestingly, this green is only used in conjunction with consumer focused representations: the boutonniere offered toward the woman, the prom date’s dress, and the tagline which serves as the advertisement’s selling point. Ameritrade is subtly hinting at a financial growth through their services alongside a progression through life. The hard work and dedication to the professional life is supposed to lead to a life’s savings that will allow one to freely enjoy newfound free time and passions in retirement. This, inevitably, is an expression of the American Dream – wealth earned by the sweat and hard work of the individual. Ameritrade implies its “hand holding” will allow a consumer to more easily achieve this ideal. Even more fascinating, however, is that Ameritrade seems to reject that the American Dream has come, nor is it right around the corner. Workers are still encouraged to continue in their job and deposit money in these new “rollover IRAs”. Furthermore, to receive your “free” $600, Ameritrade requires that you are funding your account for at least a “twelve month duration”. They are even quick to note at the bottom that “risk” is involved and success is “not guaranteed”. Therefore, while sales may depend on whether the consumer “buys” into the American Dream, it becomes clear that Ameritrade rejects that such a notion can exist. In contrast, Ameritrade undercuts the advertisement’s allure and connection to
Advertising Age (2011) outlines a new marketing plan for Old Navy. The company is planning the campaign with the 25-35 year old male demographic in mind. With a fairly narrow target market such as this, the campaign's message and media can have a high degree of focus. That focus, however, has to come from certain assumptions that the company makes about this target audience, specifically with respect to how the audience can be reached and to what messages the target market will respond. This campaign is focused on online videos, that are intended to be watched on a computer or mobile device, as opposed to television. The message of the spots is to differentiate Old Navy from the clothes that are characteristic of other demographics. In this case, the other demographics are represented by "Supar Tool" and "Corporado" characters that are caricatures of younger and older demographics respectively. The central message is that Old Navy helps you "dress like a man", not like those caricatures but a man that fits a different demographic and psychographic.
Today’s world is dominated by the great influence of advertising media, which often depicts the objectification of women. The film Killing Us Softly 3, discusses how influential the negative portrayal and misrepresentation of women is throughout advertising media. The Versace advertisement I have chosen to analyze displays a slim, scantily clothed woman of color guarded by a shirtless, muscular man. Based on concepts from the film and the course’s text, it is clear that this advertisement sets a particular feminine beauty standard and, nonetheless, illustrates women as solely being sexual objects of men, having little to no power. This fashion ad influences the way women view their physical appearance, along with their position and function in society.
Few people realize the true impact of product advertising, but the truth is that the modern consumer is severely affected and often subconsciously influenced by advertisements, especially if it is a quality and persuasive advertisement. But how does one create an effective ad? That is literally the million-dollar question that keeps the advertising industry so competitive and prosperous. The French fashion house, Chanel, has constructed a striking and persuasive image to lure the public into desiring and ultimately purchasing its product through the appeal of ethos and effective visual tools.
In the advertisement, the guy is wearing a bigger size watch than the girl. This tells us that men are sort of higher-ranked than girls. One more thing in the advertisement that undermines women is there are two wine glasses both on the girl’s side. So basically we can just see the clothes of the girl and the hand, it looks like they are just trying to cover the body of the girl as much as they can. While there is nothing blanketing the guys
3) In this essay, Bordo discusses how and where one is positioned, as subject or object, and in the moment of vision. The section, “Rocks and Leaners”, Susan Bordo presents an argument that the gaze and position of men in advertising give off a message of masculinity. She describes the gaze, and how it can show dominance. The male models are the objects in the advertisement and meant to create a certain reaction depending upon there position. There is the “face up, face down, and stare down” (182). She also discusses how often in advertising, the lean is used in a seductive way. The angle of the camera is used as a powerful tool in advertising to capture certain moments and feel that the product is trying to convey. Whether it is a seductive lean with a face of stare, the male model is trying to get the viewers to remember and focus on him, therefore selling a product.
For generations, society imprisoned people by declaring certain look or dress attire. Now, with the brand Solo Hop, any male individual can become a unique person rather than an identical collection assigned by others whom believe a certain look or dress attire is the way of life. Solo Hop is a brand that sells clothing for males who challenge society’s rules. My advertisement is incorporated in Maxim’s magazines, which targets single men between the ages of twenty and fifty (Maxim 10). This magazine is being sold on cable television or stores and to music production for their audience to pay attention to the views of their magazine (Launder 1). As a result of where the magazine is being sold, Maxim’s mission statement for their audience claims that it “creates a richly visual journey that’s part fantasy, part aspiration and part attainable for the millennial man who believes that everything worth doing is worth overdoing” (Maxim 2). By emphasizing colors and the concept of overpowering the world‘s laws of perfections, my advertisement revises masculinity in a more cultural yet stylish relation, aiming to show Solo Hop is an expanding brand with Maxim that differentially and materialistically supports their business by separating individuals from becoming a clone into an original or “one-of-a-kind” person.
This is obviously much less of a glamorous or sexy portrayal of the genre. It shows a young kid with spiked up hair, obviously at the dinner table with his parents. The contrast between the way he is dressed up and how his father is dressed is very stark in this photo. The young man’s father looks like an average suburban American dad whereas the young man certainly looks the part of a rebellious kid who likes to go to a Dead Kennedys show when they’re in town. This is an ad targeted towards the people that can resonate with the father figure in this image.
The cultural artifact I decided to analyze is an advertisement featured on the beauty company Glossier’s Instagram page on Sept. 16, 2017. The advertisement is a billboard in Santa Monica Place in California, of plus-sized supermodel Paloma Elsesser nude with bronzed, glowing skin holding her right leg up while sitting down. The words body hero in white font on a red label is in the corner. The logo stands out against the white background of the ad. Upgrade your shower at glossier.com is in the bottom right-hand corner in a slimmer and smaller black font than the size of body hero. With Elsesser's hair in a bun, the way she sits highlights her body curves even more. She takes up 95 percent of the billboard. Automatically, I am enticed to Elsesser's
Gender roles have been a part of society since the beginning of society itself. Men are supposed to be bigger, stronger, smarter, they should go out and support their family. Women are meant to fragile and they should stay at home to raise the children. Though this idea is not as present as it once was, and many people, especially women, continue to step away from that idea, it is still present especially in advertising. Gucci’s 2011 advertisement for their “Guilty” cologne is no exception to this. The advertisement features Chris Evans, known for his roles in the Captain America films, and Evan Rachel Wood, known for her roles in Westworld. The two stand naked against a black background. The cologne bottle is pictured in the bottom right corner of the image. The title is above their heads in bold white letters and says “Gucci Guilty: Pour Homme.” They use these gender roles, and other common societal ideas to convey their message that the use of the cologne will not only make it’s target audience more attractive but it will spice up their life and get them pretty women.
"These days, the road to marriage is no longer linear. True love can happen more than once with love stories coming in a variety of forms,” Tiffany & Co Vice President Linda Buckley said in a statement to ELLE (Dicker). Tiffany & Co launched its “Will You?” engagement ring campaign in January 2015. The print advertisements from the campaign featured seven scenes of real-life relationships, including a same-sex couple.
The man is fully clothed in a suit, which represents power and formality. It is extremely suggestive as it looks like he came to this position without the woman’s knowledge or consent since her sunglasses are pushed up for her to see. He is in a dominating position where she has to look up at him and the man’s face isn’t shown in the ad, which shows that he is confident. The ad is suggesting that if you have Sky Vodka, you can look glamourous and wealthy as well. The men are always given more power and a higher status than the women (Appendix A). The second image reveals how femininity is portrayed. In the ad for Dolce and Gabbana’s Monico Lipstick, notice the lightness of the woman’s hand touching her face, the touching of one’s face, especially the finger-to-mouth pose is reminiscent of a child. She is also dressed seductively with a come-hither look on her face that is bold and suggestive (Appendix A).
This advertisement offers the consumer the idea that when he buys Avia?s new shoes and goes for a run in them, he will come home to find a gorgeous woman waiting on the couch for them. The man that purchases these shoes views the attractive woman in this advertisement as a sexual prize. As Jean Kilbourne explains in her video, Still Killing Us Softly 3, the woman no longer appears as a subject, but an object that comes with the product. Consumers, and society in general, may dismiss this advertisement as a ridiculous equation of A+B=C, but subconsciously, they internalize what they have seen and make everyday assumptions about femininity with it.
Even with the growing effect of the media, gender roles in regards to woman have not gone through a drastic reform. As a result of this lack of reform, the advertisement industry has been allowed to implement these outdated ideas into the minds of the consumer through sexualized and objectifying images of women. The advertisement for the cologne “Abibis” fragrance for men, shows a beautiful woman standing in front of a deep red curtain with soaking wet hair. The woman is in a light pink and ragged bra and an unbuttoned pair of jean shorts. On her right arm there appears to be a dirt stain on her forearm and her right shoulder. Her bra is falling off her left shoulder and is barely managing
It depicts the ex-wife falling in love with a young, handsome member of the household maintenance staff of her new mansion, and replacing a tattoo of her ex-husband’s name on her body with the name of her new beau, all the while using her ex-husband’s funds to fulfill her wishes. This scenario, in keeping with the flippant tone of the whole advertisement, exploits the stereotype of affluent, middle-aged executives with troubled domestic lives, and their idle wives who, in the absence of their career-oriented husbands, engage in illicit affairs with younger men from different social backgrounds. Through this particular set of images, the advertisement attempts to evoke feelings of bitterness and jealousy, and to exploit the insecurities of its targeted client base: the said affluent, middle-aged
Ameritrade, an investment consultant, has an advertisement out, in a recent issue of Wired, which is comprised of a largely romantic silhouette. Featured at the top of the page is a scene straight from junior prom: a young man pinning a corsage on his date. Except it is not a corsage. Rather, a boutonniere with green undertones and made of hands sits centered in the image. It’s a bit out of place for a female to be receiving a male prom accessory and even stranger that this accessory would be made of human hands. This uncomfortable feeling is strengthened through a disconnection between a young, romantic scene and the purpose of the advertisement, retirement. Ameritrade seeks to break traditional marketing techniques by presenting a