Comparison of two magazine adverts

In this essay I will be comparing two magazine adverts and deciding which of the two is the better. In each advert I will look at the layout, the colour, the object and the size of the product being sold. There could be unique differences between adverts for hair product, cereals and games. There are two objects in the advert a male (19-21) and Spyro the Dragon. The male is having his rear burnt by Spyros hot flames. He is jumping out of the way, not looking at the camera, while Spyro is poking his head around the corner looking at the camera.

The game in the advert trying to be sold is SPYRO: ENTER THE DRAGONFLY. The advert is set in the males’ house. The two techniques that are used in this advert are computer graphics and a still photograph. On the picture were the man is jumping out of the way, of Spyros fireballs the computer graphic is that there is a fait glow of red-orange to represent flames. This advert has a colour scheme were there is only red-orange in the computer graphics. The camera is placed in front of the room.

The advert makes you zoom in on Spyro the Dragon. It shows the PS2 game, the Game Cube and the Game Boy Advance game formats. This advert is aimed at people who like to play on kid’s games and have either a PS2 or a Game Cube. The name of the product means a kid’s game. In this advert there are two objects on the page, one is a DVD of bigFATliar and the other is a video of bigFATliar. There is a big blue blob in the background behind the writing. The writing says, “If you like Home Alone and Spy Kids you’ll love bigFATliar”.

Unlike the Spyro advert, which is for a PS2 game, bigFATliar is for a DVD or video. On the DVD and video there is Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes both looking into the camera. There is also Paul Gramatti tied up in the background. Similar to the Spyro avert the advert sticks to a colour-synchronized scheme mostly blue while Spyro uses red-orange. There is the Universal logo on both adverts, on the Spyro it is in the top right hand side with the PS2, Game Cube and Game Boy Advance logos. In the bigFATliar it is in the bottom right hand side of the advert by itself.

The two techniques used again are a still photograph and a drawing, for the blue blob. The rest of the advert is completely empty, which wastes a lot of space, which can be used for other adverts. The camera angle is hard to set because it could be lots of picture but together. But the photograph is focused on the DVD and video. The people on the video and DVD are wearing sunglasses. There is small print up both of the adverts but the Spyro one is copyrighting all the characters of the games.

I think the Spyro advert is the better of the two adverts because it seems to use all the space and is more appealing to the young people of the present time. And there is more to look at on the Sypro: Enter The Dragonfly advert. The bigFATliar looks like it was put together in a matter of minutes. And it is very poor at the way it is set out. It is also a wasteful appearance. If I were going to buy one of the products I would buy the Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly.