Adverts are advertising well-known products
Analyse and Compare two advertisements. In your essay consider how Advertising techniques have been used. Advertising is important to companies. It is used to exploit all aspects of their product in a positive way. My two chosen adverts are advertising well-known products, “Halls Soothers” and “Synergie purifying wipes”. They both come from the same magazine, Sugar, targeting 12-25 year olds. Both adverts share some similarities but are relatively different. My first advert is one for Halls Soothers that targets the 16+ age group.
This advert shows a woman at a karaoke night singing into a microphone. There is a karaoke sign in the background along with a blue and orange background, disco lights, people and a cocktail glass. In front of her are the karaoke player and a packet of the Soothers. At the bottom of the advert is the slogan; “Your throat feels smoother when you suck a Soother”. These peach and raspberry throat sweets are designed to sooth you throat making it feel smoother. This is what the slogan is telling you. It is being informative whilst also using techniques to give the slogan a catchy feel.
Every advertising company wants their product to stand out. This is why Halls have used alliteration in the slogan. It uses the letter “s” which creates a soft sound that gives the slogan a catchy and stylish feel. The use of the alliteration will make the slogan stick in people’s minds so they remember it if they see some Soothers. They will then think about what the slogan means (that Soothers make your throat smoother) and will buy the product making it a successful piece of advertising. The use of the “s” ‘s has a double meaning.
As well as creating alliteration, it creates a smooth sound which links into the product. The smooth sound and the slogan, “……. smoother, ………. Soother”. The Soothers are meant to make your throat smooth and the “s” sound makes the slogan sound smooth. It also uses rhyme to link the product with the word smoothers. This ensures the idea that Soothers are synonymous with the word smooth. The main background to the advert is an orangey, peachy colour. This ties into the product as the advertisement is for peach and raspberry flavour Soothers.
It exploits the type of product in the background colour. The raspberry flavour is shown in the colour of the female’s mouth and her top. These are both pink and red colours linking into the flavour, raspberry. Both flavours/colours are also shown in the banner at the top of the image. The actual banner is an orange colour and the letters of “Karaoke” are in a red colour. The whole image in the centre of the advert is alive with colour especially reds and oranges which tie in with the product. To set off these colour links, there is a blue centre background to the image.
This contrasting colour sets off the oranges and reds, which are the colours that want to be seen. Blue is also used in the colour of the balloons behind the singer, again setting off the relevant colours. The image of the person is of a female at a karaoke night singing and wearing bright clothes. The words “… in luurrve!!! ” are coming out of her mouth. The woman’s body language shows how she is singing. Her eyes are closed, her mouth is open very wide, her knees are bent and she is holding her left arm out to the side above her head.
These vital pieces of body language prove that she is singing as well as she can. The words coming out of the woman’s mouth are part of the song being sung. The chosen words “in love”, suggest that she is singing about being in love herself, meaning that she is happy. The connotation of these words is that the Soothers are allowing her to sing this well and are making her very happy. So the advert is saying that you will be happy after having the Soothers. The woman’s body language suggests her happiness as well.
When singers have their eyes closed, they have often really got into the song and are feeling what the words mean, so this small detail shows she is enjoying singing and the song. Hand in hand with this detail is the fact that she has her mouth wide open, suggesting that she is trying to make the best sound with her voice because she wants the song to be the best she’s ever done it. These two small details together show how happy she is. Other body language in the advert adds to the happiness. Many singers use hand movements and leg movements to enhance the atmosphere around them (sometimes they are not conscious they are doing this).
This female is using both of these techniques. Her raised hand suggests that she has reached a climax in the song and is belting out the words. This movement is also evidence that she is feeling the song and words she is singing making her happy. Although you cannot see all of her legs, you get the impression that they are bent, another piece of body language used to enhance the atmosphere. This image of the woman is actually stereotyping karaoke singers. It is saying that all karaoke singers are loud, extravagant and a bit over the top.
This could be found as offensive by some karaoke singers as they might not like to be called extravagant, etc. The image of the karaoke singer, is suggesting that she is singing a smooth ballad linking into the product. It is also a popular style of song, sung in karaoke sessions. There is a very small, blurred out picture in the background of asocial gathering suggesting the place where the karaoke may take place. You cannot see it very well but you know what it is a picture of. This small picture gives the whole image more depth and shows awareness of the surroundings.
