Context Blogpost

The ad analyzed was a Nivea advertisement regarding their skin cream product that would make user’s skin “touchable” and “smooth”, it was targeted towards women. With further research it was found out that the woman in the advertisement was a popular Bollywood actress in India, furthering our demographic to India. The conceptual meaning behind the advertisement is simply the need for women to get clear and smooth skin as the advertisement is claiming. Additionally the advertisement gives us valid facts in regards to the social context/ social issues society is facing in the real world. It was painting picture about our societal norms of women. They almost expected to have perfect bodies and features as seen in media in order to be deemed “beautiful”, in this case perfect skin is being advertised in this advertisement. This is only amplified by the fact that the woman in the advertisement isn’t seen to administer any sort of beauty flaws. Only adding onto the societal problems advertisements and media cause to the cognitive expectations, which are being placed into society’s heads. Additionally the cream is seen to make the women’s skin lighter than it actually is. This highlights another global issue, being that western media is dictating beauty norms. Due to the globalized wave of western media it is almost an indirect standard for lighter skin to characterize as beautiful. Knowing these societal issues we can see the aim of the advertisers and how they use these societal issues to their advantage. Advertisers know women want to meet up to beauty standards; as such they will buy a product that is driven by the claim that it will give women perfect skin. Similar to that, the need to look like celebrities on western media is also an appeal they are targeting. These appeals are collectively used in order to drive product sales.

Print Ad Analysis

The following still advertisement is endorsing a shampoo product made by head & shoulders. At face value it includes a woman, a man who supposedly used the product, the shampoo bottle and the text saying “#1 dermatologist recommended”. The picture is brightly lit artificially especially on the faces of the couple in the ad, employing the same bright and smooth skin if the viewer were to use the product. The advertisement has a heavy use of blue being used on the text, product and the dress of the woman. Blue in advertisement is used to imply emotions of trust, dependable, and strength, seen commonly in health care products as they can be trusted to keep the user’s hygiene. The viewer is looking in on this man’s life from balanced perspective. The texture of the image is smooth, with the splashing water and the perfect skin of the models, implying the use of their shampoo with provide them the same type of smooth skin and hair. The male model in the advertisement is standing up confidently while the woman model is leaning in on him comforting him as they face the viewer. This gives us sufficient evidence to acknowledge that the product is targeting men and is claiming that if you use the product you will be more appealing to women, being implied by the woman leaning and placing her hands on the man who supposedly just used the product. The facial expression with perfect teeth is implying the perfect hygiene that this product is going to give the user, while also the perfect faces of the models are a strategic advertising method to persuade the viewer to look into purchasing the product. The dress shirt the man is wearing is enforcing the professionality of the product to the viewer and the dress is enforcing the femininity of the women, showing the man the viewer can be and the woman they can become more appealing to. Along with the models the product is explicitly shown to take up a third of the advertisement. With this analysis the purpose of the context of the advertisement can be broken down. The advertisement is being targeted towards men with an appeal for need for sex and the need for attention. The creators of the advertisement are implying to the viewer that the product will get them perfect hygiene and subsequently getting them the girl.