Advertising

Recent marketing attempts to for this product have not been as effectively executed as they could be. Unfortunately, the sales statistics from your previous marketing campaigns have proven ineffective, only decreasing in demand over the past year. With the experience in marketing and advertising of my team at Toto Communications, your sales will undoubtedly Increase and your product will be the best seller in this area of marketing. Following extensive market research, we here at Toto communication believe we have established the ideal target market for your product. Recent studies indicate that 78% of men who are interested in your product range between the ages of 20 and 25. Of this 78%, 80% are single, middle-class men looking for a suitable companion to accompany him.

With this information, the research team have come to he conclusion of advertising your product In ‘Next Luxury magazine. Next Luxury publications are designed to teach men how to improve their manner and live a better lifestyle. By presenting Perfume in Next Luxury magazine, the product will become Internationally recognizes, and capable of creating a trend-setting phenomenon for all middle-classed men. The advertisement created consists of three colors: black, red and white. Significant colors In an advertisement are essential for selling a product successfully.

For Perfume, color black represents power  a quality all men thrive to possess, and yester – a trademark of fantasy which undeniably intrigues women. The color red represents passion and danger; two qualities which, when combined together, are undoubtedly irresistible towards women because of the contrast between romance and adventure. To complete the advertisements color palette, white font has been incorporated on the black background to ‘pop! ‘ off the page, and capture the viewer’s eye.

By using these three colors, buyers will commend you on the effective and simplistic understanding of what the product is, and how it can improve their lifestyle. The layout of an advertisement Is crucial when trying to sell any product successfully. Recent studies have shown a pattern forming from viewers when observing an advertisement; majority of the time they will look at the title at the top first, then their eyes scan across the top of the page to finish down to the right-hand corner of the page.

Therefore, the layout for Perfume’s advertisement has been specifically designed to counter these factors. The product has been placed In the bottom right-hand corner so that it will be the last thing the viewer will see and member about the advertisement. In the top left-hand corner, where they will first read about the advertisement Is the cologne name. The title has been enhanced and bolted so It stands out more than anything else on the page; the title has been selected specifically as the color red to contrast with the black background and link with the significance of color discussed previously. Underneath the cologne title copy. As the reader’s eye wanders to the bottom right-hand corner, it doesn’t matter which way they go, the image of Changing Datum will be inescapable. By using liberty appearance in advertising, majority of people will automatically buy the product due to the fact that, that celebrity wears the product. Changing Datum is an ideal model for your campaign as he represents power, talent, adventure, and romance – all qualities in which majority of women look for in a man.

It has been proven that advertisements using attractive males as their cover has gained more attraction to their product. Through the use of attention to detail in the layout, and incorporation of celebrities, Perfume will achieve superb recognition internationally ND raise sales statistics. The final ingredient in successfully creating an advertisement is language. The slogan “Be impossible to forget” is a command.

Commands work well in ads as gives the customer an instruction, and does not allow any hint of confusion or questioning towards the product. Similarly, the body copy poses a rhetorical question; “Want to be the one women want? ” Rhetorical questions are a clever way for advertisers to capture their audience in a web. Rhetoric’s don’t allow for an answer, because the answer is obvious. This forces the reader to become involved in the product and enquire more about its’ qualities.

By capturing the viewer through the use of advertisement techniques in writing, Perfume will be irresistible to read. Target market, color, layout, and language are Just three key ingredients which Toto Communications has thoroughly examined in order to make your product the best it can be. By using this advertisement and following these techniques, Perfume will be indestructible globally. On behalf of Toto Communications, I personally thank you for your time, and for considering our advertisement for your campaign.

Compare and contrast two advertisements for similar products. You should evaluate the techniques used in the adverts and comment on the extent to which they comply with ‘The Code’ established by the ASA. I have chosen two adverts for washing-up powder, ‘Persil’ and ‘Bold’. I will be comparing and contrasting the two adverts and evaluating the techniques used. I will also comment on the extent to which they comply with ‘The Code’ established by the ASA. The first advert I will talk about is the ‘Persil’ advert.

The target audience for this advert is young children as the advert looks like a drawing and has a picture of a child with bits of coloured paper stuck all over him. This attracts a child because it is very colourful and there is coloured paper with scissors and crayons which children like. The picture is close up and fills the whole page. This is so it will immediately attract children to it because children notice big images rather than small images. At the top of the advert it says in large spaced-out writing ‘Guess whose school got free arts and craft materials?

‘ This is easy for a child to read because the language is not complex and it is not too close together. When a child reads it they will want to know the answer because they want the free arts and craft materials. At the bottom it says ‘Collect the stars on special packs and hand them in at school. Get creative with Persil. ‘ This tells you how to get the arts and crafts materials and has a slogan (‘Get creative with Persil’), which is quite catchy to remember. The writing is quite big and is also spaced-out for children to read but parents can read this also, to find out how to get the arts and craft materials.

In the bottom right-hand corner there is a picture of the product, which also looks as if it has been drawn so people will know what the product looks like. By having something free it encourages more people to buy the product and since there is arts and craft materials free it is aimed at children. You would not expect an advert for washing-up powder to be aimed at children but this is a good idea to get more people to buy the product. This will make children ask their Mum’s to buy the product and then they will hopefully buy it for their child.

Also the advert is trying to get across that if their children’s clothes get dirty from the arts and craft materials it will not matter because ‘Persil’ will get any stains out. The advert uses consumer expectation by appealing the advert to children by having the free arts and craft materials because children are likely to ask their Mum’s to get the product and they will want to get it for them. I think this advert is good because it immediately stands out; it attracts children to the product so their parents will by the product and it has a gift free with it to encourage people to buy the product.

I think this advert complies with ‘The Code’ established by the ASA very well; it is not bringing the law into disrepute, it is not causing any offence to anyone, it is clearly understood and it is not misleading anyone. The second advert I will talk about is the ‘Bold’ advert. The target audience for this advert, unlike the ‘Persil’ advert is for basically anyone who washes clothes. It is not aimed at anyone in particular, just anybody who does the washing. When you first look at the advert you wouldn’t know it was an advert for a washing-up powder as there is no writing at the top of the page just small writing at the very bottom.

The advert is filled with a picture; there is a red shirt in the middle of the page and about a centimetre away from the shirt all the way round are lots of fish swimming away from the shirt. This will make you want to read on to find out what is going on and what the advert is for. The advert attracts attention because there is lots of grey fish and then in the middle of the page a red shirt, which stands out. At the bottom of the page in small writing it says ‘When you’ve cooked fish, the last thing you want is the smell to stick to your clothes.

New Bold’s built-in conditioner with FreshGuard actively fights cooking odours, leaving clothes ‘just-washed fresh’, all day long. ‘ By saying this people know what the advert is about and gives you a feature that the washing-up liquid has and explains how it works so people will understand and are more likely to believe that the clothes will stay fresh. Like the ‘Persil’ advert, this advert also uses consumer expectation because they know that people don’t want their clothes to smell after they cook and so this will make people want to buy this product.

Like the other advert, next to the writing it has a slogan, which says ‘Freshness that fights back’ in quite big, blue capital letters to stand out. This is a good slogan because like the other advert, it is catchy. Also if you don’t read the small writing you can understand the basic point of the advert. Above the slogan, like the ‘Persil’ advert there is a picture of the product so people can know what product it is. The advert is quite funny because of the fish swimming away and then it says ‘Freshness that fights back’ which is good because when an advert is funny it will stick in your mind.

I think this advert is also good because it shows a feature of the product and explains briefly how it works so people can understand. Like the other advert I think this advert complies with ‘The Code’ established by the ASA well; it is not bringing the law into disrepute, it is not causing any offence to anyone and it is clearly understood. The only thing which could be a problem is that it could mislead people into thinking the washing-up powder will always keep their clothes smelling like they have just been washed.

However, I do not think this very misleading. Adverts are a part of our everyday life and so people don’t think about the techniques used to encourage people to buy their product. By analysing these two adverts I have found out how companies do this. I have thought about the target audience, the type of language used, images used and the selling strategies used such as humour. Some adverts bend the rules of ‘The Code’ established by the ASA but these two adverts did not although the ‘Bold’ advert could slightly mislead people.

Concept of Corporate sponsored children groups is becoming increasingly popular as a tool for increasing sales. Children groups give children a sense of belonging, which makes children groups an excellent tool for promoting brand loyalty. An executive of Burger King had stated that their sales of children meals increased by 80% after the launch of Burger King Kids Group in 1991. (Schlosser 2001) By the time children reach their early teens, they learn to think that material possessions are what matters and they are what identifies them.

This thought is primarily introduced in their minds through over exposure to advertisements which are designed to foster a liking for material possessions. Advertising has such a far reaching effect on teenagers that it determines how they interact with their peers and their adults. (Kirsting) James U McNeal, Americas leading authority on marketing for children; states that the purpose of most advertisements targeted at children is to create an overwhelming desire for a product so that children Nag their parents.

McNeal has identified seven forms of nags ranging from pleading nag to threat nag and he recommends that making children threat nag their parents is not a nice thing to do. (Schlosser) A study has shown that advertisements can influence a child’s behavior, increasing exposure to fast food commercials fosters bad habits such as over consumption of fast foods. In fact the rise in child obesity rates can be attributed to over exposure fast food commercials.

Moreover bad habits acquired as child will last an individual’s lifetime. (Dittmann) In order to attract public’s attention to the negative effects of children-oriented marketing, many organization such as APA, Academy of Pediatrics and Kaser Family Foundation are openly protesting against the trend of child-oriented marketing. In fact APA’s task force is actively conducting research to determine – how harmful child-oriented marketing is to young children.

(Dittmann 2004) With more research and increased public awareness it is expected that companies will gradually limit child-oriented marketing and advertisements will be designed with due consideration to psychological frailty of children.

Works Cited Dittmann, Melissa. Protecting Children from Advertising, (2004) Kirsting, Karen. Driving Teen Egos and Buying through Branding, (2004) Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of All American Meal, (2001)

Cigarette Advertising and their effects to adolescent smokers

            In the United States, the use of tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death. Even with this awareness, increased numbers of adolescents still experiment with smoking and the majority will probably establish a lifelong dependence on nicotine. Studies that were carried out a decade ago indicated that thirty six percent of adolescents smoked cigarettes (Kann et al, 1998). This figure may be even higher today. As the habit persists into adulthood, an estimated five million adolescents will eventually succumb to premature death from illnesses related to smoking. The reason why many adolescents begin and continue to smoke remains an important public health issue. Current research indicate that numerous social and psychological factors increase the possibility of an adolescent becoming a smoker. Among the reasons are the positive attitudes and beliefs about smoking that mainly emanating from cigarette advertising.

            Adolescent smoking practice is strongly influenced by promotional advertising by cigarette manufacturers. Studies indicate that adolescents who often come across tobacco advertisements are more likely to smoke than those who do not (Botvin et al, 1993). The receptivity to such products may also be increased by encountering cigarette advertisements and internalizing their messages. Adolescents that are receptive to cigarette promotional items are more likely to advance into greater levels of smoking than those who are not. Majority of adolescents who experiment with smoking every year in the United States often do so in response to tobacco industry promotional activities.

            There has been some shift in media representation of tobacco since its advertisement was banned from the broadcast media in 1971. Smoking on television has decreased while smoking advertisements in the print media has increased (CDC, 1994). The tobacco companies still appear to have a considerable impact on entertainment and editorial content due to their advertising for cigarettes and other products. Television characters seldom decline to smoke or make derogatory comments about tobacco. The print media on the other hand hardly mention the health risks associated with smoking even if they do not carry advertisements for tobacco. Smoking in films is more common than in actual life with the movie smoking rates not going down. Even in G-rated films that target younger children, smoking is a common phenomenon. A survey carried out a decade ago by Golman et al (1999) discovered that more than fifty percent of the films featured smoking. They sampled children’s animated films. A common strategy employed by tobacco companies is product placement which ensures that their products are used by highly visible and admired film stars. With this regard, the dominant image of smoking is the one that tobacco companies create. Smoking is presented as the habit of glamorous, sexually attractive, healthy and active individuals.

            Adolescents have numerous opportunities to watch tobacco advertisements and smoking in the media. These pictures may contribute to tobacco use by leading this population to establish a positive attitude towards smoking. Cigarette companies often place advertisements for youth-oriented brands in magazines that have high adolescent readership. Again, more than twenty five percent of MTV videos include tobacco use. Numerous studies indicate that concerns about the consequences of tobacco advertising on adolescents are not unfounded. The persuasive impact of tobacco advertisement campaigns on adolescent smoking has been assessed by many researchers. The basic argument among some of these researchers is that, for the campaigns to result in smoking there are a number of conditions that have to be satisfied. First, the adolescents must be exposed to the advertisements, attend to and comprehend the messages. They then establish a cognitive or affective response to the message.

            A longitudinal study carried out by Pierce, Choi, Gilpin, Farkas and Berry (1998) of over 1,750 adolescents show that tobacco campaigns are associated with adolescent smoking. Fifty percent of the sample identified a common tobacco advertisement, and majority owned or wanted to own promotional items. These two reactions to tobacco advertisement were associated over time with smoking. Another survey carried out by Sargent and colleagues (2000) reported that adolescents, more than adults, are especially vulnerable to tobacco advertising. Their research focused on both the link between advertising and smoking initiation and the brand choices of existing smokers. They discovered that the choices of brand for adolescent smokers were mainly concentrated in the most widely and heavily advertised brands and that the link between the choice of brand and advertising was stronger among adolescents than in adults. These findings correspond with those of Pierce and his colleagues (1991). The random phone survey carried out by Pierce and his colleagues of over twenty four thousand adults and five thousand adolescent smokers indicated that adolescent smokers were more likely to smoke heavily advertised brands such as Marlboro and Camel than adult smokers. The two research teams concluded that there was a correlation between adolescent smoking and tobacco advertising.

            There are also indications that adolescent females may be uniquely lured to enticements to smoke as they are especially interested in fashion, social desirability, thinness and physical appearance (Kaufman, 1994). Tobacco advertisements associate with all of these aspects. It therefore might not come as a surprise that after several years of decrease in smoking initiation, smoking in underage adolescent girls increased in 1967, the year that saw the beginning of advertisement campaigns targeting women (Pierce, Lee ; Gilpin, 1994). The sale of Camel cigarettes to adolescent smokers also increased. Mayhew and his colleagues (2000) noted that three years after Joe Camel advertising campaign begun, camel’s share increased from five percent to thirty two percent of the adolescent market.

            Exposure and attention to tobacco often begins at childhood. It is a fact that exposure to and awareness of tobacco advertisements start before adolescence. In a survey carried out by Fischer and his colleagues (1991), they asked children aged between three and six years to match product logos with brand names. The children were able to readily match children’s logos and brands. For instance, ninety percent were able to match the logo and brand for the Disney channel. They also recognized Burger King and McDonald logos. Tobacco logos were less recognizable even though fifty percent of the children managed to match Joe Camel and Camel cigarettes. About thirty three percent identified Marlboro logos. The indication is that advertisements are easily recognized by children and this may later influence their future habits as adolescents.

            It cannot be denied that children are well exposed to tobacco advertising even though the companies often claim that their advertising is exclusively directed on adult smokers. The tobacco industry has designed and placed their advertisements in such a way that they cannot escape the attention of young people. Children at a very young age can match a picture of a cigarette with a cigarette advertisement from which all smoking cues have been removed (Fischer 1989). It is therefore clear that children are exposed to tobacco advertisement and this starts before the actual tobacco use begins. One issue of great concern is the fact that children receive and comprehend the implied messages delivered by tobacco advertisements before they are mature enough to understand the aim of advertisement. This implies that they learn from tobacco advertisements without taking into consideration where the message has come from.

            A strong link exists between exposure to advertising and actual smoking behavior. Children who have come across cigarette advertisements are more likely to smoke than those who have not. The tobacco industry on the other hand argues that smoking causes awareness of advertising rather than the awareness of advertising causing smoking. They hold that in an attempt to find justification for disapproved behavior, adolescent smokers search for advertisements for valid reason to smoke. This however cannot be the case since even among those who do not smoke, children who approve and like cigarette advertisements are more likely to take up the habit in future. Studies also indicate that children who approve of cigarette advertising are more likely to start smoking the following year (Slama, 1995). This means that the impact of tobacco advertising on the mind of the child precede actual tobacco use.

            The more a child becomes familiar and comfortable with tobacco advertisement, the more likely they are to take up the habit. The major question is the how tobacco advertising causes children to use tobacco. This can be answered by looking through the development process. There exist three major developmental tasks of adolescents. These are: developing an identity as a man or woman; establishing independence from the parents; and gaining acceptance of peers and members of the opposite sex. Research that has been funded by tobacco industry has identified these areas of psychological vulnerability among adolescents who are likely to smoke. Advertisements are therefore carefully designed to portray tobacco as offering the answer to the problems associated with adolescence.

            A document prepared for RJR MacDonald tobacco company, “very young starter smokers chose Export A because it provides them with an instant badge of masculinity, appeals to their rebellious nature and establishes their position amongst their peers” (RJR MacDonald, 1977). This company identifies the target group for their brand as people who are extremely influenced by their peer group. These marketing strategies do not make any reference to taste, quality or price of the products but are instead focused on promoting the psychological benefits to be enjoyed by young people who smoke specific brands. The tobacco industry thus appears to know much more about what motivate adolescents to smoke than does the medical community. Not every tobacco advertisement has the capacity to motivate adolescents to smoke. It is however possible to single out those that appeal to the adolescents’ need to feel masculine or feminine, independent and popular. Social learning identifies that even socially learned behaviors that can be replicated may not be enacted unless one is motivated. Advertisements thus act as motivational incentives. Images or advertisements of tobacco smoking may attract the attention of adolescents who are interested in knowing about adult behaviors.

            The majority of young people unambiguously understands and accepts the psychological appeals. Young people with favorite cigarette advertisement are more likely to believe that there are benefits associated with smoking. The perceive benefits are those that are portrayed by the advertisements. There are also those adolescents who believe that smoking will make them famous and thus are more likely to smoke. This offers a plausible mechanism of comprehending how advertisement causes children to smoke. Adolescence is one stage where individuals are psychologically vulnerable. With advertisement portraying tobacco to be the solution to the problems confronting the adolescents, there are those who are likely to be convinced and hence take up the habit.

Conclusion

            The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars each year on advertising, marketing and promotion. In 1997 in the United States alone, tobacco companies spent almost six billion dollars on advertising and promotional expenditure. The tobacco industry employs every conceivable method and medium to promote cigarettes. Such includes radio, television, newspapers, internet, magazines and billboards. The companies have undertaken careful studies on the habits, tastes and desires of their potential customers which include children, women and other historically low smoking groups (CDC, 1994). This information is then used to develop products and marketing campaigns that are directed towards this population.

            Young adolescents often seek for independence from their parents and establish separate identities even as they seek approval of their peers. This is part of a natural maturation process. One characteristic of individuation is that the adolescent is motivated to take increasing responsibility for his or her actions and make independent decisions. Research that has been funded by tobacco companies have given these companies a comprehension of this process which has made them to exploit it. Young male smokers often go through a stage where they are seeking to express their independence and individuality. Smoking is thus used as rebellion. Tobacco industry has capitalized on the adolescent motive to individuate especially in their advertisements.

            The majority of independent, peer reviewed studies indicate that advertising results in increased consumption. The financial success of tobacco industry requires that they continue recruiting new smokers following the rate at which their customers either die or quit smoking every year. The logic of tobacco industry dictates that it must find its customers among the young people since studies indicate that the majority of smokers begin the habit in their youth. The main vehicle of accomplishing this is advertisement and promotion. There is minimal doubt that tobacco advertising has a strong effect on adolescents. The above studies indicate that the onset of smoking in adolescents is causally linked to promotional activities. Again, exposure to cigarette advertising predicts smoking among that age group.  Research also indicates that owing to the introduction of brand advertisements that are attractive to adolescents, the use of such advertised brands has increased and so has the overall smoking.

            As more countries ban tobacco advertising, the industry has been creative in finding new ways of publicizing their brands especially with the young population. Such methods include sponsoring teams and sporting events, promoting concerts, printing brand logos on t-shirts and other merchandise popular with the young people among other strategies.

Work Cited

Botvin, G. J., Goldberg, C. J., Botvin, E. M., & Dusenbury, L. Smoking behavior of adolescents             exposed to cigarette advertising. Public Health Reports, 108, 217-224, 1993

Goldman, L. K., & Glantz, S. A. (1998). Evaluation of antismoking advertising campaigns.      Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 772-777

Kann, L., Kinchen, S. A., Williams, B. I., Ross, J. G., Lowry, R., Hill, C. V., Grunbaum, J. A.,   Blumson, P. S., Collins, J. L., & Kolbe, L. J. . Youth risk behavior surveil-lance—United States, 1997. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 47, 1-89, 1998

Mayhew, K. P., Flay, B. R., & Mott, J. A. (). Stages in the development of adolescent smoking.            Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 59 (suppl. 1), S61-S81, 2000

Pierce, J. P., Choi, W. S., Gilpin, E. A., Farkas, A. J., & Berry, C. C. Tobacco industry promotion          of cigarettes and adolescent smoking. Journal of the American Medical Association,          279, 511-515, 1998

Sargent, J. D., Dalton, M., Beach, M., Bernhardt, A., Heatherton, T., & Stevens, M. (). Effect of             cigarette promotions on smoking uptake among adolescents. Preventive Medicine, 30,    320-327, 2000

Slama, K. (1995). Tobacco and health. Springer Science & Business

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing tobacco use among young people:            A report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: USDHHS, Public Health Service, Centers   for Disease Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health          Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 1994

Adverts are use to sell products and functions by creating fear and anxieties amongst audiences. Advertising controls people’s tastes and behaviour in the interests of company profit and capital growth. Advertisers sell us a life style making us think we can symbolically obtain it by simply buying things. This advert is a trainer advertisement. The company of the product is called Skechers. This Skechers advert is representing trainers that can change your lives.

This is done by the way the advert is presented like a movie poster. The company of Skechers trainers have decided to produce an advert that would “catch the eyes” of their audience, so they produced an advert which has similarly layout to a movie poster. Their targeted this advert at teenagers, as teenagers have more disposable income and buy many trainers than any other age group. The type of advertisement that the advertisers are promoting is sports and the trainers are aimed at teenagers who play many sports and are energetic.

There are two different types of audience active and passive audience. The active audience are the people who will criticise, question and will not believe everything they see on a medium. Whereas the passive audience are the people who will just sit there and look at the medium and then buy the artefact, because it looks good. The advertisers also chose teenagers as the target audience of the advert because a large majority of teenagers are passive.

The layout of the advert is structured like a movie poster because teenagers are interested in movies as well as sports, clothes and fashion. The advertisement is structured like a Hollywood (first cinema) action-movie poster and there are various people doing extreme action things such as diving underwater and fighting. There is a large image of a woman running in the centre of the poster. She is obviously wearing Skechers trainers and has a good figure; she is a stereotypical view of the kind of figure teenagers will want to have.

She will clearly attract the male audience because of her appearance and the female audience because of her figure. The lighting of the poster is clear, tinted and bright and there are different views of people such as close up, mid-shot and birds-eye view. There are many colours used in this advertisement. That means the advert will not bore its target audiences. All of the images are action related; everyone is doing some kind of exercise or something extreme (this is shown by image of fire around the woman which represents action as well as the other images). The imagery is used effectively as is symbolises what you can do by wearing trainers.

The advertisers thought it will be best to do an advertisement on trainers in the form a movie poster to break the stereotypical trainer advert and apply an unusual/ different kind of trainer advert. This advert is a positive representation on trainers as the implicit message of the advert is that; if you buy and wear these trainers you would be able to anything and that your physique would improve dramatically, anything’s possible if you wear these trainers.

This advert is not a stereotypical advertisement on trainers; this will have a positive effect on its audience as it is different to regular-stereotypical trainer adverts. Stereotypes can have a negative effect on the audiences as people are sick and tired of seeing the same idea used again and again. The implicit message that the advert is trying to give to you is that if you buy and wear these trainers your performance will be improved/increased. The audience will immediately think that is the message because of the physique and fitness of the people in the poster.

Analyse, review and comment on the magazine advertisement for Mauritius and explain how the presentation and language have been used effectively. In today’s society, we are unceasingly bombarded with advertisements which are presented in numerous forms which include paper, electronic and audio. Advertisements dominate the media across the globe; the consumer is faced by them from the moment they wake up, until the moment they go to bed. This makes advertising a very successful business, so advertisement are placed in all possible places, from bus stops to tooth brushes. The most successful advertisements include the use of presentational devices which are structured to appeal to their target audience, such as; the use of colour, text, images, slogans, headings and subheadings.

Every single advertisement, regardless to its location or the form it takes, has a target audience. An advertisement will have its design completely tailored to attract the necessary target audience to become effective. An advertisement becomes an effective one when the product which it is advertising is seen to be a necessity to the potential consumer. An example of an effective advertisement is one for the holiday island of Mauritius which is taken from a national newspaper. The advertisement is composed of a large image of the sea and island which occupies almost two thirds of the space, beneath is the title filled with the image of the sea and lower down still is a concise yet informative and persuasive block of text.

The most obvious presentational device used on the Mauritius advertisement is the image of the craggy outcrop, clear sea and silent beach which predominates over the rest of the advertisement. This image is effective in capturing the attention of the consumer, largely because of its vibrant colours. The striking aqua colour of the sea not only captures the consumer’s attention; it also makes the Mauritius advertisement seem more attractive. Making the advertisement seem attractive to the person viewing it is vital because it puts the product it is advertising in a more desirable light. The image also helps the advertisement appeal to a broader target audience by showing not only a silent beach and sea, but also a mountainous environment. This is an effective presentational device as it lets the advertisement appeal to both romantic couples seeking a quiet holiday, plus couples who are in quest of a break with more adventure. Read about Lush vision and mission

There is also an unmistakable contrast between the barren landscape on the outcrop, the lush vegetation on the beach of the island and the clarity of the sea on the main image. This dissimilarity could suggest to the consumer that there is more than one type of leisure activity available to the visitors of Mauritius; this widens the target audience further. The charcoal coloured outcrop also creates a clear divide between the blue sky and sea, which otherwise would have blended together.

The isolated couple in the sea are an effective presentational device; they persuade the consumer to visit Mauritius by making the island seem peaceful and quite. However, the couple are wearing snorkels which could suggest that more adventurous activities are welcome on the island. This suggests that the target audience for this Mauritius advertisement are wealthy couples or small families who are looking for either a relaxing or adventurous holiday set in a quiet environment.

The clouds in the focal image are effective in attempting to persuade the consumer as they give the whole image believability; if the sky was completely clear, the image would seem too perfect to be real. Ensuring that the image is believable is crucial in making the advertisement effective, if it wasn’t the consumer may begin to doubt other sections of the advertisement. The main image then extends down onto the title of the advert; Mauritius. This creates a powerful effect making the name of the island standout from the text beneath. It is also effective in that the consumer’s vision is drawn down to the title from the image above. It may also suggest that the Mauritius culture is based predominantly around the sea, because the type face used to display the title is filled with the image of the sea.

The tagline, ‘It doesn’t have to be one day.’ is an effective linguistic device as ‘one day’ could either mean a holiday which lasts for one day or ‘one day’ in the future. This pun is effective as it can be interpreted in two ways, depending on who is reading it. This means two different people, with different ideas of could relate to this one sentence. The sentence, ‘… the most breathtakingly beautiful and romantic place on Earth.’ suggests to the consumer that Mauritius is undoubtedly the most beautiful and romantic place on earth, as if it is a fact. By adding this, they give the consumer no reason to look elsewhere for their holiday if they are seeking a beautiful and romantic island. This also supports the idea that the advertisement is aimed at couples. The same text then goes on to, ‘Children are very welcome…’ which supports the idea that the advertisement is aimed at small families as well.

Another effective linguistic device which is present in this advertisement is the sentence, ‘Well, now it’s even easier to get to and ‘one day’ can be now.’ The phrase ‘even easier’ has been intentionally used rather than ‘easy’ when describing travelling to the island as it makes it sound as if travelling to Mauritius was easy in the past, but they wanted to make it easier still. By making it seem as if there was never a problem to fix, it suggests to the consumer that the people of Mauritius care about the visitors. This linguistic device is effective because making the consumer feel cared for could assist in making a sale.

The piece of text finishes with the sentence, ‘We’d be so pleased to hear from you.’ This is an effective linguistic device as it uses personal pronouns to make the person who is reading it feel as if they have been personally addressed. Being addressed personally gives the text more meaning to the reader, as if they have been selected to be invited to Mauritius. The advert for Mauritius is most effective as it appeals to a wide range of consumers by using clever linguistic and presentational devices to attempt to persuade the consumer to visit Mauritius. The presentational devices first attract the consumer’s attention using colour and images, the linguistic devices then attempt to increase the consumer’s interest further by using highly descriptive language of the island of Mauritius.

Jacob Erdy Prof. Molyneaux ENG 110 10/18/12 Gender and Sexual Exploitation in Advertisement In Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt, Jean Kilbourne sheds a feminist light on the blatant exploitation of sexuality and violence against women and men in modern advertisement. Kilbourne then goes on to explain the damage these advertisements have on today’s culture and rising generations.

Kilbourne argues, in the past twenty years or so there has been a steady increase of advertisements featuring pornographic elements along with other inappropriate themes such as “bondage, sadomasochism, and the sexual exploitation of children. ” (576). Such images as a jean ad where a women is being attacked by three men in an alley is a perfect example of an event that should be seen as tragic but is written off as just a way to convince people to buy a product.

An interesting point that Kilbourne brings up is since these images have become more and more apparent throughout everyday life, such as in magazines, newspapers, and television commercials, “most of us become numb to these images, just as we become numb to the daily litany in the news of women being raped, battered, and killed. ” (584). Unfortunately, this statement is undeniably true, after being conditioned to believe that these exploitative ads are acceptable most of us would not even take a second glance if one was found in a magazine or newspaper.

This is when these advertisements become dangerous, argues Kilbourne. She doesn’t believe that these advertisements cause crimes against women, but when these crime arise these ads somewhat justify certain actions because of their omnipresence in society. I agree with Kilbourne, these advertisements do portray a world where crimes against women are acceptable, which in result, make people believe there is some sort of justification of these crimes when they are brought up. These exploitative ads need to be curbed in hopes to “thaw out” society’s opinions and tolerance for crimes against women.