Definition of advertising

Advertising Advertising is a method of marketing communications aimed at persuading specific target groups to take new action or continue with their current actions. Adverts seek to drive the behavior of the consumer regarding a certain commercial offering. Messages in advertising are paid for by advertisers and can be viewed via new media, radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers. Advertisers will normally seek to increase product consumption via the use of branding that involves the association of their product with qualities, which might exist in the consumer’s mind. This paper seeks to review two magazine advertisements for Air Optix contact lenses and John Frieda collection’s hair products with emphasis on how the various adverts use images, phrases, and words to convince the consumers into purchasing their product. The advertisement for Air Optix Contact lenses seeks to appeal to the consumer and the qualities that he/she may have regarding what good contact lenses should provide. The advert uses an attractive and happy young woman to convince the consumer that the contact lenses will aid them become as happy, if not as pretty, as the woman in the picture. The woman also seems to be looking at something in the distance with a happy smile, which may signify that she is now able to appreciate the beauty and attractiveness of objects or people in the distance because she uses Air Optix contact lenses. The use of color in the advert is geared towards appealing to the consumer’s inner feelings. The young woman used in the advert is light skinned, has sparkling white teeth, clear fingernails, and a white dress, which appeal to the consumer’s need for clarity of sight. The background is also white, as is the box container for the optical lenses. The white in the background is used to accentuate the illegible writing, which the advert seeks to use in a way that tells the consumer that using the contact lenses will make him/her able to read the writing. The advert also has the phrase “ surprise your eyes” written in blue with a white mist underneath it that is meant to inspire the consumer to feel cool. This is also used in the background for information on the lenses, as well as on the writings on the packaging, which also inspires the consumer to aspire to be cool. Finally, the consumer uses the phrase “ free trial” to appeal to the consumer’s gravitation towards free stuff (Wilson 266). The second advertisement for John Frieda’s hair collection uses sex as a means to sell the product. A petite model wears the collection’s hair in a seductive manner. Her gold earrings and expensive looking dress accentuate this, most likely from the same company’s collection. These physical attributes of the model appeal to the consumer’s inner-held qualities of beauty and sophistication; these attempts to convince them that wearing their hair products will have a similar effect on them. The model is also looking directly into the camera in a confident manner, which implies that using the hair product will make the user feel as confident (Wilson 256). The advert also seeks to use color as a means of showing sophistication that the hair apparently lends to its user. The model is pictured in a black dress that makes her look sophisticated, and the subtly colored background is used to accentuate the black color of her dress, as well as the black border color. The black color used on the borders is used, by the advertiser John Frieda, to give the entire advertisement a look of sophistication and appeal immediately to those consumers who aspire to sophistication. The black color is also used as a background for the brand name, as well as information on the product at the bottom, which seeks to attach sophistication to john Frieda’s brand name and, by extension, the products from the company (Manca et al 14). The phrase “ finally hair that speaks VOLUMES” is used to appeal to the consumer who aspires to long and voluminous hair. The accentuation of “ volumes” in full capitals is important for the advert as it immediately attracts the audience to the model’s hair and its size. The inclusion of the cities of New York, London, and Paris is meant to, again, appeal on what the audience feel regarding sophistication since these are cities that are viewed as fashion capitals. By placing it just beneath the brand name, John Frieda attaches the hair and its brand name to fashion sophistication and trendiness. These phrases and wordings are also written in white on a black background to ensure that they stand out from the rest of the advert (Manca et al 16). Through these adverts, it is clear that color is an important part of advertisements. The use of color is used to appeal to emotions and feelings in the audience, for instance, the use of black to signify sophistication and blue to create a feeling of cool. Sex is also a major selling point for most adverts, with the use of attractive women to create a feeling that use of their products also makes them look as sexy. Works Cited Manca, Luigi, Manca, Alessandra. & Pieper, Gail. Utopian Images and Narratives in Advertising: Dreams for Sale. New York: Lexington Books, 2012. Print. Wilson, Jonathan. Essentials of Business Research: A Guide to Doing Your Research Project. New York: SAGE, 2010. Print.