I have been given two adverts which are published 50 years apart, and are completely different from each other. They are the Listerine antiseptic mouthwash, produced in 1953 (World War 1 had ended and many men went to fight, so not many were in Britain,) and the Suzuki Ignis, a modern day advert produced in 2003. These two advertisements will be analysed thoroughly, taking note of the use of slogan, the target audience, colours and pictures, also commenting on the presentation and the effects that are the result of this.
Also I will state the resemblances and differences between the adverts, and identifying the strategies and knowledge of the target audience used by the advertisers. Next is to assess if the adverts were successfully marketed. Psychology plays an important facet in the advertising market, so following this I shall evaluate how the psychology helps sell each product and attract the target audiences attention and interests.
Finally, the last step is to think of what the marketing strategies that are used to sell the products effectively, and look at the views of woman which had changed over a 50year period. To sum it all up, I will be looking at the way the woman was view as housewives in the 1953 and a transition working professional by 2003, the era in which the Suzuki ignis was produced. The Listerine antiseptic advert (produced in 1953) two women fighting over one man in the middle, the women are aged about 22 to 29, the women on the left gets all the attention because the man has eye contact with only her and he gives out his hand to her which means that he is giving full attention towards her. Yet the woman on the right seems desperately holding onto the man and seeking his attention.
In the 1950’s because of the war the men of Britain fought in the war, which resulted in only a few men was left in Britain to go around for the ladies, so grabbing men’s attentions was very important for women and this adverts slogan, ‘You can lose him in a minute,’ plays with the women’s fear of losing their own man. Bad breath is one thing men don’t like and the woman knew it, therefore buying this product must be the right way of overcoming this.
The target audience who are looking at the right women on the advert would sympathize for her than wonder if they are in that position or might well become in it in the future, so they start to have doubts and would may well consider buying the product instead of risking it. The actual product is not shown in the advert; this meant that the women don’t know what it looked like. At the bottom it says it is good as antiseptic for minor cuts which make it have a multi-purpose handy object, making woman believe it must be worth buying.
Within the printed text it uses a rhetorical question which makes target audience answer it in their minds; this is persuasive writing being used to persuade even more women to buy the product. Another method of persuasion is it gives scientific information on the causes of bad breath, making women think the product is really effective with science to prove it right. The target audience in this advert is middle aged housewives that are aged 22-29.
In the Suzuki ignis advert (produced in 2003) we see an ignis car on the right and a blurred image of a woman on the left. The blurred image makes the viewers imagine that they are the owner of the Ignis, this is a technique called transference. The background show circles and squares, the circles represent femininity, and the squares represent masculinity, which means women and men are equals in the modern society.
Background colour is a dull dark blue and the car is a bright orange, giving the target audience feel that the car is warm and cosy, also this makes the car stand out from the dark background. The target audience are the working professionals that are women, aged 22-29. The slogan can be read two ways, ‘Confidence ignis’ or ‘Confidence is all about how you carry yourself.’ This slogan makes woman feel that with the egnis car they will have confidence in driving and also in modern society. At the bottom in small letters it explains having a wide boot space, which is handy for woman with family, and that the car has an immobiliser to keep the car safe and having further useful utilities this car has. But on the far most bottom corner it is written the model shown (GL) is �7,995 and only the other model (GA not shown) is �6,995, this is called hidden information in the fine print.
These two adverts both use women to sell their products, and make woman feel vulnerable by playing with their fears, For example in the Listerine advert it implies this message:- If you don’t buy it you will ‘lose him in a minute,’ And at that time woman couldn’t afford to lose their man to another woman (because of war). And in the Suzuki advert it implies this message:- Women can only feel confident until they are driving in a Suzuki ignis car. Differences are the Listerine advert is a black and white illustration (portrait) as it would be too expensive to produce due to the war, the rationing of supplies, stocks raising its prices higher, and the Suzuki advert is in colour and is real graphics (landscape)
Another is that there is no product shown on the Listerine advert, this means the women don’t know what it looks like which raises curiosity in the hearts of the women. Yet the Suzuki advert has its product shown, proceeding onwards women in the Listerine 1953 relied on men to succeed and to depend on, then after a transition by 2003 women became equal to men and could live independently without the men to be successful. This is a representation of women changing from being housewives in the 1950’s to working professionals in 2003.
The advertisers of the Listerine advert use the common interest of housewives, at the time the women needed to be at the top of their game so nobody can steal away their man, so advertisers used their fear of losing a man to make them interested in the product, for indeed women rather have a fresh breath than to risk losing their man. The advertisers of the Suzuki advert use the technique transference to make women imagine they are that blurred image owning the ignis, this creates a desire in the target audiences’ heart to have an ignis for real.
The marketing of these adverts, the Listerine I would say was successfully marketed because it has found an appropriate target audience, its psychology to understand what the women needs and fears makes it desired to be bought by desperate women, ‘is she in that position like the women in the advert, being ignored, will this be my future?’ these thoughts would automatically lead to a chain of questions that many wouldn’t risk and rather buy the product. It can be better if there was an image of the actual product.
