It seems nowadays, wherever one turns there is a form of advertising. Whether it is a commercial you hear on the radio or an ad you see in the daily paper each is a form of advertising. The advertising industry spends billions of dollars each year to get consumers to spend their money. By using certain tactics such as weasel words, celebrity images, and simple language advertiser are able to capture their targeted audience attention. .
Going through a hip-hop magazine called XXL I came across an ad for a pair of Reebok sneakers. The ad is not bright and filled with color instead everything is in black and white with the exception of the Reebok logo. The ad pictures Rakim, a rapper from the 1980's generation of hip-hop, sitting on a boom box wearing a pair of Reebok classics and New York Knicks t-shirt. Under the picture of Rakim it reads ""Lyrical Classic" in white bold letters. For many this ad is no different from any other sneaker ad but when the ad is broken down one can see what tactics were used to grab the audience's attention.
Through images and words the advertiser shows the audience the concept of the sneaker. The concept is simple that everything and everyone that appears in this ad is from the old school hip-hop era. The ad is paying tribute to old school hip-hop era and at the same time showing the longevity of that certain sneaker style. The ad doesn't come out and says it but if you breakdown the ad you realize the concept. For example, the ad pictures Rakim. When an advertiser uses a celebrity in their ad this usually means that the advertiser is trying to reach out to the audience the celebrity represents. Rakim is a rapper who began rapping in the late eighties. He is considered one of the greatest lyricists of all time and regarded as one of the all time best by the rappers in today society. I believe the reason why Reebok choose Rakim to appear in this ad is because he has all the trademarks that Reebok advertises for the sneaker.
