Advertising 8 questions

Write down five slogans for products recently advertised.

"Washing machines live longer with Calgon."- Calgon
"Lelli Kelly the cutest shoes."- Lelli Kelly
"Because its you, Stronger with you"- Emporio Armani fragrance
"Maybe it's Maybelline."- Maybelline advert
"Have a break...Have a KitKat."- KitKat
"La vie est belle"-Lancôme

Maslow's Hierarchy- Lancôme Ad 2016

Maslow's Hierarchy is a motivational theory that summarises the five main needs of humanity in the form a pyramid. From the bottom of the pyramid upwards the needs are: physiological, safety, love and belonging, self esteem and self actualisation. Advertisers such as designer brands trying to sell new types of perfumes or make up brands often use this concept to persuade their particular audience that their product could help them to feel better about themselves. For example L'oreal's main slogan is "because you're worth it" emphasising the idea that women are beautiful and valuable which is why they should consider investing in a L'oreal product.

The establishing shot of the advert is Julia Roberts emerging on a party like scene. The audience then witnesses a close up of Julia in which she appears to be very confident and full of self esteem. However this is a contrast to her surroundings which look quite dull as is portrayed by the blue lighting. Often blue lighting has a connotation of cold or alienation that also matches the attitudes of the other guests at the event. Within the first ten seconds the camera does a pan shot to show all the other characters in the scene. None of them look particularly pleased and they are all wearing black making Julia stand out even more as she looks graceful and elegant in her white dress. As the advert progresses and the camera gives a few individual close ups of some of the party attendees it finally comes back to Julia who has a huge smile on her face as she feels a few drops of water on her legs and is about to step into a fountain. The imagery behind this shot is positive and could be referencing self love or love in general which is also featured in Maslow's Hierarchy.  When she then steps into the water the everything around her comes into sharp focus as a shower of petite crystal like objects descend  from the sky. Julia then looks to the moon with a sense of satisfaction as if she belongs to be with the stars.

Stereotypes in Advertising

It is quite common for stereotypes to be used in all forms of advertising to present a sort of imagery that the audience is familiar and can identify with. An example of this would be in Pampas adverts in which the mother is shown to be caring for the baby linking to the stereotype of females looking after children. Another common stereotype portrayed in advertising is of young girls liking dolls which is evident in adverts for toys.