Task: Analyze how structural and linguistic devices are used to target specific audiences in three holiday advertisements

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Friday 20th January

Written Media Coursework

Task: Analyze how structural and linguistic devices are used to target specific audiences in three holiday advertisements

In this piece of coursework I will identify the audience targeted in each advertisement by commenting on structural and linguistic devices used.  Each holiday has been produced in a different way depending on the audience it is aimed at. The three advertisements include “Club 18-30”, “Superfamily” and “Forever Young”. In each case the structural and linguistic devices differ according to the target audience with examples of this being the layout, illustrations, text language and tone. The advertisements have been produced to persuade the reader to go on holiday to Majorca at whatever hotel is stated on the advertisement.

In the next few paragraphs I will attempt to compare the structural devices each advertisement uses. In “Forever Young” the heading is large and eye catching but is in a slightly old-fashioned font suggesting it is aimed at an elderly audience. However in “Superfamily” the heading is found down the side of the page in an attractive border which is stylish and modern that would appeal to families. The heading also has a white fill against a coloured background for extra effect to make it more attractive and eye catching as well as giving off a younger sophisticated feel about it. Compared to “Club 18-30”, “Superfamily” has nothing on the modern, youthful feel the heading of “Club 18-30” has because it is bold, all in lower case with no capital letter and is overall, less formal. The curved wavy style of heading gives the impression of a wave on one of the “long, golden and sandy beaches" mentioned, targeting a young audience who may be going abroad for the first time. The sub headings in "Forever Young" are bold, formal and done in an old-fashioned font which would appeal to the older people because they wouldn't like the youthful modern, wavy sub headings created in "Club 18-30" as it would be out of place in their everyday lifestyle.

 The font of the “Forever Young” is old fashioned throughout which gives the impression of a traditional, tried and tested hotel that appeals to the older generation. This is completely opposite to the modern technological approach created by both “Superfamily” and “Club 18-30” although more so with the latter which is more wild and free. This would appeal to the younger audiences. The text in “Forever Young" has two boxed bite-sized chunks where the first of which has two columns of text like a newspaper which is an olden style technique suggesting an elderly target audience. The use of bite-sized chunks conveys the information in an easier to read and understandable way that has been used in all three of the advertisements. At the bottom of “Forever Young” where there is the information on the hotel – Pollensa Park, the first paragraph has been produced in bold so as to grab the reader’s attention and then make them want to read the next section. The rest of the information under bold sub headings has been bullet pointed to make the text easier to digest. However in “Club 18-30” the producers have stuck with the same text and bite size chunks all the way through including the part about the hotel - Atlantic Apartments Magaluf. Again, this illustrates the audience each advertisement is attracting. The text in the “Club 18-30” advertisement is also alongside the illustration and in bite size chunks, making it even easier to read even for the less clever people.

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The background on the opening paragraph of “Superfamily” is very effective at grabbing the family audience attention because it is modern, curved and you could say that it is quite funky. It has black type on a coloured background that is opposite to the heading in the border with contrasting white type on a coloured background. The font itself in that opening paragraph is large and bold as well as the opening words (“Sa Coma”) being in an extra large font that stands out from the rest of the text, grabbing the reader's attention and pulling them in for the ...

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