Each of the advertisements has explicit and implicit purposes that target different groups: males, females, older age groups, younger age group etc. The purpose of the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert is to sell their product to the female audience; who want to enjoy themselves and have ‘smooth skin’ Obvious techniques to sell their product are: the pink background – which is very feminine, women enjoying themselves with shaved legs suggesting that they are enjoying themselves after using the razor. Most of the advert is made up of the image; this makes the advert eye catching, as well as appealing to the audience.
The purpose of the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert is to sell their product to a male audience, who want to feel ‘comfort’ when shaving. Obvious techniques to sell the product, are; the use of dark colours, such as blue, which connote masculinity. The use of bold letters makes the advert easier to read and draws audience’s eyes to the advert.
The characters in each of the adverts are different, but similar, in various ways. In the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert there is a male model, whereas in the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert are four, female models, the four female models in the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ are enjoying themselves and smiling, travelling in a pink and white Cadillac. They are wearing sun glasses and pink bikinis and have shaved legs and armpits. The image connotes that the women are enjoying themselves after using the razor. And that, if you buy and use the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ razor you will have a lifestyle, like the women in the image which is care free and fun. The male model in the Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert, is shaving upside down, in space, looking calm (from his facial expression) and in control. This image connotes that the male model is feeling comfortable shaving, while being upside down and that therefore the razor is ‘out of this world’. Also that, if you buy and use the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ razor you will feel comfort and will have a lifestyle, similar to the man in the image which is an astronaut.
The characters in each advert are similar, because they both (the four female models and male model) show what the advert is trying to sell ‘smoother skin, for longer’ from the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ razor; and from the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ razor, ‘comfort whether you shave down or up.’ You can tell this from their facial expressions. The male model in the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert, looks calm and in control, while shaving upside down. The four, female models in the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert, look like they are having fun, basically enjoying themselves while travelling, after using the razor.
Both of the adverts attract and influence the reader from the colours used, models in image, image of razor and the text. The colours used are: dark blue and hot pink, this would attract the readers because they show masculinity and femininity. This would influence the reader to buy the razor, because the colours relate to their gender the models (male model and four, female models) would attract and influence the readers, because they want to feel like the people in the images. The images of the razors would attract and influence the readers, because they can see the product easily. The text, used, would influence the readers to buy the product because of the; description of the razor and mostly the catchy slogans, ‘Gillette the best a man can get’, ‘reveal the goddess in you’.
The adverts, ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ and, ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ have different layouts. The ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert is mostly made up of image and uses a lot of pink; it also has a patriarchal view on models (four female). This connotes femininity and that the models are innocent. The font style for this advert is “Flirtatious”: it’s wavy and curvy like a women’s body. Rather than being bold it is sift and smooth, friendly and inviting.
In the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’, the image is of a low angle camera is looking up at him and we are doing the same thing but he is looking down; this shows power, he is big and strong. Where as in ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ the position of the image, its high angle shot, makes the girls look valuable, as they are being “watched” from above. Also it exposes their full bodies as sexual objects; in the advert the colour you will see most is pink. The advert is also made mostly of image, it uses lots of dark colours - blue – and has a low view of the male model upside down. This connotes masculinity and that the male model is powerful and in control. The general look of each advert is that they both are targeting a difference using models, variety of colours and images; by doing this they are selling their product to the audience.
The ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert and the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ have representation of the male audience and the female audience. The representation of women in the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert is that, women are care free and just have fun every day. The representation of men in the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert is that; men should be in control and that they should ‘shave down or up - even against the grain’.
Both of these adverts are from June 2003. This suggests that in 2003, gender stereotyping in British society was at a high point and was used a lot to sell products. I personally think that not all stereotyping is bad or offensive, but the majority of it is, such as races, depending on your native background, that you eat, speak and should act a certain way. Image, for example if you’re an Asian man with a beard and wear a turban etc, what’s suggested by people is that you’re a terrorist. Stereotyping that I don’t think is offensive is that; ‘blue’ is for boys and ‘pink’ is for girls.
Overall, I found that each advert was extremely effective in selling their product. Both the Gillette adverts used stereotyping in a god! way the use of the colours blue and pink really draws your eyes to the advert. The text was very effective, in the way the advert could relate to the readers (interact with them). I think that the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert had a better selling campaign that than the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ one.
The unique selling point of the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert; I think, is the four female models in the pink and white Cadillac. The expressions on their faces make the reader think that they’re happy because of the razor. I think the unique selling point of the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ is the image of the male model upside down and the text beneath him, ‘Now, total comfort whether you shave up or down – even against the grain.’ The image and the text work together like a combo move, which influences the reader.
I found that the advert ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ targeted men through the text mostly and that the advert ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ targets women through image, this suggests that men are targeted through text and that women are targeted through image. To summarise I think the ‘Gillette Passion Pink Venus’ advert was better structured that the ‘Gillette Mach 3 Turbo’ advert; and that advertising is usually positive.
