Advertising is a multi billion pound industry and it takes up a big part of our lives. We see it all around us and it influences us to spend money. If it has such an effect on our lives it makes sense to study it and be able to analyse and interpret what adverts are telling us.
The two adverts I have chosen to compare are an advert for "Tommy Girl" perfume and an advert for "Skechers" shoes. They both show teenagers looking relaxed and contented. I chose these because I think they are both aiming their adverts towards the same target audience, which is the teenage market. I can tell that they are aimed at teenagers because I found them in teenage magazines "Sugar" and "J17." I will be able to see different approaches that different companies use to advertise in this way. .
During my essay I plan to deconstruct the separate adverts and compare them, particularly focusing on the issue of ethnicity. Ethnicity is different races, cultures, colours and religions. I plan to see if different ethnic groups are used in adverts. Although in some ads the product may be aimed at a particular ethnic group, for example make up products for white skin will not be advertised with a black model.
The first advert is advertising "Tommy Girl" it is trying to encourage teen girls to buy the perfume whereas the second ad for "Skechers" is trying to encourage both males and females to buy the trainers. Both adverts have made references to their websites suggesting that it is not only the actual product that is being advertised.
The image in the "Tommy Girl" advert is of a teenage girl looking relaxed, happy and carefree. This implies that the fact she is wearing this scent relieves her of all her troubles and makes her happy. It seems that the "Skechers" advert uses the same approach and shows a group of teenage friends looking pleased, relaxed and comfortable in each others company. This again implies that the fact that they are wearing these trainers makes them happy and a better person, and also makes them popular with other teenagers.