Project Space Exercise 2

Project Space Exercise #2

The Web as Sign System: Apple- http://www.apple.com/

            I visited the website for Apple. The color scheme is very chromatic with varying shades of gray and white, which provide a very sleek and clean presentation. The fonts are very thin and simple and colored in black as to keep attention on the actual products displayed. As for all of the products that are shown on the homepage, each item has been staged with a bright variety of popping, contrasting colors as to pull your eyes into them and each is shown at an angle that intrigues you enough to want to click on it to find out more about it. The iPhones and iPods being presented are very close up and have large screen backgrounds of bright purple flowers and colorful figures of people, the hand holding the iPod has been edited to a neon blue-purple color, and the watches shown are placed at eye level and have neon blue and green wrist straps and multicolored graphics on their screens. The viewer’s eyes move from product to product until either one excites enough to explore it, or the option you came to the site to search for is spotted at the top of the page. In a grey bar across the top of the webpage there are links for various different general categories of products listed, an easy to use search option to find what you’re looking for more quickly, and other resources one can use for apple products that you can click on to be directed towards specific components of their website. As you click each one, the same fresh and neat feel mixed with the bright popping colors applies and provides a very organized and visually pleasing look. Each page provides more eye catching photos and links to go into more depth on the category chosen until you zero in on what you visited the site to find. This site definitely does encourage one to consume because of how it displays all of its merchandise in such a luxurious way, presents them with such bold titles, and explains them in such far reaching and cool ways that make you want to buy any and all of the goods they have to offer. Each iPhone, iPod, iPad, or MacBook that they show also includes adventurous and fun backgrounds that in a way make you excited to have the product and give you the feeling of enthusiasm toward each device. They also place the prices in such tucked away places with the smallest and most inconspicuous fonts that you don’t even notice the huge price tags until you are just about finished falling completely in love with the products!

Project Space Exercise 1

Project Space Exercise #1

Reading the Text Questions:

1.     What does Norton mean when she claims that the suburban shopping mall appears to be a public place but in fact is not?

-        Norton means that although it is a seemingly obvious public place where anyone can go to and walk around and shop at for hours, there are a lot of rules and regulations in place at malls. The managers and owners of malls have complete authority over what advertisements can be there, what stores are there, what they sell, how they can display things, and so on. Other things not permitted in malls are freedom of speech and assembly, which means controversial displays by customers or stores are not allowed. So in conclusion, she is saying that despite the popular view of malls as an easy place where anyone has the liberty to gather, they actually have quite strong constraints on the public’s freedoms that many people are often blind to.

2.     What is Norton’s interpretation of Ralph Lauren’s Polo line?

-        Norton addresses the familiarity of the Ralph Lauren brand to people of all ages and describes a window display Ralph Lauren’s Polo line as, “an embarrassment of semiotic riches.” She believes that the complete vintage, luxurious, and distinguished image of the polo player, the horses, and the large broad lawns draw in the upper class by representing this timeless, classy, Ivy League image. The people who see the plaid prints and old western feel easily organize these cultural texts and form their own views as to what image the clothing line creates for themselves. The self that each clothing line depicts in an ad is what draws each person to that store to buy clothing from that line or brand.

3.     How is shopping a subversive activity for women, according to Norton?

-        Norton sees shopping as something as a rebellious activity for women because the woman who is shopping for pleasure is escaping the confines of her home and is taking time away from her husband and children and is using it solely for herself. She is exercising her freedom of authority to buy what she pleases, spend as much as she pleases, buy as much as she pleases, shop wherever she pleases, to create her own identity, and to engage with women instead of obeying the social order that she must be with her husband to bring her happiness.  

4.     How do mail-order catalogs create communities of shoppers, in Norton’s view?

-        These catalogues group certain types of people together by identifying the varying interests that are associated with their products in their catalogues and describing what the buyer/reader wants and who the buyer/reader is. Also they create shared mailing lists, which group together multiple related catalogues to send to people who have distinguished their identities that relate to those brands. These same people who continue to order from the same weekly or monthly catalogues, or even those who simply receive them and look over them, are all part of the same community of shoppers, in Norton’s view.

5.     What are the political messages sent by the Home Shopping Network, as Norton sees them, and how are they communicated?

-        The messages sent by the Home Shopping Network, according to Norton, that connects capitalism and democracy are that you can buy as much speech as you can afford and that you are recognized by others in accordance with your capacity to consume. These messages of consumption as an American activity are communicated through their simple interest of patriotism as shown with the red white and blue motif shown in their set designs and animation designs they create on your TV, and the intently hung up photo of the statue of liberty in their presented office.

Here is another example of a sexual childish advertisement for Love's Baby Soft products.

"Love's Baby Soft" Final Advertisement Analysis

            No matter how it is achieved, a product that can be made to appeal to a younger generation as well as a mature audience is a successful product. Love’s Baby Soft is a brand that has done just this for their line of body care merchandise. By creating a link between adolescence and sexuality in their advertisements, this company has managed to craft perfumes, lotions, and body washes that have an “irresistible, clean baby smell, grown up enough to be sexy”. Although the gap between sensuality and immaturity seems too wide to be connected, the image and textual elements this business chose for their ads have done just that. Many adverting companies just like this one are taking full advantage of our appearance-obsessed generation of people and are broadening their horizons to target the younger generation as well as the older. One advertisement in particular has gone to dramatic lengths to create a brand with far reaching demographics, from young girls dazzled by maturity to older females intrigued by the playful youthfulness of their products. One may be led to believe that the images on the advertisement are solely meant to attract pre-teenage girls, when really this ad does a successful job at attracting the eye of young children as well as pre-teens.

            This advertisement for Love Cosmetics is a blatant display of the market shifting their ads to appeal to young girls. The main image taking up the whole page consists of a very young girl with hair curled and styled to be big and luscious, eyes boldly wearing dramatic and dark mascara, lips made glossy and plump with lipstick, and arms clenching a white teddy bear to her chest. From the way she was beautified to a look similar to that of Marilyn Monroe, to the intense head on look she is giving the camera as her dainty hand holds the bear, this image was clearly created to apply a more sultry and grown up look to a young girl. The color of the stuffed bear, the child’s shirt, and even the slogan are all white, which most likely was selectively chosen to apply the feelings of purity, innocence, and virginity to the sensual-looking child. Their slogan is boldly placed in the top middle of the advertisement and it states “Love’s Baby Soft. Because innocence is sexier than you think.” This line clearly portrays the message they seek to get across to the viewers. They are making a connection between the innocence of adolescence and sexuality of maturity to appeal to a younger teen who is in the process of becoming a woman and also to a child who looks up to matured women and desires to be like them. The slogan alone undoubtedly shows the preposterous advertising techniques used in the textual elements of this ad. Additionally, in the bottom left corner of the page there is an image of the different products they sell along with a few small sentences promoting them placed below. The products themselves are petite with cute girly colors and fonts that attract the same youthful generation. Although it may seem obvious, one could argue that the advertisement is not in fact targeting pre-teenage girls.

            Looking at this advertisement, one may say that although the foremost image is of a child, it does not necessarily mean that the intended consumer is in fact children. The innocent little girl could be present simply to give a youthful vibe to the advertisement and to promote the “baby” softness of the product. Although I can see why one could be led to believe this by glimpsing at the advertisement, having prior knowledge of this product I can say that the point of having the little girl on the cover is to make other young girls look up to her and want the product to create a similar look for themselves. The grown up beauty she has complements her prepubescent features in a way that makes her a role model for the younger generation to incorporate the more sultry components into their own looks. Although it may be a very frowned upon notion, the slogan even says that innocence can be made to be sexy, which implies that it strives to do just that.

            The target audience for this advertisement is young girls who are starting to become women and even younger girls who look up to the mature feminine characteristics of women. More specifically, according to the VALS2 Network, the closest general audience this advertisement is aiming towards is the strivers. They fit in this category because although they understand the importance of status and highly value it, they do not have the resources to supplement their desire to form this enriching brand. They also have the potential to become an achiever in the future, which are people who highly value their jobs and materialistic and unnecessary materialistic items. The purpose of this advertisement is to attract a younger generation of girls to this brand of products by showing them an image of a girl that could potentially be someone they want to mirror. This girl can spark the thought that if they get this product they can be like her or they can obtain similar traits that she has that make her physically attractive. It simultaneously attracts the attention of a little bit older girls by giving the child mature features that they are ready to bring out in themselves and by describing it as sexy, which girls are beginning to desire to be. I believe that, although it uses dramatic tactics to do so, this advertisement is effective and successfully conveys its message. It effectively shows an image that is both youthful and lustful which can very well cause younger girls to buy their products because of the girl they see and the lines they read. The emotional appeal it uses also ensures that the audience will remain familiar with their brand.

            In conclusion, this advertisement for Love’s Baby Soft products successfully, yet controversially, attracted an audience of very young girls as well as girls who are becoming women. The sultry and mature image of the young child provides an innocent and pure take on sexiness that makes this a very effective ad for that young crowd. It provides a new take on adolescence and gives children a new kind of girl they want to be. This advertisement is just one of many dramatic yet powerful advertisements that are being to widen their demographics to children. Who knows what kind of products will begin to appeal to the younger generation in the future due to the cleverness of advertisement companies.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Cardona, Mercedes. “Young Girls Targeted By Makeup Companies.” Frank W Baker. 27        November 2000. Web. 15 September 2014.             http://www.frankwbaker.com/young_girls_targeted_by_makeup.htm

 

Collins, Jessanne. “Girl Powder: A Cultural History Of Love’s Baby Soft.” Jessanne Collins. The     Awl. 5 March 2013. Web. 21 September 2014.

            http://www.theawl.com/2013/03/girl-powder-a-cultural-history-of-loves-baby-soft

 

Krupnick, Ellie. “Cosmetic Surgery Ad Banned By ASA For Targeting Young Girls.” The Huffington       Post. The Huffington Post. 7 December 2011. Web. 15 September 2014

            http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/cosmetic-surgery-ad-            banned_n_1133431.html

 

"Love's Baby Soft" Advertisement Analysis Rough Draft

            No matter how it is achieved, a product that can be made to appeal to the young generation as well as the mature audience is a successful product. Love’s Baby Soft is a brand that has done just this for their line of body care merchandise. By creating a link between adolescence and sexuality in their advertisements, this company has managed to craft perfumes, lotions, and body washes that have an “irresistible, clean baby smell, grown up enough to be sexy”. Although this gap seems too wide to be connected, the image and textual elements they chose for their ads have done just that. Many adverting companies just like this one are taking full advantage of our appearance-obsessed generation of people and are broadening their horizons to target the younger generation as well as the older. One advertisement in particular has gone to dramatic lengths to create a brand with far reaching demographics, from young girls dazzled by maturity to older females intrigued by the playful youthfulness of their products. However, one may be lead to believe that the images on the advertisement are solely meant to attract pre-teenage girls, when really this ad does a successful job at attracting the eye of young children as well as pre-teens.

            This advertisement for Love Cosmetics is a blatant display of the targeting of young girls. The main image consists of a very young child with hair curled and styled to be big and luscious, eyes boldly wearing dramatic and dark mascara, lips made glossy and plump with lipstick, and arms clenching a white teddy bear to her chest. From the way she was beautified to a look similar to that of Marilyn Monroe, to the intense head on look she is giving the camera as her dainty hand holds the bear, this image was clearly created to apply a more sultry and grown up look to a young girl. The color of the stuffed bear, the child’s shirt, and even the slogan are all white, which I believe was selectively chosen to apply the feeling of purity, innocence, and virginity to the sensual-looking child. Their slogan is boldly placed in the top middle of the advertisement and it states “Love’s Baby Soft. Because innocence is sexier than you think.” This line clearly portrays the message they seek to get across to the viewers. They are making a connection between the innocence of adolescence and sexuality to appeal to a younger teen who is in the process of becoming a woman and also to a child who looks up to matured women and desires to be like them. The slogan alone undoubtedly shows the preposterous advertising techniques used in the textual elements of this ad. Additionally, in the bottom left corner there is an image of the different products they sell along with a few small sentences promoting them, placed below. The products themselves are petite with cute girly colors and fonts that attract the same youthful generation. Although it may seem obvious, a counter argument could be made that the advertisement is not in fact targeting pre-teenage girls.

            Looking at this advertisement, one may say that although the foremost image is of a child, it does not necessarily mean that the intended consumer is in fact children. The innocent little girl could be present simply to give a youthful vibe to the advertisement and to promote the “baby” softness of the product. Although I can see why one could be lead to believe this by glimpsing at the advertisement, having prior knowledge of this product I can say that the point of having the little girl on the cover is to make other young girls look up to her and want the product to create a similar look for themselves. The grown up beauty she has complements her prepubescent features in a way that makes her a role model for the younger generation to incorporate the more sultry components into their own looks. The slogan even says that innocence can be made to be sexy, which implies that it strives to do just that.

            The target audience for this advertisement is young girls who are starting to become women and even younger girls who look up to the mature feminine characteristics of women. More specifically, according to the VALS2 Network, the closest general audience this advertisement is aiming towards is the strivers. They fit in this category because although they understand the importance of status and highly value it, they do not have the resources to supplement their desire to form this enriching brand. The purpose of this advertisement is to attract a younger generation of girls to this brand of products by showing them an image of a girl that could potentially be a role model to them. This girl can spark the thought that if they get this product they can be like her or they can obtain similar traits that she has that make her physically attractive. It simultaneously attracts the attention of a little bit older girls by giving the child mature features and describing it as sexy. I believe that, although it uses a dramatic tactic to do so, this advertisement is effective and successfully conveys its message. It effectively shows an image that is both youthful and lustful which can very well cause younger girls to buy their products because of the girl they see and the lines they read. The emotional appeal it uses also ensures that the audience will remain familiar with their brand.

            In conclusion, this advertisement for Love’s Baby Soft products successfully, yet controversially, attracted an audience of very young girls as well as girls who are becoming women. The sultry and mature image of the young child provides an innocent and pure take on sexiness that makes this a very effective ad for that young crowd. It provides a new take on adolescence and gives children a new kind of girl they want to be. This advertisement is just one of many dramatic yet powerful advertisements that are being to widen their demographics to children. Who knows what kind of products will begin to appeal to the younger generation in the future due to the cleverness of advertisement companies.

Click this link to be directed to a Real Life Example of the advertisement targeting of children!

Essay Proposal

  I seek to propose an essay that deeply analyzes the targeting of young girls in numerous appearance based advertisements. As time progresses, people become more and more obsessed with their appearances and with maintaining a more youthful look no matter how low their age is. Cosmetic companies, clothing companies, and even cosmetic surgery advertisements are a few of the many groups who took note and continue to take full advantage of this fact. In my essay, I will use articles addressing this issue and a makeup advertisement from Cosmo Magazine that clearly welcomes a younger audience. In an article titled Young Girls Targeted By Makeup Companies, Mercedes Cardona writes about Cover Girl’s attempt to broaden their horizons to appeal to more preteens as they question girls as young as eight years old. This shows a direct display of the attack on the younger generation. Another article taken from CNN’s website is titled Adult-inspired lingerie marketed for young girls and discusses a line of loungewear/lingerie for girls ages four to twelve. This is prime evidence that any and all mature companies are going after the younger kids. The last online article I can draw from is from The Huffington Post and shows an advertisement that is glamorizing and pushing breast implants onto young girls with the draw that it’s quick, easy, and in a sense fun. I can reference this to show that even the most dramatic companies are finding ways to appeal to the youth. I also can analyze an advertisement I found that’s promoting Revlon Age Defying Color Corrector Cream. One line from the ad states “It’s never too early to fight aging” and explains that the cream has multiple benefits for any user as well as the purpose of fighting aging. This is showing that even a product with a title purely aimed at older women trying to look younger can find ways to bring younger people into the audience for the product. Some opposing viewpoints that may arise in my analysis of this issue include the fact that the makeup available for kids is safe and subtle, the “loungerie” is just the same as a child wearing a bathing suit, and the girl in the breast enhancement advertisement was styled to look a lot older than she was so you cannot tell as much that it’s a teenager. When it comes to creating and promoting makeup products for children, the fact of the matter is: makeup is makeup. Although they may be safe for kids and are not very noticeable, they still hold the purpose of changing one’s appearance. These advertisements are telling young girls that they should change the way they look in order to be pretty and happy, which is something that we should stop promoting to women of all ages. To the argument of the “loungerie” being the same components as a bathing suit, I can say the same about underwear. Girls wearing fancy lace undergarments around is another idea that should not be promoted to the youth. In regards to the breast implant advertisement, although she is wearing heavy makeup and has a more developed figure, the fun carefree vibe and the spoof-like title give a strong nudge to younger girls. All of this evidence proves that there is a prominent target on younger girls’ backs from leading women’s beautifying product companies that is very hard to deny.