Nicolle Caine The Look Of Love & The Bank Of Scotland
Analyse the newspaper advertisements “The Look of Love” and “Bank of Scotland”, discussing layout, language and presentation, and how they each appeal to their intended audience.
The Look of Love
“The Look of Love” as advertised in ‘The Times’, is in fact an advertisement for a Peugeot 206 – whereas taking a first glance at it you would imagine it to be a film advertisement.
I believe this has the overall look of the advertisement is presented like a film poster. The title, “The Look of Love” could me misread and perceived as the title for the film, and not only this, but the subtitle, “Boy gets car, Gets girl” could also be a brief description of what happens in the storyline. Other factors in the ad can lead us to believe this, such as ‘A Peugeot production starring the 206 Look’ which would be the film production company, and the actors in the film (the Peugeot text being bolded and larger than the rest to give percipient to the car company, as the 206 Look also is, to show which model of the car the advertisement is about). Again, underneath this, ‘And featuring 1 years free insurance’ which would be apprehended as the film credits. Below these two lines, in extensive bold pink writing, ‘In a showroom near you’ is written to replica the familiar ‘In a cinema near you’. Last but not least, underlying this at the bottom of the ad there is small-scale text giving details on the car which again, if it were on a true film poster, usually are the features included and such.
Coming to the characters in the advertisement, which would otherwise be the actors if it were a film; the main character in the advertisement is a young, handsome Asian boy. He is clearly the main attraction of the ad, and is holding a hammer, which could represent many things; strength, power and such – which the male star of a film would usually be bound to. He is also the paramount, centre image on the poster, and is looking upwards, in a stance which shows he is an important prospect to the ad. Plainly, he has the stereotypical image of the main, male role as we would encounter in a film. He is also accompanied on the poster again, with a youthful, alluring, Asian female – who more than likely can be associated with the male star, and the title, “The Look of Love” as usually in films male and female characters have some connection with another. This can be proven almost straight away, as if you take note of her position on the poster; her hips are leaning towards him, which could be illustrated as showing some attraction or partnership towards him. Yet, at the same time, the fact she is turned away from him, with her arms crossed, chip up looking somewhat defiant to herself leads us to believe as many procacious women do, that she is perhaps playing ‘hard to get’. We can also interpret that the male character is interested in the female, hence that he is reshaping his boring, humdrum run of the mill car into the Peugeot 206, to gain her regards. He must love both the car (that he is gaining from the, so to speak, ‘make-over’) and the girl to do this. This again leads back to the original wording of the subtitle, “Boy gets car, Gets girl” as it entails, even though she is playing ‘hard to get’, improving the car to the standards and image of a Peugeot 206, will win her affections over. Ultimately, this makes us believe that is we buy the car it will portray a good outlook on ourselves and perhaps make others attracted to us as opposed to before hand.
