Advertisements in Men's and Women's Magazines - Assignment Example

Advertisements in Mens and Womens Magazines Introduction Parker (2003) alleged that “profit constitutes the ‘bottom line’… that defines what lies inside business ethics and what is assumed to be outside it” (Hardy, 2008:11). Were the profit-making motive sufficient ethical justification, then advertisers could abuse their roles and still remain ethical. But since the law requires any formal assertion in an advertisement to be substantiated or risk suit for misrepresentation, advertisers naturally tend to moderate these claims while trying to persuade them to buy. Thus, advertisements are designed to categorically promise little, but to influence their audience to infer the rest. Advertising thus resorts into subtle messaging to obtain attention, develop interest, and stimulate desire for the thing being advertised (Proctor, Proctor & Papasolomou-Doukakis, 2002:32). Ad No. 1: Citizen Eco-Drive The Citizen print ad contains multimedia texts – written words, pictures of champion skier Chemmy Alcott dressed in ski attire and holding her skis, and a close-up of the model of Citizen Eco-Drive, the watch being promoted. In boldface capital letters is the word UNSTOPPABLE appears twice on the page. Metaphor is described as “a rhetorical style of comparing two dissimilar objects, so that the characteristic of one object is transferred to the other.” In this advertisement, visual metaphor was used to effect visual persuasion (Miller, Hadjimarcou, & Miciak, 2000:60). In the ad, the visual metaphor is created between the skier and the watch, both facing the viewer frontally. The watch is unstoppable because it relies on an inexhaustible energy supply. Inexhaustible energy is likewise implicitly attributed to Chemmy Alcott as a matter of character. Furthermore, vector analysis enhanced by close-up shot identifies her direct stare at the viewer as a “demand” that also personally challenges the audience’s belief and behaviour. Here, “genderization” is depicted no as attribute “but as a relation of power and a process by which gender structures are created, reinforced and/or transformed” (Norlander, 2000 in Lidestav & Sjölander, 2007:352). Chemmy Alcott is depicted as the consummate athlete, a field dominated by men. The reference is clearly gender based, as women in sports are a rarity. For women, the construct “unstoppable” means that even if social norms tried to stop her, she would not. She does not detract from her femininity, however, which is why her watch is studded with 30 diamonds, “a girl’s best friend”, and with a subtle Mother-of-Pearl color, an understated color that implies the woman’s characteristic demureness. The watch is apparently ecologically sound because it uses a sustainable form of energy (solar power), and disposes of the need for batteries which lessens chemical wastes. In order to approximate the ideal of leading an exciting and daring life, many women tied to or “trapped” in their office work or house chores could acquire a Citizen Eco-Smart. Ad No. 2: EPSON Wi-fi Printer The setting is the living room of what at first glance appears to be a single young woman. Her image is replicated four times within the same frame, each time assuming a different pose, but always engaged with her laptop. In the right foreground is the Epson Wi-Fi printer in the process of printing a colored picture with the young woman, a man and a child between them. In this advertisement, modality asks the audience to suspend realism, as a single individual is conveyed four times in a single frame, but instead appeals to the reality that an individual may find easily find himself in different such situations (as depicted) at different times. The modality of an advertisement “places the viewer into an equally constructed social world of the hyper-real, the dram-world, of consumer capitalism.” The juxtaposition of that hyper-real world creates the desired inference in the mind of the viewer (Van Dijk, 1997:284). The ad also exemplifies an offer because vectors suggested by her gaze and reclined physical postures suggest a detachment from the viewer, for the latter to contemplate and decide upon. The use of a female model is deliberate. There is a genre of advertisements that depict women “as users of computer technology yet rather than aiming for a gender-neutral image, they enact a hyperfeminity in their representation of women and in their appeals to consumers” (Gannon, 2007:53). What apparently was a single young woman in the ad is in retrospect a mother and wife, with an adolescent daughter, as portrayed in the picture being printed. But the picture of the harried housewife is recast to that of a technology-savvy woman of leisure, to highlight the personal nature of the printer, other than the fact that printing could be done on it from different locations. Had the man/father been shown printing something in the home, it would have been construed as “office” work. Examination of the text is unremarkable as far as the technical description of the printer is concerned, except where it uses the words “stylish all-in-one”, “in your home” and “save money too,” pertaining to the economical use of the printer. The individual ink cartridges described is a sustainability feature that prevents the wasteful need to throw away an entire cartridge with three or more ink chambers, one or two which may still have ink, because one chamber has been emptied. The viewer buys the Epson printer for home use and personal convenience, and at the same time enjoy savings on greater efficiency and the individual ink cartridges. Ad No. 3: Samsung Blu-Ray The visuals show a still and apparently deserted room with everything static, save for one image of a tiger on a flat screen TV monitor in mid-stride as it races for an unseen prey. The blu-ray player is on a table in the middle of the room, apparently projecting the image of the tiger on the screen. The text below is entitle “Imaging bringing life to your living room” The choice of words was not accidental. The room was portrayed to look lifeless, and the use of the blu-ray player will create life by the clarity and movement of the picture projected. No pictures are show, particularly to highlight the lifelessness of the room. In short, there is a redundancy created by the words and the picture presented. The “processing of visual and verbal message components may be affected by the amount of meaning congruence or content redundancy between the pictures and words” (Bryce & Olney, 1988:177), thereby more effectively driving the idea home. The use of the image of an animal in full charge, in a room of chrome and polished wood, sharply contrasts nature with the artificiality of the life of domesticated humans. The “living” room is not alive without the blu-ray image, and of course “life” is associated with the picture of nature. In the visual portrayal in the ad, it is a stroke of genius that the televised image of a tiger is set against the indoor decorative plants set up against the wall behind the screen, creating a sense of continuity between the screen image and the room. The message sent across to the viewer is that ecology does not belong only to the remote outdoors, but right in one’s living room. The viewer feels now compelled to purchase a Samsung Blu-ray unit for the very purpose of livening up the static (e.g., everyday, boring) atmosphere inside a house. Home entertainment is one of the overriding interests of this generation, and the prospect of high-definition video reproductions in the comfort of the home is temptingly conveyed by the visual imagery of the ad. Ad No. 4: The Illuvial Pink Collection The format is that of a fashion magazine highlighting the “Illuvial Pink Collection” of Nokia, and at the center is the image of a woman in skin-tight leather trousers, a mini-leather jacket, and stiletto heels confidently striding down the runway with a mobile mobile phone held to her ear. In the foreground are three models of mobile phones. The text elsewhere on the page states such leading statements as “an effortless sense of style, standing out wherever you go, knowing what’s happening..” The words “because a girl’s got to have it all” ends the text. The woman walking down the runway is apparently a model, but more than her clothes she is modelling a special “pink” collection. The background is, predictably, pink, although the lady herself wears predominantly black with bright pink evident in her sleeves and across her blouse in a series of lines of alternating pink and black. The “pretty in pink” theme is not portrayed in light pastel hues, but in strong and daring bright shocks of “hot pink” set off by shiny leather. “Pink” is associated with the female gender, but rather than the demure image the phrase “a girl’s got to have it all” denotes aggressiveness. The combination of hot pink and shiny black leather is intentional, and conveys the message that women can be beautiful even if they break out of the mold and rebel (denoted by leather) against convention. A further gender ploy is the combination of women and technology that was evident in the second ad (Epson), this time with a mobile phone. Feminism and technology adept again conveys the tendency away from the male hegemony (Gannon, 2007:53). The image makes no pretensions of forwarding the cause of ecology or sustainability; the mobile phone is presented plainly, with no special feature on saving energy, reducing electromagnetic waves, and so forth, although these attributes are drawn from the silence of the text. The “active text” however, tends to intentionally craft social reality around the technical performance of the device by drawing attention to these statistical parameters (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999:56). The readers, particularly women, would want to identify with the bold striding woman, and would be enticed to purchase the mobile phone. The woman walks while using the phone, normally a frowned-upon habit for being dangerous to the person using the phone. Thus the compulsion to buy would be to identify with an image that defies convention and seeks to rebel against the norm. Ad No. 5: ASUS My Ultra-Slim Eee PC The ad is exceedingly plain, with only some highlights in the background to set off the brown-colored Eee slim PC. Except for the highlights, the foreground and background are darker than the “icing brown” product “with metallic inner panels”. The text in small print below indicate that the product is “exquisitely designed” for the “elite with their discerning taste and cosmopolitan lifestyle” The dark-colored product as well as the visually dark ad supposedly conveys an understated elegance for the “discerning taste”. The text emphasized the construction of the product and its high performance and functionality, and is meant “for those at the top, on the move and always in style.” Very evidently, the brown colour and power buzz words imply a male target customer, and the allusions to professional advancement refer to the aggressive pursuit of one’s personal career. The colour scheme chosen is apparently no-nonsense and the design without frills, conforming to the conventional idea of understated style. It is similar to the use of beige or tan suits by women when engaged in corporate work. The dark colour scheme is thus aimed at men, and while the text is silent it apparently indicates that men are the typical “elite with their discerning taste and cosmopolitan lifestyle”. The ad emphasized on the hegemony of male dominance in the field of business. More than male dominance, however, is conveyed the implication of male vanity. While this is nothing new, it has developed some interesting trends. “During the past two decades, the traditional concept of masculinity has been challenged by the pervasive spread of metrosexual attitudes and practices through Western cultures”, where “metrosexuality” is read as the male’s preference of taking himself and his pleasure as his love object (Harrison, 2008:55). The ad has no pretentions of male ruggedness, but rather streamlined refinement, close to Harrison’s definition. Alternatively, there is an old-world feel to the sombre colours and plain wooden table, which may harken for some a nostalgic remembrance of things long passed (Otto, 2005:474). Again, the ad makes no claim of special advantages as to the ecological aspect, and thus is assumed to contain the same undesirable elements as modern pieces of technology – electromagnetic wave disturbances, electrical power consumption, and technological waste salvage. The desired consequence is that the Eee PC would be purchased primarily and overwhelmingly by professionals and executives of the male gender with a flair for sophistication and traditional male dominance. Women will generally shy away from the product for being drab, and despite the text “Fashion on the Go” would consider the product too plain for the penchant of women for colour-combination with their attire. Conclusion The exercise shows that reality is textually mediated by both language and social images, thus rendering all texts multimodal (Thomas, 2004:53). This is partly because the sense of sight is regarded as more reliable than sense of hearing (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006:154), and partly because imagery can powerfully influence memory and behaviour relating to advertised information; however, a lot depends on the modality of the ad (MacInnis & Han, 1999:217). These observations highlight the importance of synergies in visual and language media qualified by viewers’ cultural orientation and experience, in analysing the implicit message conveyed by text. WORDCOUNT = 2,200 excluding title REFERENCES Bryce, W & Olney, T J 1988 “Modality Effects in Television Advertising: A Methodology for Isolating Message Structure from Message Content Effects”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p174-177 Chouliaraki, L & Fairclough, N 1999 Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, UK Gannon, S 2007 “Laptops and lipsticks: feminising technology”, Learning, Media, & Technology, Mar 2007, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p53-67 Hardy, J 2008 “Neoliberalism and Environmental Education: An Analysis of Australian Online Recruitment Advertisements”, International Journal of the Humanities, Oct 2008, Vol. 6 Issue 7, p7-13 Harrison, C 2008 “Real men do wear mascara: advertising discourse and masculine identity”, Critical Discourse Studies, Feb 2008, Vol. 5 Issue 1, p55-74 Jette, S 2006 “Fit for Two? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Oxygen Fitness Magazine”, Sociology of Sport Journal, Dec 2006, Vol. 23 Issue 4, p331-351 Kress, G R & Van Leeuwen, T 2006 Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Routledge, New York, NY Lidestav, G & Sjölander, A E 2007 “Gender and forestry: A critical discourse analysis of forestry professions in Sweden” Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, Aug 2007, Vol. 22 Issue 4, p351-362 MacInnis, D J & Han, J, “Imagery Effects on Brand Attitude Formation” in “Images, Plots, and Perceptions: Interactions of Emotional and Cognitive Responses on Consumer Evaluations”, Advances in Consumer Research, 1999, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p217 Miller, D W.; Hadjimarcou, J; Miciak, A 2000 “A scale for measuring advertisement-evoked mental imagery”, Journal of Marketing Communications, Mar2000, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p1-20 Otto, S 2005 “Nostalgic for What? The Epidemic of Images of the mid 20th Century Classroom in American Media Culture and What it Means”, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Dec 2005, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p459-475pp Proctor, S; Proctor, T; & Papasolomou-Doukakis, I 2002 “A post-modern perspective on advertisements and their analysis”, Journal of Marketing Communications, Mar 2002, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p31-44 Thomas, Sue 2004 “Reading Through the Basics: Towards a Visual Analysis of a Newspaper Advertisement on Education”. Language & Education: An International Journal, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p53-68 Van Dijk, T A 1997 Discourse as Structure and Process, SAGE Publication, London, UK Van Leeuwen, T & Jewitt, C 2001 Handbook of Visual Analysis, SAGE Publications, Ltd., London, UK APPENDIX A Flowchart for Ad 1, Citizen Eco-Smart Ladies Watch Read More