Any advertisement is trying to make people buy a product. The most successful adverts ‘ manipulate’ the audience to believe that the product will make them better in some way. In particular this Givenchy advert is trying to sell its new advert ‘ Very Irr�sistible Givenchy’. An analysis of the advertisement shows the significance of the Givenchy brand and how the advertisers seek to sell it, and who the target audience are.
In adapting the advert for a different audience the use of semiotics is important. At the top, the word Givenchy is present. The way it has been shown clearly states that it is the name of the producers. This also shows that it is a well known brand name. The way that this happens is the theory of Saussure where he states,” Only a social group can generate signs.”(Saussure, 1974)Only the social groups could have made the brand a well known name.
Therefore this makes the audience think it is a good product due to the name. The colour of the heading is black and white. This effectively connotes with style and sophistication. This is most likely the first thing the audience see in the advert. This is a success because people have already started to think that it is a good advert due to the name of the brand. The word Givenchy it self connotes style, fashion and delicacy.
The next thing the audience can see is probably introduction of ‘ Liv Tyler’. She is a celebrity which makes the audience think that if she is using it then it must be good. This is another thing which gives the product a higher chance of being a success in the shops. If they used an ordinary model then the audience will take no care of who she is.
However they did not choose an ordinary model. In the theory of Belsey she says,” In learning its native language the child learns a set of differentiating concepts which identify not given entities but not socially constructed signifieds.” (Belsey, 1981)This means that society can say one thing and people just follow it. In this case society has made celebrities more popular just because they have paid a part to society and do something special such as footballers. David Beckham may have been a spectacular footballer but now he is involved into other big schemes such as advertisement. Intimately Beckham is an example.
This shows how the advertisers can manipulate the audience through celebrities and they won’t realise it. This is because whatever Celebrities touch, use or wear is really good because the ‘ famous’ people are wearing it too. This shows how important the role of a celebrity is in advertising. The picture of Liv Tyler in the background is very well taken. She is jumping on the bed which gives the audience a chance to think about what she may be doing next.
This will give the audience another thing to think positive about the advert. This makes them create a lust for sex. Her dress contrasts with the background and her body which begins to reveal the rest of her body beginning with her legs. As you can see she has perfect curves with some ‘ nice’ legs. This would make most men happy if there partner was like that.
This sign can be interpreted wrongly as Saussure said that,” Signs function, then, not through their intrinsic value but through their relative position.” (Saussure, 1974)This could mean that signs can be interpreted in the ways the advertiser may not have meant. However it may be deliberate. In this case it would be the perfume.
Here the audience can be attracted to Liv Tyler, as she is smiling suggesting ‘ fun’. The word ‘ fun’ is then shown at the bottom of the advert to reinforce this idea. Her eyes are towards the audience which invite the audience to join in and see how she can be concentrating on the audience to do the same thing to their partners or come towards her in the advert. This plays another key part in manipulating the audience.
The lust for sex is a sneaky way for a person to buy a product. The name of the perfume – ‘ Very Irr�sistible Givenchy’ is in a different colour compared to all the other texts which are in white or black. Those connote with their background whereas this connotes a sense of class in society. ‘ Very Irr�sistible Givenchy’ evokes spontaneity, audacity and sensuality. This shows what you will receive from this product and how it may effect you. This shows that the colour purple is a rich person’s colour and this where another success of the advertisers is that it is showing it has a very high classed manner and that if you buy it will make you the same class.
Valentiv Volosinov stated that,” Whenever a sign is present and ideology is present too.” (Volosinov)Through the colour of the text, it is showing some value by saying it defines your status. Most people would really admire it if they were classified as rich. This makes people want to buy more of this product so they can boast about it to their friends or enjoy this value with their friends.
The text under ‘ Very Irr�sistible Givenchy’ gives it a sense of originality. ‘ Sensual Eau de Parfum’ is in French. Most people will not understand the translation of this and so it will sound posh and passionate to them. This has connotations of romance and how to acquire it. People are impressed with the French language and the sense of sophistication it has.
People think it is a good frangrance because it has a French influence or that it is from the land of ‘ love’. The bottle of the perfume gives an essence of purity, exquisiteness and how ‘ �l�gante’ it is. The shape of the bottle is twisted. It is said to have evoked a unique mix of French elegance and American spontaneity.
The producers call it the Givenchy ‘ Twist’. The colour of the bottle is the same colour as the name given to the product. They are both purple and this shows an essence of status. This colour indicates you as a rich being.
Therefore this would make people think that they are rich and can boast about it. Judith Williamson had stated that,” Perfumes differ chemically from each other of course; they smell different but their promotion depends on the association of a smell with a ‘ social meaning’.” (Williamson, 1978)Many people would like to be defined rich, so therefore in order to be indicated as rich they would have smell rich first. I think that this connotes simplicity and affection’s to become wealthy.
This gives a sense of affection towards purchasing the product because who doesn’t want to be rich? The bottle acts like an exclamation mark to the text in white at the bottom. The text that finishes the advert at the bottom is subtle but expressive. In a few words it says quite a lot. ‘ Very �l�gante’ expresses out to the audience this for someone elegant.
This connotes effectively with the language from France and English. ‘ Very fun’ expresses a sense of fun and due to the picture it should give ideas of sex. This says that this product is for people who like to have fun.’Very you’ tells the target audience that it is for you and this is what drags in the buyers. This connotes a description of the audience when it may not even be for the audience.
Williamson’s comment identifies that a simple description can ‘ pull’ in the audience but the actual smell of the fragrance doesn’t have any affect on the audience until they buy the product. This disables one of their senses called smelling. Without smelling the product how could they buy a perfume? This shows how idiotic some of the audience can be. All they do before buying it is look and read when necessary. The website is given near the bottom so the audience can view the product or is it? The website doesn’t take you immediately to the product you wish to see; instead it encourages you to explore the website and then get on to the product you wanted to see. This gives a chance to show the whole of the Givenchy perfume products.
This connotes the ideology from the Givenchy producers. Volosinov indicates that there was a reason for the Givenchy producers to put on the website, which was to show the audience a variety of their perfume products. This clarifies the reason of why they put the website on. They also show products for the opposite sex.
This may even make the audience get a different product for their partner. The target audience is everyone that is considered young. It can be aimed at both genders if you look at them in two different perspective views. It is clearly targeted at the female audience. This is due to the celebrity model and the shape and colour of the model.
The shape of the bottle connotes a sense spontaneity and uniqueness. The word ‘ Irr�sistible’ plays a part in targeting this audience too. This makes the ‘ girls’ think that their irresistible around the opposite sex. The phrase ‘ very you’ also plays a part in targeting this audience. This shows that it is for them.
This is similar to the producers, L’Oreal. Their catchphrase is ‘ you’re worth it’. This connotes a sense of value and importance to the audience. The phrase ‘ Very �l�gante’ also targets this audience too. This tells them how elegant they are. The word �l�gante is a subtle blend of the French and English language.
It is secondly targeted at young males for many reasons. One of which is the position and shape of the celebrity. She is on a bed – this gives a lust for sex. She is revealing herself from the bottom. The celebrity is smiling.
This would make them think that they will get something out of it (sex) and that they will make their partners happy. The word ‘ Very fun’ plays a part in targeting this audience. It gives them a chance to have a bit of ‘ fun’ in the same location as the background. The word �l�gante makes the male audience want to buy it because they would want their partners to smell elegant. The target audience can be changed to the senior citizens if the advertisement was changed slightly. The target audience would be mainly towards older females.
The things that should be changed are the celebrity, the placement of the bottle, the position of the celebrity and a sample of the perfume. The first thing that should be changed is the celebrity. The reason for this is that senior people won’t be so interested if there was a young model like Liv Tyler. Instead it could be Kelly Bishop. She is 63 years old.
She is rich and supposedly glamorous. This would make them think similarly to the younger audiences; since the celebrity is older they would consider the advert. Next the position of the celebrity would be changed because most senior citizens are not fit enough to be jumping on the bed. Instead she should be sitting on the bed and demonstrate how she still has a good posture and grace and that it is never too late to have some ‘ fun’. The position of the bottle is quite important.
It should be in her hand because it shows out her status, which is rich, slim and glamorous. This would make the audience that there is still time for them to become ‘ sexy’. This would ‘ grab’ the older citizens in to purchase the product. The next thing to be added is a sample of the product. This is because most senior citizens are wise and will not buy the product if they don’t know what it smells like.
In contrast I don’t think the younger target group will have checked whether it smelt good or not. The way the sample should be presented is by having the sample where the bottle was placed in the original advertisement. This would cover up for the amount of space lost. It should be the same shape of the bottle because it will be like an exclamation mark for the three phrases written across the advertisement.
Overall I think that Givenchy were really successful in ‘ manipulating’ the target audience. However after analysing the advertisement it has made me think personally about testing the product before buying it!
