Analizing an Advertisement

Analyzing an Advertisement

We live in a fast paced society that is ruled by mass media. Every day we are bombarded by images of, perfect bodies, beautiful hair, flawless skin, and ageless faces that flash at us like a slide show. These ideas and images are imbedded in our minds throughout our lives. Advertisements select audience openly and subliminally, and target them with their product. They allude to the fact that in order to be like the people in this advertisement you must use their product. This is not a new approach, nor is it unique to this generation, but never has it been as widely used as it is today. There is and old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" and what better way to tell someone about a product than with all one thousand words, that all fit on one page. Take for example this ad for Hennessy cognac found in Cosmopolitan, which is a high, priced French liquor. This ad is claiming in more ways than one that Hennessy is an upscale cognac and is "appropriately complex" as well as high-class liquor. There are numerous subliminal connotations contingent to this statement.

One being that the three people depicted in this advertisement are all extremely good looking, and well dressed. Hinting to the fact that people who drink this liquor are of a high caliber. Secondly, the people in this advertisement are all middle-aged professionals, a designer, an architect and a demolition expert. All three of

Which are very hard, demanding, and well respected jobs. Third and perhaps most important the brief text in the advertisement which reads "designer, architect, demolition expert and appropriately complex". This is an attempt to let the reader know that this is not your ordinary cognac to the. By implying that this liquor appeals to mainly the elite walk of life. These three elements combined to make a target audience, business professionals in their mid twenties to thirties. One may ask why this group why not try to appeal to working class citizens too. The answer is easy as the average mid sized bottle of cognac cost forty plus dollars. At this price Hennessy is not selling it's product to the working class but is targeting higher income indivuals. The reason that they have younger people in this advertisement is a universal standard. The up and coming generation will be the ones to buy this product for the next ten to twenty years so those are the people they must reach now. Moreover it will build name recognition for the up and coming buyer, this ad is well scripted in regards to the target audience. The company knows that not every one can buy this product therefore they have targeted a select group who can afford their product.

This ad is laid out in such a way that your eye follows the script right