Media Coursework: An analysis into the methods used in advertising cars

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Matt King        Page         28/04/2007

Media Coursework: An analysis into the methods used in advertising cars

        The first advertisement I have chosen is an advert for the Saab 9-5 car. The advertisement takes place in a desert, which takes up the whole of the one page spread. The desert is very golden and picturesque; it is perfectly motionless, there is no wind and there are no small lizards skulking around. In the centre of the page, and also the desert, there is a very new, very shiny silver Saab 9-5. There are no tyre tracks on the desert floor, which is odd, which may symbolise the smooth ride the car gives. The fact that the car is in the desert may symbolise the all-terrain vehicle aspect that all car companies are going all out to prove. Underneath the car is the text ‘Saab vs. the Chocolate Bar’, and underneath that is a reasonably sized paragraph of text explaining that if you buy a chocolate bar, you should be able to eat a chocolate bar, and that after putting it in your glove compartment it should not resemble hot chocolate. Then comes the selling point: Saab cars siphon air directly from the air conditioning system, ‘maintaining a cool 42ºF (5.5ºC) in the glove compartment. Which means, when you’re ready to eat your snack, it can still be peeled rather than poured.’ The advertisement then uses this example as evidence of their extraordinary sense of attention to detail, and in their own words ‘It’s details like this that illustrate Saab’s somewhat different approach to building cars.’

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        The use of colour is very important in this advert. The golden yellow of the background symbolises confidence according to ‘Feng Shui’, but more importantly it makes the car stand out from the background, yet the reflective silver paint makes it almost part of the landscape. The use of a desert landscape in the advert symbolises openness and a certain mysticism. The reason the advertisement works so well is it’s simplicity, it doesn’t throw a hundred different selling points at you at once and expect you to catch them all, but gives you one, which by the same logic, is ...

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