This is an Essay for my communication class.
Could you please help me check it... Thank you so much.
Quynh
Advertising is more and more popular nowadays. Advertisements surround us, they appear everywhere. You see tons of them as you browse the internet, walk on the street, read the newspaper or watch television and so on. There's no way we can avoid seeing ad. Last week, my attention was caught by an advertisement for Tricalm. The advertisement looked very cool and nice. Thus, I decided to write a design rationale about it. The ad was published in October issue of The Oprah magazine; In fact, this magazine is very popular. It is read by approximately 2.65 million people. It dedicates to inspire its readers to live their best life by giving information and advices. Besides, the magazine itself targets on middle to upper class adult women from stay at home moms to career women.
The largest image in this ad is the image of a young boy who dresses up as a superhero. He wears a red and white check wrinkled cape. His clothes are dirty all over except his blanket. He also wears a yellow lightning bolt on his neck. Since yellow is so intense, it acts as an entry point which caught attention of the viewer and directs the reader to the ad. The lightning bolt represents the superhero power. The yellow color was used to evoke the joy and the pleasant feeling as well. Since three vibrant colors such as red, yellow and blue are used to catch attention of the reader, olive green ï the color of forage and grass also is used in the foreground and background. This green acts as a restful color for the eyes and helps the ad appear more pleasing. Moreover, green also has the healing power and it's often used to indicate safety when advertising drug and medical product. On the other hand, the dirty clothes, which the boy wears, may suggest that he has played in the park for several hours. In fact, as children play in the park, they are susceptible for being bitten by mosquitos and insects. The longer they play there, the more chance they get itchy spots on their skin. For those who have sensitive skin, they even feel itchy all over more easily. Thus, the boy's supposed to be annoyed by the itchy skin and scratch all over. However, he seems to be very cheerful and confident. His eyes are closed and he's smiling. Besides, his hands are holding the edges of a light blue blanket; it looks like he's enjoying breathing the fresh air around him. Indeed, the way he's holding the blanket makes the reader think that the blanket is protecting him from the harmful things around. Furthermore, the color of the blanket is also blue, same color with the color of the product's brand and cap, but different value. It also represents that the blanket is the product itself. If you put it on, it can protect you even if you are healthy. On the other hand, superman always wears a mask to conceal himself when he rescues the world. He does not want others to know about him, to figure out who he is. In fact, the boy is wearing a blue superhero mask. The color of this mask is exact same as the color of the brand and cap of the product. It may suggest that even though this cream seems insignificant, if one wears it, it will protect him silently and effectively. On the other hand, the young boy also wearing a red and white check cape. Indeed, the cape has wrinkles all over and the red color on the edge of the cape is bleeding to the white color next to it. The cape may act as a metaphor for the other products which also claim that they can make the itchy go away. All of these details suggest that the other products won't do a good job on what they claim and only Tricalm is the product the reader should buy. Besides, the direction of the yellow lightning bolt and the yellow pj the child wearing also lead the reader's eyes to the text on the bottom quarter of the ad. Then, the horizontal white text also leads the viewer eye to the product image on the bottom right. Moreover, the direction of the sunlight behind the boy as it strikes the lawn also lead the reader's eyes into the product's image.
The main text appears near the bottom quarter of the ad, on the left. It starts with the slogan of the company "Welcome back to normal". This sentence makes the readers curious about the product and wants to find out more about it; they may question "what's normal? What's this ad about?". The persuasive words used are "relieves the itching", "Consmederm ï 7", "no itching", "no burning", "no stinging". The color of the text is white; in fact, white associates with coolness and cleanliness. Additionally, it also helps the text stand out. The text takes a sympathetic tone. It looks like the company feels bad that the reader's kid has itchy skin and can not enjoy the fun of playing in the park, they would like to help the itchy go away. As a result, the cream is introduced. The cream which contains "Cosmederm ï 7" can relieve the itchy. Consequently, the reader's kid can "get back to normal" and play outside, play in the dirt like other "normal" kid.
The ad was done very effectively. All the things placed there were on purpose. It targets on the right audience. Indeed, the most important thing that women care about is the health of their children. They would be sad and worried if their children had itchy skin. They would do everything to make their child's pain go away. Besides, the color chosen and the way the ad was organized are also very clever and effective. It catches attention of the viewer's eyes right away as they skim through the magazine. As the reader look at the ad, their eyes are lead around the ad and at the end they reach the product. Not a single detail is skipped.
