Pressure is immense to fulfil this role; therefore creating a consumer culture that needs particular items, which can then lead to financial stress within a family group and encourage prejudice. If teenagers for example are unable to fit in with this stereotypical role perpetuated by the advertisers they may find themselves segregated from their peers. Adverts directed at the older generation are generally more subtle in their format and create less of a ‘must have’ reaction. Some people may be easily influenced by advertising and therefore vulnerable to exploitation.
The advertisements feature the Ford Focus Ebony and the All new Ford Fiesta. The two advertisements have both similarities and differences.
The similarities of the two adverts are the layout, featuring the cars on the right; the slogans are both the same, “ Designed for living. Engineered to last”, the logo’s are the same and the text is very small at the bottom of the adverts.
The difference however is that one is deliberately targeted at women and the other is targeted at men. The advertisers have targeted women in the Ford Focus Ebony layout by simply placing the dresses on the left-hand page thereby focusing their attention early. The advert for the All – new Ford Fiesta sends out a powerful message, not only in words but also in the picture, that this car is “designed for living” and it’s a wake up call for all those people who they describe as ‘techno bunnies’ living in the shade. The target audience of this advert is predominately men although women who feel that their partners fit the ‘techno bunny’ category may be influenced by it to. The reason why I feel men are the target audience is because many men like watching sport on television and playing computer games. It stereotypes people by inferring that by “getting out more” and driving the car with its lively engine they will have some real fun and is everything they’ll need to keep them from staying in.
The U.S.P’s are different, the Ford Focus Ebony’s U.S.P is “To show off when you buy this car” but the others U.S.P is “To get out more”, stop being a ‘techno bunny’. In the advertisement for the Ford Focus Ebony the advertisers have managed to get across the message that like Coco Channels message that every women should have a little black dress in their wardrobe, they should also have their ‘little ebony number’ in the garage. This unique selling point is clearly aimed at women as women love wearing sexy dresses, also that “Everyone should have one”, thereby being the envy of friends and having a sexy image.
The U.S.P of the all-new Ford Fiesta is, “Enjoy life more” as this car will give you a better social life and is also attempting to entice people into buying the car to change their lifestyle.
The copy accompanying the photographs was kept to a minimum in both advertisements as the reader was attracted by the powerful visual image, although the slogan naming the car was in larger print. It was noticeable however that the Ford Fiesta text contained more technical information.
Image in the world of advertising plays a very important part. In the advertisement for the Ford Focus the stereotypical message is that you will love to slip into this sexy little number and whilst wrapped in its luxurious features will enjoy the fun of flaunting it on the open road making everyone else green with envy. These quotes send a really powerful message in that both little black numbers are a necessary item to own and in the case of the expensive, stylish dresses demonstrates great taste in clothes and likewise the car also portrays this same image. The image in the Ford Fiesta advertisement portrays the message that by owning this car you will become a far more social, fun loving and happier individual.
Designers of magazine advertisements pay particular attention to the layout of the product being displayed and stereotyping occurs during the design process. In the Ford Focus advert attention is focussed early by the dresses featured and then enhanced further by the dresses decreasing in size giving the illusion of creating an arrow pointing to the car. By showing the Ford Fiesta advertisement in shadow and light this layout portrays an active life in the sunshine, enjoying the open road as opposed to living in dark seclusion.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, I think both advertisements are deliberately perpetuating the stereotypes. In the Ford Focus Ebony advert it deliberately perpetuates stereotypes by laying out the advert so the dresses are attractive to women rather than men. Also, Coco Channel and the writing on the advert makes people buy the product to ‘fit in’ with other people and role models.
In the All-new Ford Fiesta advert, it also deliberately perpetuates stereotyping by using a man sitting in the dark, playing on computer games, as well as using the new car in the background getting all the attention. It also perpetuates stereotypes because a women might have a partner who does not get out much, so she could ‘fall into the advertisers net’ by influencing the purchase of the car.
I think that the adverts are encouraging people to buy a new car to change their lifestyle. Advertising is aimed at particular groups to maximise their impact and are deliberately different in their approach perpetuating the stereotype image.
