Old Spice essay
Carry out textual analysis of the print advert for Old Spice. How are the viewpoints and ideologies communicated? Draw on a range of examples to illustrate your analysis.
'Old Spice' is an American brand of male grooming products including deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes , and soaps. It was founded on the 19th of June 1937 and it is manufactured by Procter and Gamble, however the previous owners were Shulton company.
The main image shows the setting of an animated Bahamian beach - in which the caribbean Island of Bahamas is a famous holiday destination for tourists especially from Europe. The islands beach could then be said to represent, happiness, peacefulness and relaxation , which could be represented through the images of the vacationers, sunbathing in bikinis , fishing and sitting under coconut trees. This is a visual picture of everything that 'Old Spice' desires their products to represent as it sells products such as body washes and soaps which the customers use for relaxation.
The main focus within the mise en scene is a man who is animated as part volcano, which could connote how 'hot' he is , he is dark skinned, handsome and is seen with a smirk on his face that emphasises how enchanting he is. However this could also give the message to the customers of 'Old Spice' which are men the message that if they use Old Spice products they too can feel confident and attractive. He has direct address with the audience this could be in favour for a female audience in which he looks confident, asserting his masculinity. This links to the one of many Old Spice slogans such as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like"-which also links into Old Spice's desires in which they sell 'male' grooming not only for men but for women with boyfriends or husbands.
Within the main image there are gender roles presented, this can be seen from the very different activities that the men and women are doing that create very distinct gender roles. For example a women pictured with a bikini sunbathing and a man riding a huge wave - this could be linked to the main image to reinforce hegemonic masculinity in which men are seen as dominant and superior whilst women are being seen as inferior, as the men are being proactive and the women are doing more easy activities, e.g sunbathing and sending of notes in bottles into the ocean. This could link into Old Spices ideology in which being a male grooming brand they want Old Spice to represent traditional views of masculinity, this could also link to their previous statements for example a statement in the Old Spice advertisemnnt 1965 in which states "A man wants a mans gift... it must be Old Spice". Reinforcing the idea that Old Spice is designed for men and is exclusively for men, through this they use concepts that target men such as hegemonic masculinty- in which are seen as holding ultimate power.
The camera shot used is longshot this gives a very indepth detail on the beach that is animated to be the man- showing him in all his glory in which he is presented as somewhat Godlike for he is drastically bigger than everyone and everything on the beach and therefore presented as a giant . This links into Baudrillards study of hyper-reality as this advertisement could be seen as a mix of reality for example the man and fantasy which are the people on the beach . This is used to represent men as strong and powerful in which could target a male audience and it could also target a female audience as women desire men who are masculine. It is said that Old Spices target audience has changed from 40-60 to much younger generations, these are from ages 18- 34 , because of this they are using more fresher and modern sets such as beaches as this connotes holidays, happiness and sex which the man could represent as this is everything that especially young people desire. As it is said Old Spices uses male sex symbols which is evident through the main image of the enchanting man but this is because they have found that 70% of all male toiletries products are purchased by women, so this is not only a target for men but for women also. Within longshot everything that is within the mise en scene targets Old Spices target audiences, which are young men from ages 18-34 and women , as it is could be said to be a form of eye candy for both target audience as it includes everything that young men desire e.g women in revealing clothing, beaches, the oceans and vacation activities, and women in which they desire mascuine men as presented throughn the main image of the man, holidays , relaxation and sunbathing. Hence Old Spice reinforces gender roles to target their target audience in which they show men to be agressive and powerful and women to be weak and pretty, which links into the damsel in distress concept.
Overall Old Spice uses traditional gender roles to successfully target their target audiences as seen through their use of sets and images. Within this 18-34 year old men are targeted and women also.
'Old Spice' is an American brand of male grooming products including deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos, body washes , and soaps. It was founded on the 19th of June 1937 and it is manufactured by Procter and Gamble, however the previous owners were Shulton company.
The main image shows the setting of an animated Bahamian beach - in which the caribbean Island of Bahamas is a famous holiday destination for tourists especially from Europe. The islands beach could then be said to represent, happiness, peacefulness and relaxation , which could be represented through the images of the vacationers, sunbathing in bikinis , fishing and sitting under coconut trees. This is a visual picture of everything that 'Old Spice' desires their products to represent as it sells products such as body washes and soaps which the customers use for relaxation.
The main focus within the mise en scene is a man who is animated as part volcano, which could connote how 'hot' he is , he is dark skinned, handsome and is seen with a smirk on his face that emphasises how enchanting he is. However this could also give the message to the customers of 'Old Spice' which are men the message that if they use Old Spice products they too can feel confident and attractive. He has direct address with the audience this could be in favour for a female audience in which he looks confident, asserting his masculinity. This links to the one of many Old Spice slogans such as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like"-which also links into Old Spice's desires in which they sell 'male' grooming not only for men but for women with boyfriends or husbands.
Within the main image there are gender roles presented, this can be seen from the very different activities that the men and women are doing that create very distinct gender roles. For example a women pictured with a bikini sunbathing and a man riding a huge wave - this could be linked to the main image to reinforce hegemonic masculinity in which men are seen as dominant and superior whilst women are being seen as inferior, as the men are being proactive and the women are doing more easy activities, e.g sunbathing and sending of notes in bottles into the ocean. This could link into Old Spices ideology in which being a male grooming brand they want Old Spice to represent traditional views of masculinity, this could also link to their previous statements for example a statement in the Old Spice advertisemnnt 1965 in which states "A man wants a mans gift... it must be Old Spice". Reinforcing the idea that Old Spice is designed for men and is exclusively for men, through this they use concepts that target men such as hegemonic masculinty- in which are seen as holding ultimate power.
The camera shot used is longshot this gives a very indepth detail on the beach that is animated to be the man- showing him in all his glory in which he is presented as somewhat Godlike for he is drastically bigger than everyone and everything on the beach and therefore presented as a giant . This links into Baudrillards study of hyper-reality as this advertisement could be seen as a mix of reality for example the man and fantasy which are the people on the beach . This is used to represent men as strong and powerful in which could target a male audience and it could also target a female audience as women desire men who are masculine. It is said that Old Spices target audience has changed from 40-60 to much younger generations, these are from ages 18- 34 , because of this they are using more fresher and modern sets such as beaches as this connotes holidays, happiness and sex which the man could represent as this is everything that especially young people desire. As it is said Old Spices uses male sex symbols which is evident through the main image of the enchanting man but this is because they have found that 70% of all male toiletries products are purchased by women, so this is not only a target for men but for women also. Within longshot everything that is within the mise en scene targets Old Spices target audiences, which are young men from ages 18-34 and women , as it is could be said to be a form of eye candy for both target audience as it includes everything that young men desire e.g women in revealing clothing, beaches, the oceans and vacation activities, and women in which they desire mascuine men as presented throughn the main image of the man, holidays , relaxation and sunbathing. Hence Old Spice reinforces gender roles to target their target audience in which they show men to be agressive and powerful and women to be weak and pretty, which links into the damsel in distress concept.
Overall Old Spice uses traditional gender roles to successfully target their target audiences as seen through their use of sets and images. Within this 18-34 year old men are targeted and women also.
Comments
Post a Comment