Write a detailed and comparative review comparing the two adverts for a student studying how advertising works. We have been given a copy of an advert, which is trying to sell Kellogg's Special 'k'.

For this assignment we are dealing with a type of media study, which involves the features of advertising. For this assignment, we have to write a detailed and comparative review comparing the two adverts for a student studying how advertising works. We have been given a copy of an advert, which is trying to sell Kellogg’s Special ‘k’. The assignment states that we must discuss the similarities and differences between the Kellogg’s advert and an advert of our own. During the lesson we discussed the features of the Kellogg’s assignment and how different parts of the advert such as colour and font size and use of images to coax the readers to buy the product. I have structured this project in a way that shows the features of the Kellogg’s advert, then my own advert and finally the identification of the differences and similarities between the two.

Kellogg’s Advert

Here I will construct a detailed analysis of the advert and the uses of its features and effects on the viewer or reader.

At first glance we can see that the advert is situated in a magazine and is spread across two A4 sheets. We have two images on the left and another on the right, followed by a paragraph of text to the right of the advert. The first image is of a women of quite a young age say around 28-32 sitting in her morning clothes on a stool holding a bowl. This is the largest of the images on the page so it is the first thing that the eye will see as the reader turns the page and sees this advert. This may well point out the age group of the audience that the advert is aimed at, woman of age between 25 and 35 who tend nowadays to take their self-appearance very seriously and the advert will use this against them to sell the cereal. The image is in colour and the woman is good looking and has perfect bodily features for example her teeth are straight and brilliant white and she is slim and is dressed as an average person would look in the morning. The editor of this advert has set the image like this for quite a few reasons

The image is in colour which adds a bright and happy feeling to the advert

The woman is good looking and slim this would make the reader envy the woman but also feel happy for her, and will push the reader to find the source of the woman’s perfect features.

She is the largest image of the advert this may show that the advert is mainly aimed at woman.

And finally the woman is wearing very casual clothes and looks like she has just woken up and is eating breakfast, which presumably is the cereal the advert intends to sell. This makes the reader feel accessible to the product in other words because the lady looks like an average person, the reader will not be put off and, maybe think that this product is only for “the beautiful people”.

Next on the advert is an image of a man, considerably smaller than that of the woman but this man has a tough look on his face is very well built, the man is shown with no top on emphasising his toned physique. At first glance the image doest “say” to much to the reader in terms of what that stands for, but once again related to the above point these fairly mysterious features entice the reader to read on just a little further just to find out what the images relate to. The last two images are of a spoon full of special K flakes, which is situated to the right of the advert midst all the text. This is very revealing as once you see this picture you begin to understand what the advert is describing, and the final image is of the front cover of a box of special K this small but significant image sticks in the readers mind very cleverly, as it is the last thing the person will read on the advert it will hopefully stick in their mind so that the next time they go shopping lets say they walk through the cereal isle and then as they go past the box it will instantly remind them of that advert they saw in that magazine, then once their minds start thinking and reminiscing on what they read, they will remember the pretty woman and the good looking man and this will all add up to finally convincing the reader to buy it and this is the long term result the owners of Special K are looking for.

Following on from the subject of images we then smoothly come into the part about “Text/Lexis”. Playing probably one of the most important roles of the entire advert, catchy one liners and titles and also thought provoking paragraphs assist the images in selling the product. We have four main sections of text on the entire page; we have one main heading a quote and two paragraphs of writing. First up is the title, which is situated bang in the middle of the page and reads “Stay Special”. Now there are quite a few analytical comments to make about this ...

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At first glance the reader will pick up on the size of the font and the colour, one word is black the other red, the text is big and bold and straight to the point just what is needed to get the message across quickly and efficiently, the word “stay” is printed in black and has been placed, on top of another background image of a fridge, but do not be fooled, that image is not there for no reason the handle of the fridge “ coincidently runs underneath the word “stay” doubling as an underlining effect, very clever! The word “special” in red, this is a colour coordinating effect that makes the reader believe that by eating this cereal you will stay special. What it is referring to is the image of the woman, special is merely referring to the woman’s physical appearance, she is fit in good shape and has good looks, all the components needed for the specified audience of this advert, women who are on the search for a man, (this is where the picture of the man will kick in) also very cleverly constructed is the positioning of the title, although to the casual reader it may seem like a bad printing job, but the word special has been purposely positioned to lie across both sides of the advert, this very effective technique acts as a bridge for the readers eyes leading them onto the next page of the advert to read for more, the readers are oblivious to this but find themselves already reading the next page, the word special has been carefully selected, as it coincides with the name of the product “SPECIAL K”, which has been colour coordinated to match the colour of the name of the box. So on reading that title the reader is lead straight onto the next piece of text, the quote.

It reads,” I know exactly what kind of body I want to have this year” the font is very clear and big and bold making it easy to read, the black and white colours react well enhancing the view of the quote, there is a play on words in the writing of the quote which sits on top of the main block of text and acts like a sub heading. Reality confirms that it is just impossible for today’s weight watchers to choose how they want to look and always dream of that miracle cure that will instantly change their physique and make them more attractive to the opposite sex, but this quote, which adds to the unique aspect of the text because it has been said by a person (woman) states that someone is saying that they will choose what kind of body they want this year, which instantly makes the reader that little more interested, being able to state such a thing lures the readers further into the advert, bringing them onto the main bulk of the text, now they have been briefed on what the product could do for you, with the help of the images titles and quotes the reader develops (her) interest enough to “want” to read the small print which a success on the count of the editor and retailer.

Coming to the last few points of the advert analysis we see that there are some very considerable features that are hidden to the ordinary “Joe Bloggs” but seem to work like a charm unbeknown to them.

Moving on to the main bulk of text situated on the extreme right of the A4 spread. One point I have noticed is that the advert seems to form a secret map, for the readers eyes, there are certain features that follow on from each other that guide the eyes all round the advert gradually covering everything there is to see, below I have described how my map theory seems to function;

You start with the large (st) picture of the woman,

Very close to that, close enough to not let the eyes wonder off is the big title “stay special” the eyes then run along the title crossing the textual bridge across the page

Which then leads the eye to the top of that page, using the natural instinct of the eye to go to the top of the following page when reading, which then …

Brings us to the next “base” where there is another title/quote then this leads you down

To the large capital “N” starting off the block of text the eyes read through this quite oblivious to the mapping system going on

Leading all the way down to the final caption and a finishing image to fixate in the readers mind…Amazing!

And there you have it, moving back to the main bulk of text; this paragraph contains the main detail that the customer/reader needs to know, but would not instinctively stop to read while reading the whole magazine, even though if the reader may want the product, if they read the details their eyes do not recognise this while glancing at the page.

Moving on to analysing the text itself; the entire paragraph is addressed to the reader personally like a one to one conversation, this adds familiarity between the reader and the woman in the advert, a very informal vocabulary is used with words such as “beefcake” and “dream boy”, and the subject of the text is associating the cereal with setting up a perfect relationship with a woman’s ideal man, by gaining the apparent impossible, and I quote, “a figure that’s irresistible”. Further more as I read deeper into the text, a kind of friendly relationship is built up between the reader and the woman in the article and then some sentences, that are said soon make sense of the once mysterious images, like the picture of the man on the fridge; we soon understand that the picture is there to stop the woman “pigging out” because the image reminds her of her prize at the end. It states, “A splash of ice cold milk on a bowl of Special K is a pleasure not a chore” this has a great effect on the reader because everyone knows, that dieting and eating healthy just seems like hard work. However for the woman to say it’s a pleasure, coaxes the reader further and now that there is this little relationship going on with the reader and writer a sense of trust develops, the paragraph finishes off nicely with “all I need now is someone just as tasty to share it with” this Is a perfect finish if you ask me because it gets the reader thinking, and soon has them begging for the source that will grant them this perfect scenario, and they then finally read on to the final part which states all the nutritional facts about the cereal, as discussed before the last picture is of the box, and this is the last thing the reader sees, before turning the page and will be the most recent thing they remember when they go shopping for another Bach of cereal.

Some very good features were described; we have witnessed the very skilful and cunning minds of editors for adverts, how deep planning and thinking is needed to capture the reader’s interest and also just as important…trust.

My Advert (MFI)

My advert is advertising a well-known furniture store called MFI; the advert is set upon one single A4 sheet, and only contains one main image, one title and a logo. As with the previous analysis I will start with the images and the rest of the features will follow after one another.

As I said there is only one main image this is of a beautiful bedroom that has a very warm feel to it because of the mixture of dark reds and purples, used in the room. In the centre of the bedroom is a bed and on the bed lying down is ruby wax a very well known TV presenter, in a night gown with her feet up in the air smiling looking towards the reader. The room is truly fit for a king/queen, as all the features of the room are immaculate and matching almost impeccably. Now to pinpoint the effect of this;

First of all the whole page is taken up by the colours of the image and this will easily attract the readers attention, as it did mine when I was searching for an advert to study. So the advert relies a lot on its image functions to attract attention and not so much on titles and quotes.

The room is immaculate telling the reader that their bedroom may well look like this if they shop at MFI

There is a teddy on the bed and I feel this adds a bit of familiarity to the advert and associates it with everyday people

A known celebrity is used to sell the product, and as people will flick through the pages of a magazine a face that they recognise will almost certainly make them stop and want them to read on

Also Ruby Wax is a very high rate celebrity and people know that she has a few quid, and when they see Ruby Wax with some products from MFI they suddenly think well if its good enough for its good enough for me, for celebrities may shop where ever they want, and if she has chosen MFI this forms a trust bond with the reader of good quality.

Moving on to the text, there is only one main title piece of text which reads, “all the big names under one roof”

This is corresponding to two things at one time so is a play on words. One meaning is referring to Ruby Wax, as she without a doubt is a “big name” and she is under one roof in the bedroom so that is one of the meanings of this text piece. Then the second meaning is referring to the actual brands of the furniture, “all the big names under one roof” all the best furniture brands in one shop. This effect causes the reader to think for a second and choose which out the two ways they interpret this title either way they will be impressed by the statement and will instantly be intrigued to go and check out the big names under the roof of MFI.

Then finally we have the logo of the brand that “kitted” out the bedroom that Ruby Wax is displaying, this the last thing the reader sees and this sticks in the readers mind for when they may visit MFI so “SCHREIBER at MFI” assists the reader in what they look for first when they visit the store, this is a beneficial technique for both MFI and SCHREIBER and this about wraps up the features of this advert, not quite as complex as Kellogg’s but that advert had more of psychological effect on woman of today and their scenario of wanting a man and needing a nice figure to find a decent one, where as furniture is more of a general subject and requires less detailed features.

The Comparison and Feature Similarities

Now comes the interesting part, distinguishing how two completely different advertisements use similar features and techniques to sell products and also compare their varied approach to the reader first lets just pick out the similarities and discuss why these similarities may have occurred;

Use of images, very common, both have images present and also bold fonts and titles that stand out against their background colour

Use of “beautiful people” both people used in the adverts have white teeth are not over weight etc

Both contain the logo of their product somewhere in the advert, and also the logos both seem to be situated towards the end of the advert

Both people in the image are in their natural state for that particular time, in the morning for breakfast, and at night ready for bed, the attire of both people is nothing exceptional and this will relate to all the ordinary people reading the advert.

We can see that these similarities mainly relate to the images and the people in the images. This is because the editor needs to make the reader feel special and no different from the any one else and that what Ruby Wax or the lady from the Kellogg’s advert does can be done by the reader in just the same way, whether it means having the same furniture, or eating the same cereal, people always find celebrity related products make them exceptional from the others.

Comparison

Now lets compare the few features that are in both and see how they differ and why this may be;

There is a lot less colour used in the Kellogg’s advert compared to the MFI one, this maybe because in the furniture world colour schemes play a big role and the last thing people want is the wrong colour couches for example. Whereas in the world of cereal colour is not such a big issue whereas taste would be the same thing for Kellogg but the other way round, but colour attracts attention when reading a magazine so this may be a flaw to the Kellogg’s advert or maybe the MFI just has too much colour it depends.

In the MFI advert there is far less text involved that in the Kellogg’s one, this is because the main feature of furniture is how it looks, and the best way to sell furniture is to picture it, in full colour and matching its surroundings whereas in terms of cereal factual information such as nutrition details are required and the effects of the cereal, and time periods before you can see the results all add to the better chance of selling the product.

Both adverts include a logo at the end of the advert so to speak, and this is a shared feature, they will both want the same result, this is for the reader to remember the name of the brand over all so at least if the name is remembered then all the details will follow when the person sees the name again.

Both scenarios are “perfect” all the place is tidy and matching in the MFI advert, and the same in the other not that there is much to be messy but the people are all clean, hair done brilliant smile etc, this adds to the attraction and also allows the reader to associate themselves with these people via the product.

In both the adverts the positioning of the wording has to be just right, this especially true in the Kellogg’s advert as I had identified that mapping theory, this would not be effective at all if the wording was not correctly positioned and also in the MFI advert, if the text was bang in the middle then that would spoil the view of the immaculate bedroom which is the MFI adverts key feature for attracting readers. So the text is place in the corner out of the way giving the main image plenty of space to be recognised.

Conclusion

So now after analysing two separate adverts we can get quite a clear image of how advertising works and how all its little features add up to successfully sell their product to the wide range of viewers out there, of course there are many different ways of selling a product and to be sure, we have only covered a small amount of the advertising world but from this assignment we have certainly understood how advertising works and the many ways there are to sell something and the many ways people can play with your mind to make you want what they are selling.