“You can with a Nissan”
This slogan enforces the freedom and the range of uses a Nissan may have. It is ‘catchy’ as it rhymes, but it is short and sharp and so it is memorable.
“Join the fun at Rollerworld”
This slogan enforces the idea that we may be missing out on fun already going on at Rollerworld. This is will mostly attract young people that don’t want to miss out on the most popular place in their area.
Different adverts use different methods of attracting a consumer to buying a product. One type of advert will try to exploit your weaknesses, one type of advert could play on our weakness for more for you money, i.e. free gifts, coupons, offers or deals, only if you buy that particular item.
CHARLES TYRWHITT adverts.
This advert is an example of this particular type of greed. Not only does the customer feel the need for a high quality, ‘hand finished’ shirt, they would also like a silk, expensive tie, which comes free with the shirt. The word ‘free’ may come across as a lower stature statement, so the writer tries to even out the effect by adding on ‘worth up to £45’. The picture in the advert also has cufflinks that is a symbol of wealth if worn everyday. Also red and blue clothing is displayed which are very established colours that could be related to royalty or Parliament.
The writing in this advert is a medium font size. The part with ‘free silk tie’ is in larger red capital and is the most notable writing on the page. The name of the company is placed at the bottom, but is not very noticeable. It is also in blue, which blends in with the background colour.
This advert would appeal to the aspirers and succeeds. They aspirers would probably be attracted to the name and the look of the shirt. The succeeders would mostly be attracted to the free tie so they would buy it also for the quality of the shirt too.
HOMEPRIDE Advert
Another human weakness is ‘gluttony’ which is the desire for more food and drink. The Homepride advert plays on the desire for food. I
It is coloured brightly to attract attention when the reader is looking through the pages of the magazine. The image depicted in this advert display a variety of cartoon vegetables applying to the popular Homepride man to go into one of his new sauces. The slogan is ‘Deliciously Good Recruitment’. There is also some text at the bottom of the page telling the reader all about how fantastic the product is and what varieties it comes in.
This advert would appeal to our desire for good food as it promotes good healthy eating that can be tasty too. This product would appeal to mainstream and reformer groups. The mainstreamers would be attracted to the name ‘Homepride’ as it is used in a lot of houses. The reformers would be attracted to this product as it enforces the fact that it contains no artificial additives.
DANNIMAC Advert
The weakness envy is also used in advertisements. It plays on the need to be as attractive, happy or successful as the people around you.
The advert is advertising raincoats. The picture shows three young, pretty women enjoying themselves in the rain. All three woman come across as being successful, confident and that they have money as the scene is set in what appears to be a wealthy part of London. This would be attractive to aspirers as the product comes across as quite expensive. The only text on the advert is ‘Dannimac – whatever the weather’. The statement promotes the flexibility of the product and that it looks good whenever it is worn. This may be attractive to succeeders, as it would be bought for purpose.
This advert plays on envy by showing three individual women. A reader could feel that she could take the place of one of these women and she could be as happy as her, if only she had the coat.
COCO CHANEL Advert
Pride can also be a technique used by advertisers; an advert can base itself on pride by surrounding itself by expensive backgrounds and beautiful models.
The Coco advert is advertising perfume. The name ‘Chanel’ is already a popular upper class name. This advert shows a woman in an expensive room, with a white leather sofa and gilded picture frame. Already this depicts money. The model is wearing a designer dress that implies wealth. In front of her is a bottle of perfume. Across the front of the picture there is writing saying ‘Coco mademoiselle’ imprinted in a black and white irregular typeface. This writing looks as if it has come from the ‘punk’ era. This promotes individuality, therefore implying the exclusiveness of the product.
Also at the bottom is the writing ‘ a new fragrance from Chanel’ which makes the product new and exciting.
This advert plays on the pride of the reader as if she was to buy it she would have the same environment and image as the woman in the advert.
SWAN HELLENIC Advert
Another weakness appealed to is sloth. Sloth is usually used to advertise holidays for the mid thirties and upwards, although it is used to promote some foods for people who don’t have much time like single parents. To promote products using sloth is a technique often found in magazines for holiday adverts.
This advert is for a holiday company who offers to take you to the Mediterranean. The picture is of a building on a rock face in the late evening. On the top of the picture, in handwriting typeface is a description of the place and a witty ending.
The language in the text uses a lot of descriptive words but non are harsh or out of place. The text tells a story of how hard it used to be to get to the building and ends in the change that has been made to get to the building by road.
At the bottom of the picture it is has text telling us about the service. The language used seems to be purely ‘business like’ even though the offer is promoted as memorable.
This advert promotes the product to mainstreamers for who cruises and package deal holidays are considered a ‘normal and safe’ option.
LYONS COFFEE Advert
Sex appeal is frequently used in advertising. Everyone or almost everyone is attracted to the idea of sexy people. Often the sex appeal used has nothing to do with the product itself.
The advert uses the idea of sex to promote the product. The picture shows an under table view of a woman’s and man’s naked legs are rubbing in a provocative manner. Above the table coffee is being prepared. The caption at the top of the page reads “practice Safe coffee”. The statement ‘practice safe sex’ is widely used and immediately the word sex, at least, is put into your mind. The text and picture combined creates a ‘sex’ theme. At the bottom the packet and brand are shown and then another slogan saying ‘the coffee you can rely on’. This implies along with the pictures that this coffee will make sure we have a good time.
This advert would most likely appeal to individuals as it is very open and obvious what it means – everyone could enjoy it.
RHYTHM Advert
Another type of advertising exploits our fears. This tends to be very effective and used widely i.e. a sexy scene associated with a product will imply that a reader will only get a nice looking partner if he or she uses the product displayed in the rhythm advert. This advert almost promises the customer guaranteed results.
One sort of exploitation of fears is the promotion of the idea that success will come if we use a particular product.
The Rhythm advert is for a magazine that tutors drummers. The picture is not very bright or attractive, but it was found in a guitarist magazine. It would stick out in there, drawing to itself immediate attention. The slogan at the central lower part of the page says ‘Every Drummer Needs It’. This implies that if you don’t use this magazine and you are a drummer then you are no good. Along the bottom of the page 5 drummers are pictured with the magazine. All are famous and are noted for their skills and expertise. This exploits fear by implying that only the best drummers read this magazine and that you can not be any good if you do not read it.
This advert is very simple, but also very effective. There are no presentational devices used to impress. This advert is only targeting drummers, would only appeal to drummers, or ‘soon to be’ drummers.
WITCH Advert
Another exploitation of fears is the use of conformity. This when we do not wish to stick out from the crowd.
The Witch advert exploits how fears of being singled out and picked on. As soon as we look at the advert we see the words ‘GRIMY GABI JACKSON?’ These words are offensive. They are displayed in large white, shadowed letters on a green background that immediately draw your attention to them. Our initial reaction is to try to find the meaning of the question.
Below, is pictured a clean looking girl. Next to her is a packet of the product, this implying she used it to look that clean. The advert implies that the girl was once called this profanity but is not anymore as she is now using the product.
This advert is very attractive and it sticks out visually. It would appeal to the mainstream group, even though nobody wants to be called names.
Another exploitation of fears occurs in adverts that make use of our need for security. This once again advertises the product to make sure we don’t get singled out of the crowd. It offers a product as a security device against anything bad. It is usually in service companies, or bankers, or people dealing with security who push this point more than other companies.
SKODA CARS Adverts
Some adverts appeal to our sense of humour as laughter is nearly always in favour and is pleasurable. To appeal to humour enforces the idea that if we buy the certain product we will also laugh and have fun.
One advert that does this is the advert for Skoda cars. The brand name ‘Skoda’ has never been associated with quality cars, but cheap cars made not to a high standard. As the new Skoda range is now improved in quality, it is the manufacturer’s view that they deserve to be respected.
The advert shows a few men lowering a Skoda onto a platform of a car show. A man comes in wearing a suit and comments on the fact that they are lowering a Skoda(!) and that they should take it away. This man portrays an important man in the running of the event, but not important or maybe wise enough to realise that the Skoda should be there. The advert is for television and when watched is funny. This appeals to our sense of humour, but also our curiosity, as it makes us wonder if, in fact, the cars have improved.
VIRGIN MEGASTORES Adverts
Another advert that appeals to our sense of humour is the advert for Virgin Megastores. This store sells music and media products. The advert, which has been televised, is of a man, around 20 years of age, stirring a saucepan of food and listening to music. The advert then cuts to show the deals that Virgin are promoting and then cuts back to the man who is still listening to music. The music climaxes and he reacts and pretends he is playing the drum part, thereby covering himself in the food from the end of the spoons that he was using for drumsticks. A voice-over comes on to say the stores slogan ‘Whatever turns you on’. This is also funny, as it is a pun on the fact that to play music you have to ‘turn on’. The music that they are playing parallels with that you would imagine the man’s musical tastes would be. This advert would appeal to those in the teens or early 20s age groups.
Other adverts use different types of language to appeal to different types of people. People who like to think that they are helping the environment or are against scientific testing on animals will be attracted to words such as ‘proven’, ‘tested’, ‘passed’ or ‘eco-friendly’. Language like this is usually associated with products from the cosmetic industry. These words don’t mean anything. Even though it is illegal to lie or promote false information about their products, the scientific tests would be minimal and not tested on the right things. How do you know for sure what the tests are and which products have not been tested? The language, however, is very effective.
Some products are promoted as the best by the language used. If this language is used broadly enough the potential customer will eventually start to believe it. Words like ‘fabulous’ and ‘the best’ are very convincing if used a lot. Also adverts will try to flatter the potential customers. The term ‘for delicate skin like yours’ can be flattering. For a part of you to be delicate implies that you will be fair, pretty and gracious if you use the product. This is not always true, but it works.
Many adverts appeal to our human instincts and desires that need to be satisfied. The Heinz advert for some soup appeals to the human need to be warm and well fed. It showed a cold wet woman going home and eating the soup in a large comfy chair. She was warm and felt better. This would appeal to everyone.
In our society, celebrities are often used to sell products. When we see a popular celebrity promoting a product we will immediately think that they obviously like it. They are so successful and popular and only want the best. We therefore think that we must have it too, as it must be good.
Advertising is very big business. Vast amounts of money are invested in it to promote goods and services. If we are not to be tempted to buy goods that we do not really want or need, then it is vital that we understand the language used.
