Examine the language used in the two magazine advertisements. ‘Immac’ is taken from ‘Cosmopolitan’, a monthly magazine aimed at woman and ‘Clinique’ is taken from ‘GQ’, a magazine aimed at men. How do the advertisements use language to achieve their purposes and influence their intended readers? In your answer you might refer to lexis, grammar, overall structure and any other matters relating to language that contribute to tone, style and purpose.
Immac Advertisement The Immac advert is trying to sell ‘The Immac Body Care Collection’. This includes a ‘Body Toning Gel’,’ Body Conditioning Milk’, an ‘Invigorating Body Scrub’ and a ‘Moisturising Satin Mousse’. As was said in the question the source of the advert is the ‘Cosmopolitan’ so the readers would be predominantly females who were interested in health and beauty products.
So the location of the advertisement is well thought out as it is locates itself in a position where its possible consumers are most likely to be. However, I do not know exactly whereabouts in the magazine the advert came, you might say does it matter? I would say it does. This is because if it was on the cover or in the middle of that months key article it would be a much more noticeable advertisement and more people would see it. Whereas if it were at the back of the magazine with a hundred other adverts it would not get noticed and possible consumers would just flick right past it.
The size of the advertisement is A4 and has on it an illustration that is 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. So as you can see the illustration was a key feature of the advertisement – ‘One picture is worth a thousand words’. The advert contains three sections of text. At the top of the advert there is a one-sentence motto/selling line. It is quite large, in a font that is easy on the eye, in italics, and is very clear. At the bottom of the page there is the full name of the product. It is all in capitals, again in italics, fairly big, but not as big as the selling line at the top of the page, and well spaced. The word ‘Immac’ is given in a different font to the rest of the line and is shown exactly as it appears on its product. This helps it standout a lot more.
The third and final section of text is the main text of the advert. It is in a very small font, again in italics, very well spaced and easy to see and read since it black text on a white background. There are around 115 words in this main section of text; spread over 6 paragraphs all of which, bar one, are one-sentence paragraphs. Although the actual question refers to language the illustration of the advertisement cannot be ignored, as it is often the major selling point within the advert.
In this advert the illustration is the top half of a naked woman whose ‘bits’ are concealed by the ‘Immac’ products. Her skin is in perfect condition and she is well toned. The illustration can be taken on two levels. One level is that this naked woman is a little bit devilish and so appeals to those women who like to show a little flesh in their everyday life. On the hand the woman is concealed and so is from a proper upbringing and down to earth. This appeals to those women who maybe are mothers or are a little bit older and so have mellowed down a little. This picture is clever in the sense that it appeals to both sides and so attracts the attention of and tries to sell the product to a whole range of women rather than just one.
Since the woman is naked sex appeal has to come into the equation she is not only there so that women can judge how good the skin products by looking at her skin. She is also there to attract the attention of any men who might be flicking through the magazine. If they saw this picture they would instinctively look at the advertisement and if the copy sold the product to them they may go out and by the product for a female acquaintance, partner or wife.
The picture is also there to invoke a sense of aspiration, the aspiration a woman might feel if she had a skin like that of the model. They would then buy the product to try become as good-looking and attractive as the model. Now we come to the actual copy of the advert. The actual facts in this advert are very thin and we have many claims and assertions. Some facts are in paragraph one which is all fact and in paragraph two where it reads ‘Four treatments’ just that section is fact. Facts only occur when the advert is either naming the product or is giving and ingredient within it, for example: ‘…with extract of aloes’. The claims made are often hidden as assertions these occur throughout the advert and are not always easy to prove. Below is a list of claims made.
