Shiseido Advert The Image Of The Woman example essay topic

Comparing and Contrasting Two Magazine Advertisements In today's world, adverts have a great deal of influence over what we buy and do. Nearly everywhere we go some type of advert bombards us. For example, there are adverts on buses, on television, in magazines and on the street. Within this essay I am going to compare and contrast an advert for Organics Shampoo and an advert for Shiseido The Makeup. An advertiser needs to be very aware of the type of person that they are aiming to sell their product to. They also need to consider what is likely to motivate that person to buy their product.

This is so that they can create the right image for their product and can persuade people to buy it. Advertisers have to create a strong image for their product, this means that they will link it in a customer's mind with the type of person that they think they are or, more to the point, that they would like to be. The image that an advertiser creates depends on which group they are aiming to sell to. Both of my adverts are largely aimed at relatively young women as all of the images are portraying women in some sort of way and both of the adverts were found in the genre of women's magazines.

The Organics advert also reflects social trends and even plays on stereotypes to add humour. Advertisements directed at people often use humour as part of their appeal. The most important things to remember are what image are the advertisers trying to create (this tells you lots about who they think will buy their product and the associations they wish to create); and what motive do they give you for buying. Making certain aspects of the advert stand out helps make a point.

Within the Shiseido advert the image of the woman takes up practically the whole of the A 4 sheet. The image of the makeup however, takes up very little room in the advert. The appearance of the woman is important: tanned, smiling and generally good looking, whilst empowered appearing in the unusual way she portrayed through the use of makeup. This promotes the idea that she is living a good life and since she is holding the product she is associated with it to the extent that the product is seen to be, in part, the source of her good fortune. The way, in which this is just selling the lifestyle rather than the product is very effective, much is left unanswered about the product but the audience may have already been persuaded. This again relates to social trends, as beauty has always been a key factor of persuasion.

Other things that advertisers use to sell their products are things like slogans (a catchy and memorable phrase about their product). My Organics advert fails to include one but in my opinion the product need not have one because it takes the place of the slogan up with more humour and the product name, "Organics" is already well known. The Shiseido advert uses a slogan within it's advertisement because it doesn't really have much else to offer, this is mainly because it is restricted to only using some methods because of the image of their company. The slogan is "Dare to be Brilliant", this can be seen as a sort of question to the reader so it involves her. The slogan can also be commanding the reader to do what it says, "dare to be brilliant", giving the reader an imperative command. Advertisers use colour very cleverly in adverts to create an overall atmosphere and successfully 'set the scene' for their product.

Within the Organics advert the main colour used is green, but it is shown in different shades. The young lady with the big green hair stands out from the rest of the images within the advert because the colour of the hair is very dark, emphasising the importance of the hair. After all the entire advert is about the Organics shampoo. The background of most of the advert is a light shade of green to give the focal point, the image full focus from the reader's perspective. The colour of the sofa the two ladies are sat on is pink, this sort of blends into the background, probably because it is not really of any importance to the advert.

The colour glossy nature of the Shiseido advert makes it seem glamorous and exciting as well as expensive, which adds a sense of extra value to the product being advertised. On a graphological level the layout is very bright. The words within the copy echo the same sort of thoughts from the image. Within the Organics advert there is a small box with the text, "it seemed her hair may be compensating for something" then there is an image portraying the text effectively as it includes a picture of a large breasted woman sat next to a rather "flat" one. This means that the big hair is "compensating" for her "flat" chest. The text adds to the humour of the advert, the advert being a type of cartoon also successfully does so.

The text also again plays with social trends, as a lot of women have small problems, in this case the size of her bust but they try to cover it up with the use of something positively different to attract the male to, in this case her 'large' hair. Within adverts extra information is given to the reader using a copy. The copy at the bottom of the Organics A 4 page has a white background, this slightly excludes it from the rest of the advert background but also relates to the white used before within the image. Within this white box there is also the appearance of a recognisable logo, which further adds confidence in the product and the company producing it. Organics is very well known for its hair products so it doesn't need to give much of an explanation for itself. "Organics" is written in dark green, emphasising the importance to the reader of it being organically made.

This advert is actually only one of a run of adverts for Organics, the copy displays this one being "Essential Truth #7". Then the copy goes on trying to relate to the reader, and trying to reinforce the effect by the content of the text by persuading her to believe that others, women are in the same situation. For example the content includes words like "We all" meaning women, this produces a collaborative desire for the same thing. The copy has been written in a quite casual form making the reader feel as though they are being given this information through an expert friend. Again the content is seen to be of amusement to the reader, but also a bit of reassurance to product as it gives extra information like, "five essential oils". Within the Shiseido advert the product name is emboldened and in a different font type, this helps it to stand out even more from the other copy on the page so that the audience are aware of what they are looking at.

After the questioning whilst commanding slogan towards the bottom of the A 4 page, the copy begins and sort of answers the question for you and points you in the right direction by giving you extra information on how to contact the company, as a phone number is presented. Again the words used within this advert begin to command again, "Ignite your true colours with makeup... ". . The copy stating, "Advanced Luminous Technology" sounds as though the company is trusting and worthy of you. The word "Advanced...

Technology" sounds quite modern and gives a modern image of the company. The copy also offers the reader a "free complimentary" sample of lip-gloss, this involves the reader further and tempts them to take the offer up. This may lead to the further purchasing of products. In conclusion I've found out that the use of adverts to sell products are so effective because they play on your subconscious image of how you see yourself, and tap into an aspect of the audience's lifestyle. They do this by varying their adverts depending on what type of audience will see it, and what type of product they are selling.

As long as there is competition to be the best there will always be adverts, and no matter what people think of them, they are here to stay.