No one can argue that there isn't a distinct difference in the way that organisations advertise to men and women. The age-old stereotype that pink and dolls are for girls, and that blue and manual labour are for boys, is ingrained in us daily through the use of advertisement. It can be subtle enough that we don't notice it but, after doing some critical thinking, we can begin to see just how much effect that advertising has on our views of different groups of people. In class, we were tasked with analysing two different television commercials - one aimed at men, and one aimed at women - in order to try to distinguish these distinct differences.
For my advert aimed at women, I've chosen a Herbal Essences shampoo commercial starring Nicole Scherzinger. Both Herbal Essences and Nicole Scherzinger are notorious for creating and starring in adverts that show women reacting to normal households products with noises that one would usually only expect from someone experiencing sexual pleasure, and this commercial is no different. It uses blatant innuendo in order to promote the product, even going so far as to create a hashtag called "#firsttime". Using sex in advertising is both a controversial and common tactic which is mostly for the benefit of men, which explains why Nicole's moans feel so out of place in an advert aimed at women.
The use of celebrity endorsement in this trailer is achieved through the casting of Nicole Scherzinger. Some may argue that she's the human equivalent of Marmite - you either love her, or you hate her - so one could argue that using her in this advert might add a layer of controversy to increase discussion of Herbal Essences' product.
Pink is used as a contrast colour on Scherzinger's dress, on the shampoo bottle, and in the plane to emphasise that the product is feminine and marketed towards women. Despite this, there are more than double the number of male actors in this advert than female actresses. Even though the focus of the commercial is meant to be Scherzinger, we're drawn to take the point of view of the men on the plane since they are the ones reacting to the "effect" of the shampoo, for lack of a better word.
Some slow motion is used in this advert to direct attention towards Scherzinger's hair while applying the shampoo, and again after it's dried. The viewer can also clearly see the positive emotions on her face while this happens, which shows the satisfaction that this product would provide if someone were to buy it.
The second video I've chosen is a moisturising cream manufactured by Nivea Men. This product uses men as their target audience and thus creates their advertising campaign based on what they think most men will relate to. The first thing that jumps out at me about this trailer is that most of the men in this advert are performing typically hyper-masculine jobs (racing drivers, construction workers, etc.). In fact, when I say most of the men, what I should be saying is "most of the actors", since there is only one female actress in this advert. Even then, she is basically used as a prop. This is in direct contrast to the last advert where, even though it was supposed to be aimed at women, the men's emotions were the ones that were focused on the most. This gives us the impression that women need the approval of men to feel content, whereas men don't need a female partner in order to feel comfortable with themselves.
A lot of humour is used in this advert, which helps to make the commercial memorable. That way, the product that's being advertised should stick in peoples' minds and encourage them to purchase or use it. An example of this is the incredibly popular Compare The Market ad campaign. It used a funny and unique idea to endorse their insurance comparison website and was so well-received that Compare The Meerkat quickly became iconic. Nivea Men obviously would never have gotten that sort of reputation from this advert, but it's a similar concept when stripped to its bare bones.
Blue is a colour that's used constantly throughout this advert. This, like the Herbal Essences advert, harkens back to the saying that "blue is for boys, pink is for girls". It further establishes the theme of masculinity and the target audience. The advert also has a lot of quick cuts from one shot to the next, which creates a swift and action-packed pace.
An advert's main aim is to convince their target audience that they are in need of this product, that something will be lacking in their life if they don't buy whatever is being sold. A way that this commercial achieves this is through the use of expressions. The men that haven't been using the moisturiser and that have skin irritation all are exhibiting signs of stress, discomfort, and frustration, whereas the man using the cream at the end has a look of satisfaction on his face.
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