Fragrance Advertisements Analysis

Analise and compare the conventions of at least Two of the fragrance advertisements aimed at Different target audiences, discussing the techniques Used to appeal to these customers.

Fragrance advertisements are adverts that create various messages by applying different types of techniques. The implication of these techniques seizes the audience’s attention therefore attracting more customers to their product leading to more profit in the marketing industry.

The “Ghost” advert is a very sophisticated and complicated advert. First of all, the main device that takes hold of the audience’s attention (mainly men) is the way she is not concealing herself properly, implying as to how seducing and attractive she is.

The way she has built up her posture creates a sense of ambiguity towards the audience. Her head is tilted back, her eyelids are half opened and her mouth is slightly open; as a result of this she looks as if she is in the middle of an orgasm. Because of this, the advertisement poster makes out to be a sexual poster. It makes you ponder upon the fact that if you purchase this product and use it, then you will end up sexually active, given the fact that it is meant to be a good thing in the modern society of the 21st century.

On the other hand, if you have a look at it more carefully, you would start to realise that this sexy and attractive women could have just risen from the dead. Due to the advert being related to “Ghost” and “deep night” (midnight), you start to get the idea that this woman is a zombie who just rose from her grave.

The whole advertisement poster has a very dark tone to it. For example, the perfume bottle is crescent-shaped like a moon: they try to relate the perfume with the layout, images etc. If the background colour was (e.g.) red, it would create a sense of ambiguity due to the fact that “red” could represent love and happiness, but that is not the message the advertisers want to give out to their mass audience. The background colour has a subtle black tone to represent the starry and misty night.

Another point to note is why the main title, “Ghost” is white. Ghosts are mythical and daunting creatures that emerge during midnight, covered with nothing but just a very pale and white surface for a body – they have matched the colour of a ghost to the colour of their title.

There are a few points to pick out in this advertisement poster, which suggests that it is aimed at women. For example, the most basic point is her long nails: extended nails usually represent a feminine feature, which shows that this perfume is made for women, with regards to the perfume bottle being pink shows the femininity of the poster: pink is a colour most suited for girls since most women love pink. This is because pink can represents love, gossip, makeup etc. therefore pink relates to a women’s type of lifestyle. If the perfume bottle was a different colour then it might have created a sense of ambiguity for the audience, over deciding which type of gender this product is aiming for. Also, since women are attracted to the colour pink, they start to admire this style of advertising therefore it leads them to be more interested into this perfume leading them to purchase this product hence more customers!

The Paco Rabanne advert has a white and black background. The reason as to why the advertisers have set up this, its to send out a message towards the audience. Black and white are enemies and can never suit with each other in anything, whether it be in real life or in advertisement posters, so it seems. Black represents death and sadness while white represents happiness and life: if you notice, people that lose one of their relatives, they start to wear black clothes most of the time for a quiet a while: the black clothes shows to the people that their in grief and sadness at the moment. Now what the poster is trying to declare upon us is that these two colours, despite being worst enemies, can still suit when mixed with each other. The advertisers are not just trying to tell us it can suit in posters, but it can suit in real life. By observing the idea of black and white not suited with each other, the idea of prejudice is brought up in this advertisement poster. By clarifying these messages, the audience sympathise for the advertisers and they start to appreciate the advert more and more therefore the audience start admire this product leading to one thing: more customers into more money!

The DVB advert applies celebrity endorsement to their poster. They advertisers have done this to make their poster more appealing to their audience. When I mean by “more appealing” I mean the audience are being brainwashed into thinking that if you use this product you will become more like David Beckham or Victoria Beckham and right now, in our society, most people would like to be David or Victoria Beckham this, then grabs more customers into purchasing this perfume therefore gaining more turnover/revenue (speaking more marketing wise) and gaining more profit from their celebrity endorsement.

In the advertisement poster Victoria Beckham doesn’t appear to be her physical self: in reality she is a very emancipated person but in this poster she is very curvy around the thighs and bum. Now, from the audiences point of view she has become much more attractive and more mature/womanly. The reason Victoria wants to look like this is because of the sexuality of the advertisement poster. In the poster David and Victoria are very close to each other (representing the fact that they are sexually active) and David is touching the top of Victoria’s thigh. It would not look right if David (due to the fact that he is around thirty-six years old) was touching a very young girl, in a sexual way.

The DVB title is faded and has a low subtle contrast to it. The reason for this is that you previously know who David and Victoria Beckham are (since DVB stands for David, Victoria Beckham) and the advertisers want you to have the “intimately Beckham” in mind: it shows the sexy side of the poster.

Victoria Beckham also tries to grab the audience’s attention by using her sexual and seducing appearance. For example, the whole of her back is unconcealed and her whole leg is popping out. As a result of this, the advert looks more appealing and lively, whereas if you had an unattractive lady, wearing unattractive clothes, then the advertisement poster wouldn’t look so appealing, therefore less customers would be appealed to this advert and if you have less appealed customers you have less money gained from your turnover (money you made from your sold products).

David Beckham is looking straight into the camera in an exceedingly confident manner whereas Victoria is looking away from the camera with her head down consequently, the audience start to get the idea that Victoria is the shy and frightened person while David is meant to be the man of the house, ready to protect Victoria at any given cost. This makes the poster more appealing for the audience (mainly men) because they start to consider the fact that if they acquire this product and use it, they would become more like David Beckham: fit, healthy, strong and more attractive (from a woman’s point of view).

If you have a look at David’s left hand, he is wearing a green ring on his “marriage finger”. It is a cultural ring whereas marriages are cultural events so what the ring is trying to imply here is that David and Victoria are married couples therefore the advertisers aim at a target audience that are newly wed or married couples that are aged between 20 – 35 years old. The reason for this as to why they picked this age group is due to the sexual side of the poster – therefore, relating to the point of how these types of “sexual activities” usually occur in long-term relationships or marriages.

By Kaso Ari

10.9