Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Semiotics Assignment


1st Advert: New Lynx Excite




The advert is promoting the new Lynx Excite deodorant. The adverts target audience is young males between the ages of 18 and 25.  The advert uses a lot of dark colours, especially in the left hand side and the background. This draws the audience’s attention to the brighter foreground where the logo, slogan and main image are. Similarly the Hugo Boss Deep Red advert also uses a dark background.

The main image used on the advert is a picture of a young man who is in the target audience’s demographic. He is shirtless, wearing only a chain and has the body of a normal man, he doesn’t have the stereotypical model look that is shown in a lot of other adverts. This indicates that the product has been designed for normal men and that you don’t have to look a certain way to use it. This will appeal to the target audience as they won’t feel like they have to look a certain way to be accepted and they won’t have to change how they look in order to feel comfortable using the product. The young man is looking up, rather than towards the camera. This indicates that there is something above him, possibly an angel and that if you use the product then you will also see angels. If you compare the model used in the is advert to the one used in the Hugo Boss one, this one uses a much more realistic model for people to compare themselves to. The model used in this advert could be just an average man whereas the model used in the second advert looks more like a professional model. Comparing the two adverts could send out the message that while it is fine for men to be average, women should try more with their appearance like in the Hugo Boss advert.

The text is also a large focus of the advert. The text says “New Lynx Excite. Even Angels Will Fall”. The text is in white which contrasts with the dark background and makes it easy to read. It is simple and effective as it matches the rest of the advertising campaign that Lynx did for some of their other deodorants.  The first piece of the text is the name of the product and is written in a smaller font size to the slogan. This makes the slogan the focus of the text and suggests that the slogan is so important that the name is almost an after thought. The two different sentences have also been written in two different fonts. The name of the product has been written in a simple font which reflects the simple name of it. The slogan has been written in a more abstract font which put emphases on the “A” in “Angels” and the “F” in “Fall”. The letters look as if they are melting or falling which illustrates how the slogan is “even angels will fall. The text has also been placed on the left-hand side which is where most people look first. This ensures that the text is one of, if not the first, thing that they see.

The message of the advert is that if you wear the deodorant that “even angels will fall”. This suggest that no matter who you are, what you look like or what your personality is like, if you wear the deodorant then you will get a girl. Angels are often seen to represent innocence and goodness. This indicates that Lynx are suggesting that even the most innocent and good will fall for you if you wear their product. It could also suggest that wearing the product will make you seem as if you are a gift from God to women as angels are seen as gifts from God.


2nd Advert: Hugo Boss Deep Red



The advert is promoting the Hugo Boss Deep Red Perfume for women. The target audience of the advertisement is women in their early twenties who are quite confident and flirty. The advert has quite a dark colour scheme and uses the colours black, blue, red and white. Almost all of the advert uses dark colours, with the exception of the bottom right-hand corner where there is a picture of the product. The product is surrounded by a bright white glow which draws the audience to the image. The dark colour scheme gives the advert a mature look and suggests that the product is aimed at mature women rather than teenage girls.

The main image in the advert is a picture of a young women in her early twenties. This matches the age of the target audience. She is wearing a short dark blue dress, has professional make up and has wind blown hair. She has the typical model look that you usually see in adverts and on tv. The clothes she is wearing, her hair and her makeup all indicate that she probably isn’t going to work but is going to a party or having a night out. This highlights that the perfume isn’t designed to be worn on a day to day basis but on special occasions. The way she posed, looking at the camera with her hand on her hip, makes her look flirty and confident which also fits with the audience demographic. It illustrates that perfume is aimed at confident young women who are going out to nightclubs or parties. It also suggests that if you wear the perfume you will be confident and you will be noticed because of this.

The other image that has been used in the advert is a picture of the perfume bottle. The perfume bottle is red and curves near the bottom, almost mirroring the models body. The product is in the bottom right-hand corner and is quite small compared to the picture of the model. This suggests that maybe the bottle isn’t as important as the model. However there is a bright white light surrounding the bottle which draws your attention to it as the rest of the advert uses quite dark colours.  The redness of the bottle could indicate danger or passion and suggest that if you wear it you will feel powerful.

There is a small bit of text in the middle of the advert which says the perfumes slogan. The text says “your fragrance, your rules”. The text is white which makes it standout against the dark background. The first half of the slogan is in a simple, classic font which is slightly smaller  than the second half. This indicates that this part of the slogan is more serious and formal. The second half of the text is in a more modern and playful font. The two fonts contrast with each as they are both individual and unique, representing how wearing the product will also help you to become individual and unique.

The adverts message is that wearing the deodorant will make you more sophisticated, confident and unique. It also suggests that perfume is also quite mysterious, because of the dark colours, and will make you mysterious. The message from the slogan could also be that wearing the product will make you more dominant and help you make your own rules. 

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