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.

"Wings" Advertisement Response

            Advertisement seven is one of multiple public service ads created to put an end to students informally using anti-gay insults. This ad attracts the viewer’s attention by having the bold, bright yellow words contrasting against the black and white background image. The sad, close up look on the girl’s face that is partially covered up by the colored words also catches the attention of whoever is seeing this. They staged the model to look depressed and hurt because they wanted to portray the emotions of someone who is affected by the hateful words people toss around so often and use her upset face and teary eyes to make people feel bad in a way for what they personally say. Her look not only catches a viewers’ eye but it also causes whoever sees it to have an emotional response that can cause them to consider how the words they use effect and hurt other people and hopefully lead to them evaluating their own vocabulary. As I explained, her facial expression shows deep sadness and pain to represent what happens when people are not thoughtful about what they say to others. The advertisement relates the effect of someone saying hateful words about a cheerleader being unintelligent to the harmful effects of people misusing the word “gay” nonchalantly in everyday conversation.

            To me, this ad is directed towards the range of people from middle-schoolers to high-schoolers. I came to this conclusion because the girl on the ad appears very young, cheerleaders are clearly associated with those ages, and the word gay is most often slandered by this younger generation. I do not believe it is very successful because the way the main statement is worded is hard to understand and I think the background picture could have had a stronger emotional appeal. I think if she was crying more dramatically or was showing more of a pained look as compared to a strong look I would have been more effected by it. Also, if the statement would have been more hurtful, as well as making it easier to read and understand, my emotions could have been swayed enough to make a real impact on me. Although the main contents of the advertisement did not get to me as much, the small message on the bottom that related the situation with the cheerleader to the use of the word gay was meaningful to me. I think the connection to a very strong and common stereotype was smart because it may show a point of view that many people do not see, and seeing from that view could help to make them realize the power their words have on people. This ad relies on the fact that the common cultural myth we all are guilty of believing is that cheerleaders are unintelligent and say the word “like” all the time. By knowing how common this idea is and how hurtful it is to people who are cheerleaders, the ad bridged it to the nonchalant use of the word “gay”.

 

 

Response to an Article



 

       According to Schlosser, an “explosion in children’s advertising” occurred in the 1980’s because parents started spending more and more money on their children to attempt to compensate for the lack of time the mother and father give to them. Parents began to feel guilty for not spending as much time with their kids and felt that buying them what they want could make up for that lost time. Advertisement agencies took notice of this and took full advantage of the increasing value of children’s desires. These agencies realized that it was becoming more and more popular for parents to buy kids whatever they say they want, so they altered all the advertisements possible to give kids more and more products to want. They also started to take advantage of their ads to take the time to create concrete ideas about their brands and products in children’s mind to start a long loyalty to their products and cause children to repeatedly make a brand a certain go-to for their parents to buy their children.

       Pester power is the ability for kids to persuade their parents into purchasing what they want through a variety of childlike tactics. When kids do not get what they want they can complain, whine, nag, or indeed pester their parents. The very large amount of nagging ways can easily get to parents and cause them to give in to their children’s demands and buy them what they want. Advertising agencies used this fact to their advantage as a way to sell their products through children. If they made their ads appealing to kids and made them have a strong desire to have the product, then the kids will in turn sell the product to their parents by using their own nags and arguments. Vance Packard referred to children as being “surrogate salesmen” in this situation because they are using their own tactics that are affective to their individual parents and using them to sell a product.

 

       According to Schlosser, the internet has contributed to the expansion in advertising directed toward children by being a valuable source of information about children. Various websites would ask for multiple forms of private information from kids that contribute to how they react to different objects and what they particularly take a liking to. By nonchalantly asking children these questions when they are doing or playing something online, companies were able to find out what kids like and relate to, and in return they used that information to incorporate those interests into ad campaigns. This was a highly treasured basis of knowledge because the vast majority of websites would not ask kids to get parent permission prior to providing their personal information, so they would readily provide whatever was asked of them. This asking of information without parent approval became illegal in 2000 when the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act was put into effect.  

      Schlosser says marketers use certain strategies to determine children’s tastes in products. One of these strategies entails market researchers surveying kids in a number of situations and places including the popular choice of shopping malls. They also analyze a number of young kids ranging in age by asking them questions and observing their behaviors in different environments such as slumber parties, school, restaurants, parks, and any sites where kids interact. Other strategies include putting together focus groups for young children and also analyze children’s artwork. Aside from direct study of kids, advertisers do research as well into a numerous amount of academic works on children from theorists and psychologists. They carefully study the thoughts and opinions of children displayed in their intimate actions and use the information they find in the creations of their advertisements.