You may also see the Ford Fiesta in a magazine. The advertisement in the magazine shows a front on camera view of the people in the car. There are two young men and three young women in the car. A women driving, a man in the passenger’s seat and the others in the back of the car. The fact that there is a women driving may appeal to women who want a car that isn’t using sexist advertising. The male audience may also be interested, as the car seems to be one that the women also like.
The advertisement shows the people as having a good time and smiling. This makes the car look like one to have fun with. The car is aimed at the younger person. We know this, as the actors are all young. Someone may also be attracted to the car as the actors all appear to be ‘trendy’ which creates the same atmosphere for the car. This car has been considered small, which is obviously an opinion that Ford would rather not have.
To solve this they have put five people in the car, which as well as showing its capacity, it is showing that even if it is small that’s no reason for you not to have a good time in it when it’s fun to drive and ‘nippy’. This advert tells the reader a lot about the car to get them interested and to be persuaded into an eventual buyer of their product. The tone in which it tells of its specifications is very informal and addresses the buyer directly and as if they were there friend. This creates a good mood in which to tell the reader about the car. It makes the reader think that they can trust your car to be good as you don’t need to use fancy words and can afford to be informal. This is backed up where the advert says “Yeah, it’s got a”.
If you were reading a magazine you may also see an advertisement for a Volkswagen. The Volkswagen Polo advertisement takes up a double page and shows a female driver opening her car door and hitting a lamppost. The lamppost doesn’t appear to damage the car door but the car door bending the lamppost out of shape. This shows how strong the new Polo is and is backed up by the tag-line, “The tough new Polo”. The advertisement makes great use of space. The car and the information only take up a small part of the double page, most of the advert is filled with an empty road. The spacious and uncluttered look makes the car be thought of as being one that is comfortable and one that doesn’t need to show off what it has. The price on the car for the 3-door Polo E. It doesn’t say what those cars’ specifications are.
This price is expensive for what would be assumed as their basic type. Although the price is expensive it probably wouldn’t put people off the car. This is because many people of both genders connect expensive and quality together even if this is not always the case. The Volkswagen, like Waitrose, are actually proud to advertise their products as being more expensive than their rivals as they say that expense comes with quality. Evidence for this is that they retain their value better than others and extremely well. This car would probably appeal to those of both sexes. It may appeal more to men, as it is a woman driving, which backs up many men’s opinions that women are bad drivers.
This humour may persuade men to buy their new car from them. It may also appeal to women, as they may want to prove the men wrong. The car looks very stylish and is has most probably got its target audience at around an older audience because it is expensive. The advertisement has some information that makes it sound very impressive even if their audience don’t know what it means, although they probably find out if they were genuinely interested. Examples of this are “Laser welded, fully galvanised steel body” and “ESP with hydraulic brake assistance”.
The last car from a magazine that I am analysing is the Renault Clio. This advert shows the front of the car in a striking image to the reader. The car appears to be coming around the corner of a tunnel. The advertisement also shows the car on an otherwise open road. The tag-line for the car is “Va Va Voom”. This tag-line sounds extremely catchy and when heard on their television advert is automatically associated with the Renault Clio. The tag-line is an onomatopoeia, which the reader would consider smart as the “Va Va” sounds like the car moving which is the “Voom”. At the top next to Renault emblem there is French writing that reads “CREATEUR D’AUTOMOBILES”.
The writing, in English, means automobile creators. The picture makes the car look ‘sexy’ and fast and makes it feel as if it is like lightning and sharp. The ‘sex’ appeal on the car obviously is used to make the potential driver/buyer look great in it. The screen on the black car is blacked out, which gives the impression that it doesn’t matter what you look like because as long as if you are in this car you will look ‘cool’.
This car obviously has a target audience of the younger generation and appeals to both sexes. It may appeal to men because of its fast look but equally looks stylish and sophisticated for a woman. The advertisement doesn’t show the price, this may be as it is highly priced or because Renault thinks that not including the price is too formal to attract a younger generation. Like the other advertisements it has the official fuel consumption figures, which is required by law. The advert also influences the potential buyer.
This is proven because the advert reads, “Don’t just look good, when you can look great” and “Va Va Voom – like beauty – comes from within. Don’t be without it”. This makes the car sound extremely appealing as it uses persuasive language. It also praises the potential buyer at the same time to make the potential buyer feel better about himself but still wanting to look great instead of just good.
At the present moment advertising is everywhere and I think that it will continue to increase. It will do this as it is the best way of making the potential buyer noticing your product and hopefully buying it or recommending it to others. I think that in the future years advertising on the television will take a more neutral role in its sexism as both men and women watch television. I think that in magazines advertising has already taken a neutral sexist stance. It will probably now move towards advertising to a predominantly female target audience. This will be because there are usually a lot more women reading magazines and the era for cars and men is dying, as men are now more interested in their sport and music.
I think that magazines are starting to have a much more neutral position on sexism by showing more family cars than television where the target audience is usually male. I also noticed that the more expensive cars such as the Volkswagen are aimed at a more general target audience, maybe because the older generations want a fashionable product that they can afford. It is also suitable for a family car and has a greater choice of uses being, a family car, a fashionable car or even a safer car whereas something like the Suzuki is made for one target audience. I noticed that companies often use visual imagery to get you interested in the advert.
This is often the case on the television advertisements, where the advert starts by gripping the audiences’ attention and then shows them the car. I doubt that many people know that the advertisement is advertising a car until the end. It is a great way of getting the message that your car is better that the competitions across. All of these adverts have a strong bias persuading and influencing their potential buyer that their car is the only one out there that can do a special function or lower fuel consumption or a faster speed. Music is often used. It usually starts off quite slow and quite creating a mood and atmosphere of tension and then it gets quicker and the sound level goes up, as the car appears. Adverts also use vibrant colours to get their target audience’s attention.
