The Truth Behind Advertising Essay

Perfume advertisements, both in magazines and in television, involve selling more than just the scent. It taps into the human psyche and tries to sell the perfume by linking the brand with desirable ideas such as femininity, masculinity, love, passion, etc. Perfume advertisement usually tries to appeal to the other senses. It usually tries to sell sex by advertising with a beautiful and sexy model or a celebrity in a desirable location. Advertisers employ attractive people and use sex to grab attention and stimulate desire. Perfume advertisements evoke fantasy and offer a life

     Michael Jordan has star power that bridges age, race, and socioeconomic class. Nike understands this aspect of the popular superstar and decided to give him his own clothing line named Jumpman23. It is the most popular form of sports apparel available and the white logo that adorns each article of apparel is known worldwide. Michael Jordan is arguably the most loved and respected athlete of this generation, thus the ad for this company depicted in ESPN The Magazine takes advantage of his immense popularity. In an attempt to expand the companies influence Jumpman23 uses professional baseball player Derrick Jeter to send its message and promote its apparel. In the essay “Absolution for Sale,” Charity

In both the advertisements, there are two models, a man and a woman (Megan Fox). The models are both dressed up in formal attire with the man in a black tuxedo and the woman in a sexy black dress with a revealing back. Both of the ads include the models’ bodies facing each other at an intimate distance. This image displays a certain sex appeal which helps to connect the fragrance, “Armani Code,” to the idea of sexiness. The women’s fragrance ad shows the woman staring confidently at camera as a man is gazing towards her body touching her arm. This depicts the woman being desired. The men’s fragrance does the same with the man staring at the camera and the woman being entranced by the man. The two advertisements are marketed towards different sexes and use the main figure as the sexual object to be

Old Spice is very blatant in the way they attract their customers. An obvious example is The Man Your Man Could Smell Like commercial. In this advertisement Old Spice envisions their audience to be anyone who is in a relationship or trying to be in relationship. The more obvious targeted audience is the female audience. To attract the female audience they put an attractive man in the commercials and try to make it seem that if their “man” uses old spice body washes their “man” will be like him.

The commercial shown in figure 1 is for a perfume called ‘the one gentleman’ which Matthew Mcconaughey a well-known actor did for Dolce & Gabbana, a trade mark for designer products. The commercial tells us that this is a body spray to use when one wants to be seen as a gentleman. In reality a gentleman is not a man who just uses this body spray, but a man is seen as a gentleman by certain attributes society sees as being acceptable. Commercials like these can really have an impact because the viewer wants to look like the person with the body spray, and themselves be perceived as a gentleman. The unspoken

The commercial’s appeal to women relies not only on the attractiveness of the actor and the settings, but to the humor that is based on the idea that such a perfect man can exist at all. Conversely, not only do these commercials reach out to women, but also there are men in the target audience and there is a message for them as well. These ads present an ideal image of how a man should be and what he should smell like. By using a good looking, fit, man for this advertisement, it gives the product an image that men want. The logical fallacy, ad populum, is present in this commercial. This ad almost shouts out the ideas that if you use the product you can look, smell, and be exactly like the man you see on your television. The Old Spice man, Mustafa, does everything better than you do and will give your woman more than you can give her. You can smell like the “ultimate man”, or as the slogan used in the ads says, “Smell like a man”. The ad

Calvin Klein understands the fact that men will buy a cologne that will, not only make them smell “hot”, but make them feel like it too. They employ a windowed effect with this poster, by providing the image of a future that can only be achieved by using this product. By utilizing this ad, men will automatically associate the experience of using this

The commercial also tries to appeal to middle-class people as the spray is inexpensive and smells good. While, relating to the middle- class individuals it also seems to portray of regular-looking people. This therefore, makes the commercial look natural and realistic to the viewer, while attracting their attention. The framing of the image directs your attention to “Susan Glenn”, as if she was the only character in the commercial. The lighting around it predict her as if she was an angel, and no one was better than her. For example, in the ad she is seen floating across the street with firework sparks around her, like a light to a shadow. You can tell the love that he had for her, especially when he says, “not a girl, but the girl”. The bathroom scene at the end with the narrator, displays a feeling of sadness around it, as well him also being alone.

He then addresses the audience and says, “Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat with the man your man could smell like.” This scene change marks a change in the focus of the advertisement. Instead of focusing on how a man can smell like a “real man,” we find ourselves comparing what a “normal man” can provide for a woman as opposed to a “real man.” The scene goes on to show other various items associated with Isaiah. For example, Isaiah asks the women in the audience, “What’s in your hands? Now back to me, I have it, It’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you like. Look again the tickets are now diamonds!” This scene attempts to connect the use of Old Spice to success and fortune. It further tells women that if their “man” uses Old Spice, they (women) can have all the nice things that Isaiah is talking about. Not only does the commercial address women, but it also subliminally targets men. Although women are the intended audience, men who watch this commercial feel a need to use Old Spice body wash. By targeting women, the writer creates a sense of jealousy from the male audience. This jealousy creates a desire from men to be just like Isaiah because he can easily seduce women by his attractiveness and lavish possessions. This sense of jealousy becomes a very effective marketing tool, because the writer utilizes the primal urge of males to be an attractive partner to females. However, these commercials are also extremely

The setting of the commercial starts off with the shower running and the attractive male in a towel and turns into this paradise- like setting. This setting provides an ideal setting to match the character within the commercial. The focus of the commercial comes to be on the male. The background scenery is neutral in both settings. When the male presents the Old Spice bottle, it is a splash of color and the viewers’ eyes tend to be attracted more toward the bottle. The bottle draws attention away from the male and the background setting. This use of product placement and color contrast brought the bottle to be the center of attention of the commercial. The colors in the advertisement tend to be the same, but with the presentation of the bottle, the viewers’ eyes are opened. This draws a parallel to the use of the old Spice and the “out of the world feeling” it produces.

The ad is trying to sell old spice body wash but does it in an unconventional way, it instead claims that old spice will make you “smell like a man not a lady.” The commercial establishes ethos by using a man who has several features that are considered manly, like a deep voice and muscles. The ad affects the audience by making men think that Mustafa is a man because he uses old spice, I will buy some so I can become more of man. However the add mainly addresses women saying things like “Sadly your man is not me but he could smell like me if he used old spice body wash.” This convinces men that they will be more liked by women if they use Old Spice body

Advertisements have to make sure they get their point across when it comes to communicating the message of the product, and that the product is astonishing enough to create an impression to the audience. Advertising uses parables as one common approach. According to Roland, The parable invited the use of vivid, radical comparisons that would arrest attention (207). Roland discusses four parables; the parable of the Democracy of Goods, civilization redeemed, captivated child, and lastly the parable of the first impression. The parable of the first impression is what is delivers through the commercial Break Out.

In the 1960’s women only advertised for things made for women, now women are using their bodies to help sell cologne for men. In the 1960’s women would be seen in ads such as Hoover ads and Kenwood chef ads because that was what women did in that time, they cooked and cleaned. These ads showed women to do nothing more. The Kenwood chef ad caption was “The chef does everything but cook- that’s what a wives are for.” This advertisement targets an audience of married men. In the Kenmore Chef ad, the husband is pictured in a suit and he was neatly groomed and his wife was dressed in a conservative outfit with beautiful manicured nails. She is affectionately hugging her husband and the two are both smiling. The image in the ad accurately reflects

The advertisement that I have decided to describe and analyze is one from Armani Code, a cologne producing company. When I first glanced at the advertisement, there were a few things that jumped out to me. The first of those things was an attractive white female with a lot of skin showing kissing and hugging an attractive white male who is professionally dressed. The next thing that caught my eye was the fact that the male was staring off somewhere into the distance while this beautiful female was trying to kiss him. He is portraying himself as if he is disinterested in the female. The third and final thing that caught my eye before actual analysis of the advertisement was the fact that the picture is all black and white. The girl, with her skin showing, is mainly all white. The male in his suit is mainly all black, with the exception of his face and white undershirt. Additionally, the bottle the cologne is held in, which is placed in the bottom right hand corner, is all black as well, with the words Armani Code printed on the bottom of the bottle is small print. While the ad itself is quite simple in design, it’s the meaning behind the picture that provides the most power. The message behind this advertisement is if Armani Code cologne is worn by any man that so many girls will like that man wearing the cologne in a sexual way that the man will eventually become sick of the females and focus on other things. This particular ad targets males while chasing the

The Purpose of Advertising The purpose of advertising is to familiarise the public with a certain brand or product. Companies spend millions of pounds a year on advertising so that when the public are searching for a product or service a certain brand is recognised and, as a result, their product or service is chosen. Companies need to ensure that their money is spent wisely. They do this by completing extensive market and physcological research.