The actual product of this advert, the ‘Ultraviolet Man’ bottle, is a clever bottle that is different to a normal aftershave bottle and this gadgetry is probably so as to appeal to male tendencies to gadgets. Also, this clever bottle is featured floating in mid air just in front of the man’s outstretched hand, as if to say that it is only an arm stretch away. The text below this is also quite cleverly thought out. Though there may not be much, the use of the phrase “fragrance system” says a lot, making it sound manlier and is better than ‘aftershave’ as it suggests that you don’t only put it on your face, but everywhere, therefore making them use it up faster and increasing there sales.
The overall message of this advert is to get men (or their partners) to buy this dark, futuristic and mysterious fragrance system, which is only an arm stretch away. This is a good and effective advertising plan that appeals to all the potential customers who would possibly buy this product.
Secondly, the Ralph Lauren ‘Ralph’ advert for women. This advert’s main image features a woman this time, basking in the sun with a bright blue background. The whole feel of this advert is completely different to the ‘Ultraviolet Man’ advert, being bright and colourful compared to dark and mysterious. The woman is this picture has also been chosen from a modelling agency, as she is attractive and looks good in a bikini, which is what she is wearing in this advert. This revealing, ‘sexy’ approach is used to appeal to men buying it for their partners or to women as though it is saying that you will look like this if you buy it. The clothes that the model is wearing are also very bright and colourful and the background scenery is of a sunny beach.
The product, ‘Ralph’ has a pink bottle, which obviously confirms that it is aimed at women and a bright aqua colour cap. The bottle is placed in the foreground and it is a quite simple design quite unlike the ‘Ultraviolet Man’ bottle, which is short and wide and tapers sharply at the top. The text on this bottle is all written in capitals in a large, simple font so as to stand out and it has this same text written on it’s side much larger down the side of the advert in yellow and pink so as to catch your eye even more.
The overall message of this advert is to present ‘Ralph’ as a cool, fresh, bright fragrance for today’s younger women. This advert is also well thought out and appeals to it’s target audience of mainly younger women well.
Finally, there is the Exclamation ‘Play’ advert. This has a much more blatant meaning as the main image features a man in the palm of a female hand and the text “have him right where you want him”, which says it all really. The product is a bright pink bottle with pink packaging that has a dotty design on it. The advert is much more garishly pink than even the ‘Ralph’ advert, which along with the blatant picture, text, the product packaging and the product name ‘Play’, suggests that this advert is aimed at girls rather than women.
Even though this advert is quite tacky, I still think that it does appeal to it’s target audience of young women and girls who can’t quite see past it.
In conclusion, after deconstructing these three adverts, I can see that all adverts of this kind have a few things in common, like the product is always placed in the foreground and they mostly feature a main image in the middle with text placed somewhere promoting it in some way. Each advert appeals to it’s own target audience by featuring something that it’s target audience can identify with. For example ‘Ultraviolet Man’: gadgetry, ‘Ralph’: sunbathing and ‘Play’: manipulation. Finally, my views are that the Paco Rabanne ‘Ultraviolet’ advert was the most effective at appealing to its target audience, as it manages to appeal to a much wider array of people than the other two cater for
