A Comparison of Two Advertisements :: Papers

A Comparison of Two Advertisements Advertisements are messages that are intended to influence and persuade their audience. Their purpose is to raise awareness of the existence of their product in the people whom they target and to promote the benefits of buying or using it. Adverts are paid for by the advertisers and is a major source of income for magazines - approximately 40% of revenues. Without money from advertising, much of the modern media would not exist. Therefore advertising is a commercial business as opposed to ‘free’ publicity like press releases and photo opportunities. A range of advertisers exist in the UK. Many of them are small companies who are trying to promote themselves. Bigger companies will buy in an advertising agency to create the messages in relevant media. Also, the Government spends considerable amounts of money on advertising. They produce two types of advertisements; information (i.e. tax returns) and persuasive (i.e. not to drink drive). I am going to compare and analyse two advertisements from magazines. Magazines have a ready-made pre-defined target audience, so they provide an effective point of contact for advertisers and their target consumers. Both of my chosen adverts are from ‘Bliss’, a teenage magazine aimed at girls roughly aged 11-19. It is the second biggest selling teen title and leads the market in editorial innovation and exciting new ideas. The messages of this type of mainstream magazine are dedicated to the ideal image of a teenage girl who is independent, sexy and looks after her appearance. Fashion, cosmetics and beauty tips take up 50 pages of the magazine, so a substantial part of it is devoted to the improvement of the body and looks. Because image dominates the magazine so much, it seems the ideal medium for advertising lip products. The first advert I have chosen to analyse is advertising a new lipstick. My second advert is promoting is a lip gloss. I am going to scrutinize each advertisement separately, examining how the techniques they have used persuade the consumer to purchase the product, and then