The second advertisement was on the television on channel 5, it showed the Audi RS6 Quattro. This advert showed a light with lots of flies flying around it and then the camera angle switches to a person looking over a gate into a bullring. The colours on the advertisement are all very dark as it is supposed to be in the dark. This is used as it presents the audience with a feeling of anxiety. In the bullring you can see the gates around it, holding in the bull, you can hear the bull huffing. There is a cheap light dangling in the centre, this is used to show that the bull like the Audi make anywhere look desirable. Suddenly from the centre of the camera angle a wild bull appears. The bull seems to be wild and very angry. On the bulls back there is a man trying to control it. After a while of the bull jumping and trying to buck the man off the bull stops and looks as if it has been tamed. The bull directly faces the camera, which zooms in slightly, there is steam coming off the bull as it stares into the eye of the camera. While this is happening there is a steady beat playing over the top. The beat sounds like a heartbeat. The camera moves to a dark area and then a silver Audi RS6 Quattro appears and the camera zooms in with vignetting. This makes the Audi RS6 Quattro look as though it is a car that will divert anyone’s attention because it desires that attention. When The Audi appears the beat gets louder and faster. The Audi has fierce headlights and a strong body, which makes it, look like the bull. They use a full frame to show the car. The beat, which has been playing throughout the advert, was there to symbolise the suspense and to build up to the main feature being the car. One would think that this advert has a target audience being of the male gender. It is supposed to give the impression that a human has now tamed the Audi RS6 Quattro, which could be the buyer so it is a better drive. It has visual imagery, which persuades the audience to think of their car as being one that has great power as well as the equally important control. It gives this impression of power through the bull. This is done by the message of the car being as strong as a bull getting across. This advertisement is particularly appealing to older people or middle-aged men with an above average income as it is an executive car. The car is also portrayed as being one that can go anywhere and still catch the eye of others. The advert had a piece of information at the bottom that says, “With the safety of dynamo drive control”. I’m sure that potential customers and myself don’t actually know what this means, allow it does make the Audi sound more attractive and impressive and certainly a lot safer.
The other car advertisements on Channel 5 that we saw were of the Renault Laguna and one of the Suzuki models. The Renault Laguna has the Frank Sinatra song “Come fly with me” playing in the background. The advert starts off at a nice big house that is painted white, this gives it a stylish look. This contains the bias that the car is one for those who have a more expendable income for luxuries and who are self-indulgent and that it is a car to be seen with. The music gives the impression that driving this car will send you into a fantasy land, as it is perfect for your every need. This freedom sells it an image as being a smooth car to drive. There are lots of overhead shots. It changes its camera angle moving through all its features, be it the radio to the gearbox and uses many split scenes. All of the features including the car are in a silver coloured finish. The colour makes it look at its best and stylish and the features show this car as being one for the man that likes his gadgets and likes flashing his things around. A middle-aged man drives the car around a mountains windy lane. The lanes are very picturesque which links to the music and the lifestyle it is trying to sell and gives a positive image of the car. The advert ends with the web address, a contact number and the tag-line “Serious-Playtime”. This tag-line is an oxymoron, which gives the impression that the car is fun but can also be serious and stylish. The website describes it as being refined down to the smallest detail, dynamic, comfortable and reliable, Laguna is packed with technology bringing features unheard of on this segment. Transparency, simplicity of use and highly advanced ergonomics make technology available to the driver and improve the quality of life on board. This makes it sound impressive.
The Suzuki is a 4-Door. On the advert the song has the lyrics, “Do what you want, go where you want”. This song makes the audience feel as though it is a car that can deliver and can meet any ones requirements. Young children sing the song, which gives the car a family feel. This makes the target audience being both male and female think of it as being a reliable car that has can deliver anything you could want from it. The advert starts off by showing a boy going to some lengths to look out of his window, to see nothing but a wood side road covered with autumn leaves. The boy’s mum comes in with some biscuits on a tray and looks at him. The camera then moves to a school playground, where a teacher looks over to the wall where some children are lifting another one up so that he can see the Suzuki. He doesn’t see anything for a while and then from the distance he sees the car coming down the road. The camera angle changes to the first person view looking through the branches as it tracks and pans the car. Each scene has a flowing feeling from one to each other, which gives the advert a smooth look. This adverts shows the car as being an all-round good car for the family which is suited to an off road area. This is the only advert that has a voiceover. The voiceover says “Suzuki Grand Vitara, 1 3 9 9 5”. This makes the car sound cheaper.
One of the factors that these cars have in common is probably the fact that they show little of the specifications apart from the Laguna. This is probably because they don’t wish to waste time on the advertisement and that the price they show reflects their basic standard and if they were to put the cars specifications in they would want to put the best in. They also all want to suggest an immediate lifestyle choice. The main factor that all of the above advertisements have in common is that they show sexism towards men. They all seem to be trying to appeal to very male orientated audience. In the Peugeot advert it clearly has more men than women. In the Audi advert there is a man riding/taming the bull. In the Renault advert there is a man driving the car. The Suzuki advert has a lot of male children looking for the car, so maybe this is an exception as it is aimed more as a family car. The car manufacturers should start aim at both male and female or maybe a car just for a female target audience. This would benefit them as market research now indicates that almost as many women as men are currently buying cars. The market research also shows that the nation is soon to be expecting or even seeing women making over 50% of the purchases of new cars soon. I think that car advertisers are still using sexism although they maybe shouldn’t be because this is now becoming increasingly outdated. The companies are probably thinking that if they do change their target audience to being women or men and women a lot of the men may stop buying their cars. This may happen as the male audience could see the cars as being a female car, which wouldn’t be fashionable for them to drive. A lot of the car advertising companies may choose to change their target audience when it becomes clear that more women are buying more cars than men, although this will take a long time to change. They might also decide to change to the American cars where there usually are cars for either the male or female gender. A reason sexism is very profound in advertising is that there maybe too many men in advertising.
The other advertisements that you may see in a magazine are those of Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen and Ford. These advertisements are all from the magazine “She”. The Toyota Corolla has a picture a street. On the tree trunks, which are outside each of the houses, there are posters that say “Have you seen this car? Nice isn’t it?” This is supposed to be humorous although it is an example of subtle advertising. It gets the message that this car is one to be proud of in the poster that says, “Have you seen this car? Nice isn’t it?” People will remember the words “nice” and associate it with the Toyota Corolla. The houses in this area look expensive and pretty, which links the car with expensive houses and a healthy income. This would make people want to buy this car as it is associated with style. On the bottom of the advert there is an award that says “Car of the year award 2002”. This shows that this car is above the others in the ranks. Car advertisers will put any award that they get on a poster although this award is supposed to be prestigious. It is hard to decide which gender this is aimed at. It shows the car as being one that looks nice and so is therefore suitable for anyone of any age or gender.
You may also see the Ford Fiesta in a magazine. The advertisement in the magazine shows a front on camera view of the people in the car. There are two young men and three young women in the car. A women driving, a man in the passenger’s seat and the others in the back of the car. The fact that there is a women driving may appeal to women who want a car that isn’t using sexist advertising. The male audience may also be interested, as the car seems to be one that the women also like. The advertisement shows the people as having a good time and smiling. This makes the car look like one to have fun with. The car is aimed at the younger person. We know this, as the actors are all young. Someone may also be attracted to the car as the actors all appear to be ‘trendy’ which creates the same atmosphere for the car. This car has been considered small, which is obviously an opinion that Ford would rather not have. To solve this they have put five people in the car, which as well as showing its capacity, it is showing that even if it is small that’s no reason for you not to have a good time in it when it’s fun to drive and ‘nippy’. This advert tells the reader a lot about the car to get them interested and to be persuaded into an eventual buyer of their product. The tone in which it tells of its specifications is very informal and addresses the buyer directly and as if they were there friend. This creates a good mood in which to tell the reader about the car. It makes the reader think that they can trust your car to be good as you don’t need to use fancy words and can afford to be informal. This is backed up where the advert says “Yeah, it’s got a”.
If you were reading a magazine you may also see an advertisement for a Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Polo advertisement takes up a double page and shows a female driver opening her car door and hitting a lamppost. The lamppost doesn’t appear to damage the car door but the car door bending the lamppost out of shape. This shows how strong the new Polo is and is backed up by the tag-line, “The tough new Polo”. The advertisement makes great use of space. The car and the information only take up a small part of the double page, most of the advert is filled with an empty road. The spacious and uncluttered look makes the car be thought of as being one that is comfortable and one that doesn’t need to show off what it has. The price on the car for the 3-door Polo E. It doesn’t say what those cars’ specifications are. This price is expensive for what would be assumed as their basic type. Although the price is expensive it probably wouldn’t put people off the car. This is because many people of both genders connect expensive and quality together even if this is not always the case. The Volkswagen, like Waitrose, are actually proud to advertise their products as being more expensive than their rivals as they say that expense comes with quality. Evidence for this is that they retain their value better than others and extremely well. This car would probably appeal to those of both sexes. It may appeal more to men, as it is a woman driving, which backs up many men’s opinions that women are bad drivers. This humour may persuade men to buy their new car from them. It may also appeal to women, as they may want to prove the men wrong. The car looks very stylish and is has most probably got its target audience at around an older audience because it is expensive. The advertisement has some information that makes it sound very impressive even if their audience don’t know what it means, although they probably find out if they were genuinely interested. Examples of this are “Laser welded, fully galvanised steel body” and “ESP with hydraulic brake assistance”.
The last car from a magazine that I am analysing is the Renault Clio. This advert shows the front of the car in a striking image to the reader. The car appears to be coming around the corner of a tunnel. The advertisement also shows the car on an otherwise open road. The tag-line for the car is “Va Va Voom”. This tag-line sounds extremely catchy and when heard on their television advert is automatically associated with the Renault Clio. The tag-line is an onomatopoeia, which the reader would consider smart as the “Va Va” sounds like the car moving which is the “Voom”. At the top next to Renault emblem there is French writing that reads “CREATEUR D’AUTOMOBILES”. The writing, in English, means automobile creators. The picture makes the car look ‘sexy’ and fast and makes it feel as if it is like lightning and sharp. The ‘sex’ appeal on the car obviously is used to make the potential driver/buyer look great in it. The screen on the black car is blacked out, which gives the impression that it doesn’t matter what you look like because as long as if you are in this car you will look ‘cool’. This car obviously has a target audience of the younger generation and appeals to both sexes. It may appeal to men because of its fast look but equally looks stylish and sophisticated for a woman. The advertisement doesn’t show the price, this may be as it is highly priced or because Renault thinks that not including the price is too formal to attract a younger generation. Like the other advertisements it has the official fuel consumption figures, which is required by law. The advert also influences the potential buyer. This is proven because the advert reads, “Don’t just look good, when you can look great” and “Va Va Voom - like beauty – comes from within. Don’t be without it”. This makes the car sound extremely appealing as it uses persuasive language. It also praises the potential buyer at the same time to make the potential buyer feel better about himself but still wanting to look great instead of just good.
At the present moment advertising is everywhere and I think that it will continue to increase. It will do this as it is the best way of making the potential buyer noticing your product and hopefully buying it or recommending it to others. I think that in the future years advertising on the television will take a more neutral role in its sexism as both men and women watch television. I think that in magazines advertising has already taken a neutral sexist stance. It will probably now move towards advertising to a predominantly female target audience. This will be because there are usually a lot more women reading magazines and the era for cars and men is dying, as men are now more interested in their sport and music. I think that magazines are starting to have a much more neutral position on sexism by showing more family cars than television where the target audience is usually male. I also noticed that the more expensive cars such as the Volkswagen are aimed at a more general target audience, maybe because the older generations want a fashionable product that they can afford. It is also suitable for a family car and has a greater choice of uses being, a family car, a fashionable car or even a safer car whereas something like the Suzuki is made for one target audience. I noticed that companies often use visual imagery to get you interested in the advert. This is often the case on the television advertisements, where the advert starts by gripping the audiences’ attention and then shows them the car. I doubt that many people know that the advertisement is advertising a car until the end. It is a great way of getting the message that your car is better that the competitions across. All of these adverts have a strong bias persuading and influencing their potential buyer that their car is the only one out there that can do a special function or lower fuel consumption or a faster speed. Music is often used. It usually starts off quite slow and quite creating a mood and atmosphere of tension and then it gets quicker and the sound level goes up, as the car appears. Adverts also use vibrant colours to get their target audience’s attention.
