In this essay, I intend to examine two advertisements I have chosen and studied. They both show how the media targets to sell their product to women and men audiences differently. The industry creates and reinforces stereotypes of what it means to be a man and a woman. This would then create great confusion to both genders of how a person’s image should be. For example, advertisers have made men, as mentioned before, obsessed with their performance and women obsessed with their appearance.
The first advert I have chosen is targeted to a female audience. The feature of this particular advert shows a young woman staring back at the audience, smiling. It is a really close picture to her face, her hair neatly tied back, and her eyes have a slight glow. Her lips have a slight shine and her skin is perfectly clear. This instantly indicates that the model of this advertisement takes care of her looks and appearance. It is inviting the target audience, as if calling you in to a completely perfect world. Already, we can tell advertisers are concentrating on physical appearance and presenting the product as a cure for unattractiveness.
This advert is trying to sell ‘Maybeline Fresh Matte Foundation.’ Beside the model is a clear picture of the product. It is big enough and is well laid out across the page to be seen from distance. Effective colours have been used in the background to make this advert eye-catching; the background is baby blue and white. The writing is all written in navy.
A lot of quotations have been used as well to get more attention from the target audience. “My skin looks matte and naturally fresh all day.” The words ‘fresh’ and ‘matte’ have been used, as it’s the name of the product. They are also written in bigger and bold writing. This in my opinion is a persuasive technique the advertisers have used. They have used the products name and put it as if said by someone to make the advert have a better effect. Another quotation used- “Our 1st mattifying foundation that leaves skin looking fresh all day.” This quote is as if said by the company, telling the female audience a fact about the product and a reason why they should buy it. The largest writing used in this advert is “Maybelline New York.” It is written in capital letters and in bold placed just underneath the models face. Underneath this, in a much smaller font size, it says “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This is the slogan of the product and in my opinion the most effective and memorable quote used. Finally, it tells the audience that the product is “available in 5 matte shades.” The number ‘5’ is written in bold and just underneath it, it has the products website. The advertisers use this technique to make it easy for the purchase to find more about the item.
From the model, we can see advertisers are promising the female audience that ‘fresh matte’ really works as her face is perfectly clear with no marks at all. The effect they have on their target is basically guaranteeing them that they will look fresh and clean all day. As mentioned before, there is a quote from someone who has already tried the product. This makes it more convincing and gives a strong effect to the advert. Advertisers offer their female target this beauty product as an answer for an improved social life and being a more attractive person.
The second advert I have chosen is aimed to a male audience. Advertisers here are trying to sell a sports item as it includes the ‘adidas’ logo. This advert does not use much colour; the background is very dark red and the writing is written in black. Not much quotes/phrases have been used so the layout looks simple and easier to see from distance.
The advert shows a young man staring at a certain direction, not looking at the audience. He is wearing a blue vest; black jogging bottoms and white trainers. At the bottom of the page, beside the trainers the model is wearing, there is another pair of exactly the same trainers except the colour is very dark navy. It is quite clear now that they are trying to sell trainers. Showing another pair of these trainers gives the target audience an instant idea that there is a range of different colours and styles of this item.
The model of this advert looks very masculine, a lot of his muscles are revealed. This would remind the audience about exercise and at the same time encouraging fitness. In my opinion, the model is an influence to how teenage boys who are interested in sport should appear. The muscles represent strength and power sporty men have. The trainers here makes us think of running and the advert makes it seem that the item is needed to make men look fierce and full of strength.
Not much writing is used in this advert making the audience concentrate on the advertised item. It says, “360 degree ventilation- Feel The Breeze.” It is written in capital letters and in bold so it has a good effect. The adidas logo is placed underneath the models feet and its colour is black. Underneath the logo, in very small writing it says, “Forever sport.” This is the slogan for the adidas items. This advert also has a website to make it easier for the purchaser to find out more about the product.
My overall opinion about this advert is that it has a great impact on the male audience although there is not writing. This helps it look simple and still gets as much attention as possible. Advertisers in my view are obviously trying to show that wearing this product is the answer of how you could look strong and sporty.
Looking at the two adverts, the colours, the writing, and the layouts are completely different. From analysing the adverts, the ways the media sell their products have a different effect to both genders. Models in a woman’s advert need to look beautiful to convince a woman that this is a perfect product to buy to help appear in that way. However, men need products that would help them look or feel powerful and more masculine. Advertisers basically focus on our needs to be perfect and offer us, the audience, the answers through a product. The industry helps create our views of paradise, and sets us to live up to unrealistic, high standards. We tend to generate answers, and create a new image of ourselves by buying specific item.
In conclusion to this essay, the two adverts I have chosen has made it clear how the media sell their products. They reinforce stereotypes and successfully help men and women change their appearances. To do this they need to create ideas or build up an image that would interest their target audience. They make women obsessed on how to be attractive or adored, whereas in men’s case, they would make them obsessed on how to appear commanding and dominant. Overall, as mentioned in the beginning, women in the advertising industry are known as objects whereas men are known as subjects. This is how products in our society are effectively and easily sold.
