DKNY Advertising Rhetorical Analysis - Essay Example

?Ali Bujassoum Gehlhoff, Kelly English 101 – MWP1 19 April DKNY Advertising Rhetorical Analysis Human beings have an inherent urge to look good,fresh, and bright for the entire day and all the time. While this is applicable to both men and women, women constitute the larger target segment for companies who manufacture cosmetic products. The most probable reason for this is that these products are more appealing to women, and they find their way into the household (Faigley and Selzer34). This gives the product a platform for an introduction to other members of the woman’s household. Cosmetics adverts appeal to the need for women to feel popular, have self-esteem, and be accepted into society. Because women, just like everyone else, have one chance to make a first impression, cosmetics are indispensible to their lives. The strategy that a company adopts to publicize and market its products determines how much of an advantage a company can make from this fact. The success of an advertisement, in turn, depends, on the ability of a company, to make a strong first impression on the consumer-to produce a “wow” effect-and, obviously, it only has the chance to do it. Advertising is, therefore, a high stake game with the success or failure of a commercial being an issue of life and death for a product. The advertisement above is that of a perfume manufactured by DONNA KARAN NEW YORK, also referred to as DKNY. What catches the consumer’s eyes first is the exotic woman who is also young and beautiful with a confident expression that seems to looks right into the camera (Faigley and Selzer87). The non-verbal expression conveys a message, which is not very hard to decipher, this is qualified by the caption right below; it translates the expression for the consumer-BE DELICIOUS. It may be noted that the location of the caption is to the right center of the advertisement, rather than to the advertisement’s bottom or corner. This caption, in its block letters and bright color, is just as striking as the young woman is. It is one of the first elements of the advertisement, which catch the consumer’s eye. The caption and the image make up most of advertisement and are so striking that everything else, including the background, becomes irrelevant. The caption-BE DELICIOUS- is not a phrase or a clause, but it is a sentence. The caption is an imperative sentence. The subject of these sentences is quite clear without being explicit and it seems to command subtly the consumer to try it. The advertisement’s exhortation is for the woman to be delicious with the temptation to try the product being hard to resist. If the viewer is a woman, it gives the user an “x-factor” that can make them more attractive. On the other hand, when viewed by a man, the advertisement challenges the man to discover what women want, and when this challenge is from a woman, it makes it all the more irresistible. In addition, the look of the young woman, as well as her body language, seems to carry conviction, whether the viewer will trust the product or censor if they do not. The impact of eye contact on the viewer cannot be overestimated, evoking a feeling of self-esteem and self-confidence. How popular a product will become is also aided by how popular an advertisement is. For this reason, a lot of care must be observed when selecting and structuring of the images in the advertisement (Faigley and Selzer226). The measure on how effective the images used in the advertisement are is whether the viewer will take a pause after reading the magazine, newspaper, or driving, past the billboard, to come back to the advertisement after seeing it the first time. The overall outcome of the words, pictures, and colors on the consumer or viewer is durable. The image remains in one’ mind for a while; the caption is immediately recognizable and memorable. The colors are also bright green, which contrasts with the flawless tan of the young woman, which makes her skin, and the advertisement, all the more memorable. Advertisements must, not only appeal to the consumer’s senses, but must also appeal to the need for popularity for the consumer, either by having a character who is famous or popular, or a character whom the consumer wants to be like. Care must be taken not to allow the features or the color of the woman, as well as the ornaments or clothes, dominate the main theme of the advertisement (Faigley and Selzer65). In the advertisement above, the viewer can observe that the young woman is gorgeous, not because of any excessive makeup or other accessories like jewelry, but because she is genuinely brilliant and good-looking. There is nothing else in the advertisement to divert attention away from the fact that she is feminine with her soft hair, clear and communicative eyes, as well as her glowing and healthy looking skin. This relates to a specific feature of the cosmetic product, which is that using the product makes an individual to have skin and confidence like that of the young woman in the advertisement. What the consumer gets from the image is a real human countenance and not an animation. The image adds to the believability of the claims made by the advertisement. The words the fragrance of women is located beneath the caption, but these words are only meant to be a brief and fleeting description of the product being marketed. The key words, be delicious, serve the capital purpose of the advertisement and they are written in the upper case and block. This ensures that the consumer is aware of what makes the product popular with women. Other than the model and the slogan, one more thing that is meaty to the viewer’s eye is the apple in her hand that she bit into and a bunch of fresh, tender apples beneath the caption. The name of the manufacturing company appears on the row of these apples, which suggests that the perfume must be as sumptuous as the apples. Apples have a great cultural appeal like being healthy, nutritious, and forbidden. The word delicious is very much compatible with the image that apples conjure up. Moreover, they are a universally popular fruit. While some do not like apples, they, however, cannot deny the magnetic charm of their looks. DKNY is a reputed brand and objects, in the advertisement need, to meet the standard of the splendor associated with the brand. The genuineness of the product is as fail-safe as that of the woman’s beauty and the taste of apples. The young woman’s skin tone also plays on the cultural myth that real beauty is fair and flawless, thus attracting the consumer to use the product. Of late, it has become common for advertisers to mention their social, community network platforms like FACEBOOK. Theoretically, it gives customers the option to join the community, share issues, send queries, and seek clarifications pertaining to the product. However, in practice, it is not likely that there will be many with such enthusiasm. Still, placing one’s Facebook account on an advertisement reflects well on the product because it becomes a testimony to its popularity (Faigley and Selzer53). All said and done, the undercurrent of all this is the proverbial notion – honesty is the best policy. After a manufacturer has been absolutely convinced about the ability of his product to be profitable, the advertisement then is an instrument to convey the manufacturer’s conviction to the customer. The business is all about generating and sustaining trust. In fact, there is nothing else that brings as much freshness and glow to a human face like honesty does. Works Cited Faigley, Lester and Selzer, Jack: Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments: Reading, Designing and Writing Effective Arguments. New York: Longman Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Read More