Image Analysis Using A Comparison of Print Adverts From 1940's - 1960's and Contemporary ones.

Media Studies Coursework

I am going to use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to compare two different adverts. The first car advert is from the 1950’s and then the second car advert will be from the early 21st century. I am going to use a list of typography, slogans, lighting, images etc to compare the two adverts.

Summarise Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Explain How This Model Might Be Useful to a Study of Advertising

Abraham Maslow was a social theorist of the 1950’s who developed the hierarchy of needs. He developed the model to show how humans are motivated by their unsatisfied needs.

The pyramid is split up into two different sections. The basic needs and the higher needs. The basic needs consist of physiological and safety and the higher needs consist of social, self-esteem and self-actualisation. You can not move up the pyramid until you have fulfilled the two basic needs. As you go up the pyramid life should become happier because of the amount of needs that you have fulfilled.

The first basic need is physiological, the need for food, water, shelter, etc. An example is the vital water advert which is showing you that you need water to survive.

The second basic need is safety, the need to be secure and free from danger. For example a fire alarm advert is showing that you if you don’t have a fire alarm then you will not be safe. Also showing that you have not fulfilled the basic needs.

In the higher needs social is the first, the need to have friends and be accepted by others. For example the WKD advert where it shows that people are drinking and socialising together.

The second higher need is self-esteem, the need to have competence, self-confidence and respect from others. For example the shampoo adverts where it shows if you wash your hair then your hair will look great giving you self-confidence.

The third and last higher need is self-actualisation, the need to develop all one’s potential to the full. For example where celebrities give money to charities because they have fulfilled all of the needs and they want to help other people fulfil the needs.

In A Detailed Textual Analysis, Compare the Techniques, Presentation and Physiological Used To Sell the Products in Your Two Chosen Adverts

The type of product is motor cars. The brand name is the ‘Ford Motor Cars Limited’. The advert was made post world war two in the year 1954.

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In A Detailed Textual Analysis, Compare the Techniques, Presentation and Physiological Used To Sell the Products in Your Two Chosen Adverts

The type of product is motor cars. The brand name is the ‘Ford Motor Cars Limited’. The advert was made post world war two in the year 1954.

My first impressions of the advert was that it was looked a rather a not very eye catching advert because there was absolutely no colour and no big bold writing. Another one of the things that struck me when I first looked at it was that there was a lot of text on it for an advert. I didn’t think that this would be very effective on the advert because big text catches people’s eyes not small text that people can’t read.

There is no colour on the ad probably because at that time to print say five hundred of those adverts would be very expensive so they probably just printed one or two in colour and then printed the rest in black and white.

The typography that they used is sans-serif and they have also used serif. For example the ‘FORD’ is in a serif font and the brand name ‘Ford Motor Cars Limited’ is in a sans-serif font. I think that they have used this because the use of serif is generally more effective in logos, and the rand name has used sans-serif to make it clearer to the audience to see what the brand name is.

On the advert there is no lighting on the cars or even on the page because all of the pictures have been hand drawn.

The use of images seems that the more expensive cars show more of the car and the least expensive cars don’t show hardly any of the cars. I think that they have done this because they are trying to convince you to buy the most expensive car.

There are no models advertising the cars probably because at that time the people making the advert did not think that models would not attract customers because they are family cars.

Other techniques that have been used are that the cars have been drawn to show that they have polished, shiny feel.

The slogan for the advert is ‘5 star motoring – the best at lowest cost’. I don’t think that the slogan is very effective because it is not very catchy. Cathy slogans are the most memorable. There is one good point about the slogan and that is that they use the term ‘lowest cost’. This is effective because that is something that the customers can remember and go back to.

There is other text on the advert which says ‘This is the range for which there is an overwhelming demand’. This again could be classed as a slogan and again is not very effective or catchy.

Linking Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to the advert I think that the advert would come under self-esteem. This is showing that if you buy the car then you will be accepted by others, as many people at that time did not have cars so people without cars would respect the people with cars.

On the advert there are no other techniques that have been used such as sex appeals etc. I think that they have done this to get you looking at the cars and not looking at the model, half naked on the car or in the background.

Overall the effectiveness of the advert is not very good because in the 1950’s at that time printing adverts had colour to print in but it was very expensive so most things had to be printed in black and white. Also most things had to be drawn free hand in pencil because computers and other technology such as cameras had not yet been invented.

Second Advert

Again the advert is for motor cars. The brand name for it is ‘Vauxhall’. This advert was made in 2003.

My first impressions for the advert were that it looked very colourful which is very effective and there was a good use of slogans and also a good use of logos.

On the advert there is a good use of colour from different tone and colours. They have used colour because colour catches the eye and catches the reader’s attention.

The typography that has been used is sans-serif. I think that this type of typography has been used because it suits the advert. I think that it suits the advert because of the way that the advert is set out.

On the advert there has been some use of lighting on top of the cars. You can see this under the car where there is a shadow. I think that they have used this because it gives the advert some effect.

On the advert there are quite a few images of motor cars. They have used this because this shows you some of the cars that you could be purchasing.

Again on the advert there are no models promoting the cars because I think that they don’t have to promote the advert with models because it already looks good and if there was a model in the background or somewhere then the overall effectiveness would go. I think this because if a model was on the page then the attention would be drawn away from the cars and to the half naked models lying on the cars or in the background. Also Vauxhall is a well respected car brand and is more a family car company so people buying family cars wouldn’t want to see naked models on the cars that they are thinking of buying because it takes their mind off buying the car and they end up focusing on the model on top of the car.

The slogan for the advert is ‘Your turn’. I think that this is very effective because I think that it is saying that it has shown you the cars that are on display and then its saying that now you’ve seen the cars its your turn to try them out and go down to the shop and have a look. I also think that this is a very effective and catchy slogan. I also think that this addressing the reader personally by saying that it’s your go now.

There is other text on the page in small print at the bottom telling you some background information about the company and also a few contact details. The contact details at the bottom are in bold. I think that they have done this so that when you are trying to find their number you don’t have to read al the small print, you can just look at the print and read it with ease.

Linking the advert to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I think that this advert comes under self-esteem. I think this because of the cars that are on the page are if you have one then, then you will defiantly be respected by others and it will also give you self-confidence.

Overall I think that the effectiveness of the advert is very good because at the time that it was made, 2003, people had the technology to use colour and can be able to use images in certain ways.

Explain The Differences and Similarities In The Ways Which Products Are Advertised.

From analysing the two different adverts I have found out that the modern day advert is interesting, catches your attention and is overall more effective than the old advert. For instance my first impressions when I put the two adverts together were that the new one was more effective than the old advert due to colour, typography, lighting, the use of images, models, slogans, other text on the page and the overall effectiveness. Although the advert was made in the 1950’s they didn’t have any of the printing technology and there was also a lot of text on it for an advert. However m any people do believe that the advert was produced at a good standard for the time of era.