Examine the language used in the two magazine advertisements. ‘Immac’ is taken from ‘Cosmopolitan’, a monthly magazine aimed at woman and ‘Clinique’ is taken from ‘GQ’, a magazine aimed at men.
Media Assignment
('Immac' and 'Clinique')
Examine the language used in the two magazine advertisements. 'Immac' is taken from 'Cosmopolitan', a monthly magazine aimed at woman and 'Clinique' is taken from 'GQ', a magazine aimed at men.
How do the advertisements use language to achieve their purposes and influence their intended readers? In your answer you might refer to lexis, grammar, overall structure and any other matters relating to language that contribute to tone, style and purpose.
Immac Advertisement
The Immac advert is trying to sell 'The Immac Body Care Collection'. This includes a 'Body Toning Gel',' Body Conditioning Milk', an 'Invigorating Body Scrub' and a 'Moisturising Satin Mousse'. As was said in the question the source of the advert is the 'Cosmopolitan' so the readers would be predominantly females who were interested in health and beauty products. So the location of the advertisement is well thought out as it is locates itself in a position where its possible consumers are most likely to be. However, I do not know exactly whereabouts in the magazine the advert came, you might say does it matter? I would say it does. This is because if it was on the cover or in the middle of that months key article it would be a much more noticeable advertisement and more people would see it. Whereas if it were at the back of the magazine with a hundred other adverts it would not get noticed and possible consumers would just flick right past it.
The size of the advertisement is A4 and has on it an illustration that is 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. So as you can see the illustration was a key feature of the advertisement - 'One picture is worth a thousand words'.
The advert contains three sections of text. At the top of the advert there is a one-sentence motto/selling line. It is quite large, in a font that is easy on the eye, in italics, and is very clear.
At the bottom of the page there is the full name of the product. It is all in capitals, again in italics, fairly big, but not as big as the selling line at the top of the page, and well spaced. The word 'Immac' is given in a different font to the rest of the line and is shown exactly as it appears on its product. This helps it standout a lot more.
The third and final section of text is the main text of the advert. It is in a very small font, again in italics, very well spaced and easy to see and read since it black text on a white background. There are around 115 words in this main section of text; spread over 6 paragraphs all of which, bar one, are one-sentence paragraphs.
Although the actual question refers to language the illustration of the advertisement cannot be ignored, as it is often the major selling point within the advert. In this advert the illustration is the top half of a naked woman whose 'bits' are concealed by the 'Immac' products. Her skin is in perfect condition and she is well toned. The illustration can be taken on two levels. One level is that this naked woman is a little bit devilish and so appeals to those women who like to show a little flesh in their everyday life. On the hand the woman is concealed and so is from a proper upbringing and down to earth. This appeals to those women who maybe are mothers or are a little bit older and so have mellowed down a little. This picture is clever in the sense that it appeals to both sides and so attracts the attention of and tries to sell the product to a whole range of women rather than just one.
Since the woman is naked sex appeal has to come into the equation she is not only there so that women can judge how good the skin products by looking at her skin. She is also there to attract the attention of any men who might be flicking through the magazine. If they saw this picture they would instinctively look at the advertisement and if the copy sold the product to them they may go out and by the product for a female acquaintance, partner or wife.
The picture is also there to invoke a sense of aspiration, the aspiration a woman might feel if she had a skin like that of the model. They would then buy the product to try become as good-looking and attractive as the model.
Now we come to the actual copy of the advert. The actual facts in this advert are very thin and we have many claims and assertions. Some facts are in paragraph one which is all fact and in paragraph two where it reads 'Four treatments' just that section is fact. Facts only occur when ...
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The picture is also there to invoke a sense of aspiration, the aspiration a woman might feel if she had a skin like that of the model. They would then buy the product to try become as good-looking and attractive as the model.
Now we come to the actual copy of the advert. The actual facts in this advert are very thin and we have many claims and assertions. Some facts are in paragraph one which is all fact and in paragraph two where it reads 'Four treatments' just that section is fact. Facts only occur when the advert is either naming the product or is giving and ingredient within it, for example: '...with extract of aloes'.
The claims made are often hidden as assertions these occur throughout the advert and are not always easy to prove. Below is a list of claims made.
P.2 - 'condition your whole body'
P.2 - 'restoring the tone of your skin'
P.2 - 'improving its vitality'
P.3 - 'remove dead skin cells'
P.3 - 'smoother, softer skin'
P.3 - 'cleanse and revitalise the skin'
P.3 - 'leaving it (skin) more receptive to other treatments'
P.4 - 'unique built - in massager'
P.4 - 'to firm and contour your skin'
P.5 - 'long-lasting smoothness'
The above are all the claims made in the advert. It would be extremely difficult to check whether these claims were true, as you would probably need some very expensive and rare scientific equipment. The advert however uses this to its advantage as you could check most of them by buying the product. You could then use the product for a period of time and check to see whether it did what the advert said it would do. This is good for 'Immac' as it does not mind why people buy the product as long as they buy it. Also, if people find that the claims do come good then they might continue to buy the product and therefore 'Immac' make money. The claim about how it will condition your whole body is I think totally false as no matter how good a product is there are certain places where the skin just will not become smooth and sumptuous.
The vocabulary used in the advert is very simple, with only the adjectives being flamboyant. This is good as there is no point having an advert that people cannot understand. Some of the vocabulary is of an emotive nature and really do cause the emotions to tingle. For example the words new and now are used to convey the idea of novelty. This is good because often people buy a certain product only because it is newly on the market. Women like to be ahead of the game and like to have the latest gear and so buy using the novelty idea they will persuade these sorts of women to buy the product.
The positions of words in this advert are cunningly placed the product gets the priority at the beginning of the sentence and the condition of the skin comes right at the end. This is clever in the sense that when reading the advert the product and the good condition of the skin gets emphasised because of their relative positions in the sentences.
There are also puns used in the advert. Puns are often thought of as being cheap humour, however, in this advert they are used as means of getting across two meanings or just to make you think. The latter is what it is used for the most; this is because if you are thinking about the advert then it means you it could be persuading you without you even knowing it.
We have a series of repetitions and alliterations running throughout the advert. For example care is often repeated as is the skin and the product. The alliterations are also scattered all over the advert, but are mainly used when describing something. For example 'care collection', refreshingly rich' smoother, softer skin' and 'long-lasting'. This alliteration helps to persuade you to buy the product because it is pleasant to read and rolls off the tongue this causes you to 'go with the flow' and read on.
We also have a personalisation used in this advert; 'you' and 'your' are repeated over and over again. This technique is used because it makes the advert more personal and so it is like 'Immac' is selling the product solely to you and so this makes it much more tempting to buy.
The advert uses a clever syllable pattern to persuade its readers; most words are monosyllabic apart from the product and the adjectives describing the product. This causes emphasis to be placed on the product, which is of course what the advert is there to do. The mood of this advert is soft and soothing and this is shown in the font that is used in the advert. It uses its language to try and gently seduce into buying the product.
Its sentences are mainly statements, but having said that the top selling line 'Now you can care for your body as much as you care for your face' is a type of command. This is used because often women can be vain and do care a lot about their facial appearance and so the top command plays on this and tries to relate to the women that might buy this product. There is also a question right at the end that is trying to put that final bit of influence in before the advert finishes it uses a pun on complexion and a rhetorical question to leave it up to you. Almost as if to say 'you've read the advert and now its up to you'.
The main line of appeal in this advert would have to be the picture as it is the main thing that attracts your attention. Even though the text sells the product it is clear that without the picture you would not look twice at this advert. Some might say that this is just because I'm a male that I am saying that, but after asking some women for their opinion they have said the same thing.
Overall the advert is successful as it sells the product to me and I would consider buying such a product for a female friend. It is clear that this advert is using sex appeal to try and sell the product and this helps the overall success of the advert. Even females have said that this advert has sold the product to them and so it is not just the picture that works but the text as well.
Clinique Advertisement
This advert is trying to sell 'Clinique Soap' - 'Skin supplies for men'. The manufacturer is obviously 'Clinique'. The advert was found in GQ magazine. A magazine aimed at working men who are most likely going to be between the ages of 24-34. The location of the advert is once again in a magazine that its potential users would consider reading. I do not know exactly whereabouts in the magazine the advert came so I cannot comment on that. It is an A4 advert that has a plain white background and has plenty of open space. It has on it an illustration that is takes up roughly 3/4 of the area on the page and so is a major part of the advert.
There are 3 sections of text, a selling line at the top of the advert that is in a bold, black font and is robust looking. Then there is the main body text of the advert that is in a very powerful font compared to the soft font of the 'Immac' advert. This is due to the fact that the 'Clinique' advert is aimed at men and so is trying to be very masculine in its appearance. There are roughly 100 words in this main body text and they are spread-out over four paragraphs. The third section of text is all in capitals, bold and is again in a robust and masculine looking font, it also just giving the name of the manufacturer and the selling line.
The illustration is very simple and to the point. It is a sort of contradiction, on one hand there is the softness of the soap and its foamy lather but then there is the hardness and harshness of the man's hand. This is done so that it shows off the gentle soap but then it does not want to lose its masculinity and so shows this masculine hand. This is needed because men often see soap as a soft, female thing and so the advert needs to keep a masculine feel around it so that it appeals to men. The picture is of a man's right hand holding the top of a 'Clinique' soapbox, in front of the hand is the bottom of the box with the actual soap bar within it the lather from the soap then coats the picture. The picture is given in black and white so that it does not have that gloss on it and so again keeps up this masculine nature. The reasons or it being in the advert are simply to attract attention and show-off the product so that people know what they are getting.
Now we come to the actual language used in the advert. Once again, the facts are very thin and we have many claims disguised as assertions. Claims include:
'His face...thoroughly clean'
'Look fresh'
'Feel comfortable'
'Cleanses a face without overdoing it'
'Without leaving skin feeling taut, stiff or dry.
'Clinically formulated'
'Knows exactly what to do'
'How hard to work'
'Where to stop'
'Rich, robust lather'
'Works quickly'
'Lasts for months'
'Its where better skin starts'
Some of these can easily checked by just using the product for a while and checking to see whether or not some of the claims actually do come about. I think that this is what the advert wants you to do. It wants you to buy the product no matter what the reason, just like the 'Immac' advert. Other claims would need scientific involvement before they could be verified. There are three claims that are not meant to be taken seriously but are just a personification of the soap (see below). These are: 'Knows exactly what to do', 'How hard to work', 'Where to stop'.
The vocabulary used in this advert is very simple and is also very punchy, and fast. There is less flamboyance to it; instead there is a harshness that is the masculinity behind it. There are also many emotive words such as, rich, robust, clean, fresh, etc. These are used to persuade as well, as often we buy products due to emotional needs rather than thinking it through rationally.
We also have an underlying personification of the product and the skin. The soap can think? This is used to try and relate the advert to the potential user. This is needed, as people feel more comfortable buying a product if they can relate to it. For example we have the soap and the person having a 'meeting'? We also have the 'living better' phrase. Skin ...'living'? This is there to provoke thought and to appeal to greed and envy, the chance to live better we all want that so buy this soap and you can. The other persuasive words are the ones that suggest longevity, like, 'big brick-shaped bar lasts for months'. These are persuasive because they suggest a good value for money and so people are more likely to buy a product if they know it will last.
Repetition and alliteration again feature strongly in this advert. We have 'better', 'skin' and 'Clinique' repeated over and over again and so it really sticks into your head. The alliterations are: 'fast free', 'skin starts', 'rich robust', 'big brick shaped bar'. This alliteration helps to persuade you to buy the product because it is pleasant to read and rolls off the tongue this causes you to 'go with the flow' and read on.
The advert uses a clever syllable pattern to persuade its readers; most words are monosyllabic apart from the product and the adjectives describing the product. This causes emphasis to be placed on the product, which is of course what the advert is there to do. The positions are also the same as the 'Immac' advert with the product at the beginning of the sentence and the descriptions at the end. This makes the product and its effect prominent.
The mood of this advert is completely different to that of the 'Immac'. Whereas 'Immac' was slow and soft this is much faster and punchier, this is done so that it can relate to the lifestyle of a man that would use such a product. This extra pace is achieved by using phrases instead long sentences. These two/three word phrases appear in twos throughout the advert. They are sharp and get to the pint without beating around the bush. This is done because the advert writers know that men will not have the patience to read long drawn out advert and so this fast pace is needed to keep them reading. There are many statements within the advert however in this advert we have far more commands as well. For example the 'find it' phrase. Women might feel a bit intimidated by such a phrase, however, men find such phrases easier to work with and better to read.
The key words and phrases (as mentioned before) have to be the ones that suggest masculinity. This is because men see soaps and other skin products as 'soft'. So the words that keep the masculine sense make sure that men find this advert appealing and therefore keep the product in mind. We also have the personification coming in as key thing this is because it allows the intended audiences to relate to the product and feel comfortable about it and so therefore have less qualms about buying it. The mention of robust in describing the soap is a key factor in getting the masculinity into the advert.
The overall tone of the advert is a lot harsher than the one in the 'Immac' advert. It has less flamboyance and style but instead has a stronger more powerful way of putting over its message. It tries to sound like the busy lifestyle of businessmen and so therefore appeal to its intended audience. The main line of appeal has to be the bold text and the picture. The picture alone is not very appealing but with added bold text it does catch your attention very well.
The success of an advert is judged on whether or not it sells the product to you. In this criterion it fails. I do not know why. It seems to do everything correctly, it relates to its audience, uses simple English, etc, but still does not seem to sell the product to me. The main reason being that it gives a lot of claims but not much fact and so does not make me feel confident about what I might get if I buy this product. Also, all the personification and wordplay in the advert does tend to confuse you and when something confuses you, you tend not to want anything to do with it. It may well appeal to its intended audience but it just did not sell the product to me.
