Analysis of Advertisements.

Analysis of Advertisements

We are surrounded by advertisements which be found on the television, radio, newspapers, magazines, street hoardings, taxis, buses and through the post. Everything we purchase or watch is advertised. This is a technique used to persuade people to buy their products. Companies use the power of persuasion to lure their target audience into buying the product being promoted, for example wordplay is used to make the audience indirectly believe they need the product being marketed. Some advertisements are more successful than others and I intend to investigate why, using two examples which promote skin cleansers one by Garnier and the other by Neutrogena.

The first advertisement I will anatomise is the Garnier. The Garnier advertisement takes up an A4 page in a magazine. The main picture takes up approximately 60 percent of the page which makes it stand out and shows it is an important ingredient to making the advertisement efficacious. The main picture is split up again but it is not a 50/50 split it is more like 40/60. The smaller picture shows the girl applying the product to her face and the larger picture shows the outcome of using the merchandise. The picture of the product application is smaller as it does not show you how well the product works or what the end result is which is most important. The larger section is of the girl after application, the girl is very beautiful with clear skin, and this may make the target audience want to buy the product because they have the aspiration to have the perfect skin she does. On the picture in white writing is “GENTLY CLEASNSES PORES DEEP DOWN.” “LOOK, THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE.” it is divided on the two pictures. I think this is very effective as it will definitely be noticed because it is on the main feature in the advertisement, so even If the audience decide not to read the text below the picture they will get an idea of what the product does. There is a good use of wordplay in the phrase “look there’s nothing to see” it is asking you to look at the face of the girl to see if there are any flaws only when you do look you will find she has flawless skin and so could you. There is also a slight use of alliteration, ‘deep down’ this emphasises how deep the facial wash cleanses. The use of the word ‘cleanses’ instead of cleans is effective because it is thought cleans is more colloquial.

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The text at the bottom of the page is very cleverly set out as it makes the most important words for example Cleanse, Rinse, Discover which would let your imagination decide the meaning, if you did not want to read the meaning stated in the advertisement . At the bottom of the page is the full name Laboratoires Garnier with the words formulated and controlled by… as the slogan. With Laboratoires meaning laboratory it put the idea of science across which is never really questioned and so gives the audience the assurance of quality and results when using the product. In a sense the name also helps sell the product but in a different way because where as something from Este lauder would be sold because its brand name is well known, Laboratoires Garnier would be sold because it is a beneficial product. The target audience is twenty five and under this is portrayed by the youthful girl in the picture also the colours used are very fresh and pure like the face of the girl and also like the faces of most youthful people. There is a lot of emphasis on purity as the word “pure” is mentioned several times which may be implying it is for people of a pure nature for example a virgin who is stereotypically a young person, or even could be that it is used by or is for people without sin, on the other hand it could simply just mean the product will make you pure and clean.

The second advertisement I will anatomise is the Neutrogena advertisement which takes up an A4 page in a magazine. This advertisement has got five different pictures on it but only one of which is of the product and it being used. The other pictures do not have any direct relevance to the product but can make the audience more interested as two are of celebrities in the music industry triggering the thought that they may also use the product. In total the pictures probably take up 50 percent of the page. There are two pictures of a girl dancing this may mean the cleanser makes you feel alive and somehow energetic, there are also two pictures of a famous duo Daphne and Celeste, as mentioned before could make the audience think the duo also use it and so it should work for the audience also. Just above the picture of the famous duo there is an orange box with “Clean, Confident and ready for anything” this is wordplay as it is describing the way the girls are because of the cleanser and the way you could be if you bought it. The phrase ‘ready for anything’ can mean a number of things, it could mean any thing is possible or after using this product you will be ready to have fun and in some cases it could even mean being ready to have sex.

Most advertisements do not have a title but this one does, “A STEP AHEAD” this has a few meanings, the formula used to make the cleanser is advanced or a reference to the girl dancing or that you could be a step ahead of the stars. The interesting aspect of this advertisement is that is set out like an article so at first glance you may think it’s about famous people using the product and how effective it is. It’s only until you are half way through it you realise the so called article about famous Neutrogena users is in fact about a dancer that worked with famous people and uses Neutrogena, this is a very good way to trap people into reading about the product and then wanting it. The advertisement also has a voucher to get one pound off any of the Neutrogena pore range this helps lure its target audience even more but it also give away the fact that its an advert. The target audience for this advertisement is twenty and under this is because it is very lively and gives an energetic feel because of the vibrant colours.

The differences between the two advertisements are the Garnier is putting across the fresh pure feel where as the Neutrogena puts across the clean feel. Garnier shows the product clearly and at a reasonable size so that all that is on the label can be read, this is because the target audience find the information useful and interesting it may also make it easier to identify the product in the shops. The Neutrogena on the other hand does not show the bottle close enough to read everything on the label this is because most teenagers do not find the information important all that is taken in is the fact that the product clears spots. The Neutrogena has a lot of text on it where as the Garnier has only a small amount. The pictures on the Garnier are of the product, application of the product and the out come, Neutrogena has only one picture of the product and the rest are irrelevant to the product.

They are similar because they both fill an A4 page; they both show the product itself on the page. The product is also shown as being used in both advertisements by a young blond woman. Both the products have slogans and the advertisements are in colour.

I personally preferred the Garnier; the reason is it is straight to the point and aesthetically pleasing it is very fresh and informative without the need for a whole chunk of text explaining who uses it, the product speaks for itself. The reason I disliked the Neutrogena advertisement is that its too busy and also it has too much text which will not appeal to its target audience as most teenager do not pay attention to the text on advertisements. At first glance the Neutrogena looks like an article and once read tells you about the life of a dancer which will not really interest many people, even though the point is that the pore range is quick and easy to use there is no need to explain the history of the users life. Therefore to conclude my essay I came to find the Garnier advertisement is a better campaign than the Neutrogena.

By Yasmin Meradji