Cosmetic Advertisment Analysis

Cosmetic Advert Analysis

By Jake Bromley

My Product is called Unlimited, and it is a men’s deodorant cosmetic. The advertisement shows a picture of me standing in the fore ground wearing a white shirt and black trousers, standing with my left arm pointing to the floor away from me whilst holding the product in my hand. In the background of the advert it shows a dark alleyway and fog surrounding me. The image has been edited so that the whole image is in black in white for the purpose of the genre. The advert incorporates the use of chiaroscura, the way the whole image is a dark grey colour with the exception of the white shirt which shows the strong contrast between the colours. The positioning of the camera facing the character emphasises the boldness of the character and the importance of his presence in the advert. The tagline for this advert is; No Limits. No Fears. Just Unlimited, this tagline is similar to other taglines you may find on poster’s advertising action films; this is to create the effect that this product may give the customer the feeling that they are an action hero, playing on the ambition that every man wants to be an action hero. The character is represented as a mysterious character and because of the black and white effect, it links to the character showing signs of moral ambiguity, these elements give the audience the impression that the character is shrouded in mystery and may have a morally ambiguous quality. In order to appeal to the target audience I utilized the narrative by the use of the representation of action in the advert. In this advert I applied the concept of Intertextuality, this is because the advert is making references to espionage/action films such as; James Bond films, this was so that the audience could identify with the advert and the product and to appeal to the target audience relating to popular culture that is associated with action film genre and the audience.

The representation of this advert shows that it is targeted at young males aged 14-17 from the blue collar social class, it tries to communicate with the target audience trying to advertise a lifestyle filled with action that appeals to the target audiences values and beliefs that they have towards the action genre. The advert shows the ideology that young men wish to live the action filled, dangerous life and be a hero; this is reflected well by the use of lighting, costume and the simplistic nature of the image.
The advertisement is appropriate for the target audience because it primarily focuses on the target audience’s interests and aspirations, this because young males that are fans of the action film genre can identify with similar elements of the advertisement to that of the action film genre. The advertisement appeals to the aspirations that young males have, wanting to lead an adventurous and dangerous life, in doing this the target audience would be attracted to nature of the advertisement because they find aspire to be the character in the advertisement.

One of the strengths of this advertisement, is its simplicity, the visuals are very bold and eye catching and easier recognisable to the target audience seeing familiarities with the advertisement and action films due to the intertextual link between the advertisement and the already well known action film genre, however its weakness may also be the advertisements simplistic nature, not providing the target audience with enough information on the product.