As the woman walks along the beach, in the foreground we see what seems to be glass boxes with a slight hint of other bright, warm colours, such as red, pink, purple and orange.
This could be assumed to be the bottle of this perfume “chic”. This has a good effect for the advert as it brings the attention back from the woman onto the perfume and can make people wonder more about the perfume.
Within seconds, this image disappears and is replaced by a white screen, contrasting the bright colours used at the beginning. The music fades away and we are left with the white screen with a vibrant, straight red line running horizontally through the middle, with “Carolina Herrera” written above the line and “New York” below it, both written in red. We then hear the voice of a woman saying these few words. Her voice seems to be very sophisticated. She has an American accent with a slight hint of a European accent which gives it a sensual, more attractive and sophisticated tone.
As this woman speaks, what seems to be the bottle appears in the centre of the screen. The bottle is clear but has a red bottle top. This gives a very vivid image which is clear and concise, compared to the beginning which seemed fairly blurry. This distinct image at the end of the advert leaves the viewer with an image of the bottle and the name and company of what seems to be a sensual, attractive smelling perfume, to be able to easily recognise it when they come across it in a shop.
Overall, the advert shows sophisticated glamour and is therefore found to be appealing to many different types of viewers.
As the product is in particularly for women, mostly women are likely to be persuaded to buy this fragrance. Many perfume adverts do persuade men to buy perfumes as gifts for women, but I do not think that this is one of those adverts. Men are less likely to be persuaded by the bright colours and the idea of walking along a beach which is what is used to persuade women in this advert.
By using the technique of film, the advert has been able to use many more different images than they would have been able to do on paper. The quickness of the advert leaves the viewer little time to think about the advert itself, but are left with the image of the colours and at the end, a picture of the bottle itself.
The other type of media which I have studied is picture adverts from magazines. The advert which I have chosen is also for a perfume, Sicily made by Dolce & Gabbana.
It is a very simple looking advert with three main aspects to it; the product name and company, a picture of the product itself and the image of a woman.
It can be assumed that this woman is Italian from the name of the perfume, Sicily, which is a country to the South of Italy. Italian people are well known for their family feuds, hot tempers and in particularly their women to have very strong passionate natures, which is seen in the expression of the woman’s face. Despite her body and face being in black and white, her eyes seem very bright. Much of her feelings and emotions can be read from her eyes, pain, sadness, anger, passion and distress. She is holding a tissue up near her face, helping to emphasise her distress. Because of the black and white colours, no make up can be seen on this woman, her hair is not made perfectly so the attention is focused on her expressions and emotions.
What this lady is wearing is very revealing, as if she is waiting for something, it causes her to look more naïve and attractive to men. This use of sex appeal helps to persuade men more than woman to buy this perfume as a gift, unlike the previous advert in which more women would be attracted by this use of sex appeal, to want to be like that woman.
The main focuses of the page are the name and company of the perfume and the picture of the perfume bottle. The perfume bottle is ordinary and the perfume itself is a gold, yellow colour, contrasting to the rest of the page in black and white. The title in the top right hand corner of the page of the name and company is also coloured in gold to stand out on the page along with the picture of the bottle. By having the names and bottle standing out on the page, just as in the advert for chic, the viewer sees these most easily and is more likely to remember it. It seems very effective to have a black and white background, as the gold then seems more shocking. Most adverts in a magazine are likely to be fairly colourful or at least be mostly of some sort of colour. By having a black and white advert in a magazine full of many adverts, the black and white stands out a lot better compared with the other adverts in the magazine and is more likely to be noticed.
There is little writing on the advert as the attention of the reader is captured by the picture and the colours, but is needed to be focused on the name and company the product has been made by for them to be able to remember it easily. There are three words at the bottom of the page, lees easily seen, these read “feel the passion”. These words portray to the readers that this perfume will bring passion along with it. Although most people are likely to know that a perfume can not cause passion, it suggests that the smell of the perfume can be described as passionate and sensual.
This advert is likely to be equally targeted to both men, to give as presents, and women for themselves. Men are likely to be attracted to the image of the naïve woman in the advert, portraying a stereotypical Italian woman. Women are likely to be attracted to buying the perfume by the element of Italy in the advert and its colour scheme.
Both adverts use what media they have access to in different ways for the same objective, which is to persuade people to buy their product.
Both adverts have extremely different colour schemes when compared. The magazine advert for “Sicily” uses a black and white colour scheme with a slight bright touch to attract a reader’s attention. Whereas, the television advert for “chic” uses extremely bright colours throughout the advert and captures the viewers attention with a block colour of white and distinct red. Both of these changes in colour help to get the viewers attention to persuade them to buy the product. The advert for “chic” uses glamour to help to persuade people to buy their product. They use movement, colour and sex appeal to attract people. The advert for “Sicily” also uses sex appeal to gain the attention of the readers. It also uses colour and contrast. In many ways both adverts are similar, yet still opposites.
The targeted audience for the television advert is many different types and classes of women unlike the magazine advert which seems more targeted towards seemingly middle aged women and of all ages.
Both adverts suit the types of media chosen to show them with. The magazine advert would have much less of an effect on the viewer if it were done using movement and words and they would not be able to produce a television advert with as much of a contrasting effect which is what attracts the viewer. Black and white television adverts do not seem as authentic as one seen in a magazine.
The advert for “chic” is unlikely to be as successful in a magazine. The bright colours on paper would seem too similar to other adverts in that very magazine and it would be hard to catch the reader’s attention. Since there is a lot to show, it is more productive as a film.
Personally, I was more persuaded by the advert for “chic” because of it’s bright colours and glamour, although I believe that the magazine advert would be more successful in selling its product because of the wider range of people in which it is directed to, also because of the company name which is more widely known for making perfumes than Carolina Herrera. Overall, I think that both types of media can be successful according to what product is trying to be sold and how the producers want it to be portrayed as.
