Advertising is a tool used by businesses to inform us about their products and to persuade us to buy them. Advertisements are all around us: on billboards, in magazines, in newspapers, on the Internet, on airplanes, in shop windows, on posters and banners, on leaflets and so on. Advertisements attempt to persuade the subconscious that our lives would be improved if we bought the product on offer. Advertisements affect our lives because we see a product that we want and love so we buy it and when a new and better product comes along we push the old product to the back of the cupboard or even throw it away; this encourages us to waste money and is bad for our environment.
The first advertisement I will be looking at is selling FCUK deodorizing spray, eau de toilette no 1; body wash and soothing after shave balm. The second is for another perfume "So You" by Giorgio Beverly Hills. I found both of these advertisements in an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine; a lifestyle magazine aimed at professional women in the twenty five to forty age brackets. My third advertisement is on another perfume called "Glow" by "JLo", which I found on the Internet.
The FCUK advertisement uses amusing word play; at first glance it looks like "FUCK". The use of what appears to be a swear word has the effect of grabbing the readers" attention. This word play is used effectively to get the message across that the product is simple and quick to use "FCUK grooming"; this advertisement is aimed at men who want to smell and look good without spending too much time in the bathroom. The use of such potentially inflammatory word play also gets the message across that this product is suited to a fun-loving, laid back kind of man; the kind of man who wouldn't be offended by such language. "Grooming" is something that we associate with women; this advertisement gives the impression that this is a very masculine product. .
The impression I got from my second advert was that the product is aimed at women who are bright, fun and reading for a party.