I chose the makeup company Avon for my ad analysis. I love
makeup and although I don’t personally wear Avon, I know they have been an
iconic, leading brand in the industry for over 100 years. The first advertisement
I chose is from 1954, and the second is from 2015. They are ostensibly very
different ads, but they both use similar appeals and techniques.
I chose this specific historical ad because I knew I wanted
an ad that was related to makeup, and the woman in the ad really stood out to
me. This ad uses sexual appeal and techniques such as claims and
repetition to attract attention. While this ad is not overtly sexual, since
there’s no nudity or sexual terms, it still is simply based on the woman’s
picture. Red is a color that signifies romance and lust, and her red nails and
lips emphasize this. The way her hand is posed and the slight smirk/ smile on
her face also suggest she is sexually alluring. The wording used to describe
Avon’s lipstick is subconsciously sexual as well; it says “never drying the
lips” which creates a longing for ‘kissable’ lips. The ad also uses claims to
promote specific features of the brand’s products, such as the lipstick “holds its
glowing for hours and hours” and the face powder and foundations are “perfectly
color harmonized.” These grab the reader’s attention because they show the
positive results of the product and how that product can make the reader look
better. Repetition of “Avon” is also heavily used. Avon is repeated 8 times
throughout the ad, which increases brand awareness and help the reader remember
the name. In the 1950s, makeup really became more prominent among women who
wanted to look prettier and younger. The 1950s were a “glamorous decade” for makeup,
and trends like minimal eyeshadow and non-smear lipstick were prevalent (http://glamourdaze.com/history-of-makeup/1950s).
As is apparent in the ad, Avon clearly followed these trends because the woman in
the ad didn’t have much eyeshadow, if any at all, and the ad said their lipstick
stays creamy and never dries.
Ad credit: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/adaccess/BH1401
For the second ad, I really wanted one that
shows how advertising
for Avon has changed over the last 60 years. When I saw
this ad from 2015, I chose it because it has a totally different look and style
than the first one. This ad uses emotional appeals and claims to attract
readers’ attentions. It’s not emotional in the sense that it will make you cry
or laugh, but that’s not only what emotional appeal means. It draws on the
sense of familiarity with its audience. The ad says that Avon is the company
that others copy, which evokes familiarity since many people know Avon and know
how big it is in the makeup industry. It also uses claims, like “we were the
first,” “we pioneered,” and “inspired by Nobel Prize-winning research” to show
that Avon was the first to create specific types of products and to show the
positive outcomes that come with wearing the makeup. This advertiser used
different appeals for the ads, since the first one was sexually appealing and
the second was emotionally appealing. The main difference between this product’s
ad is that the 1954 one focused on the woman wearing the product, whereas the
2015 one focused on the product itself. I think that’s the case because today,
all brands compete with each other for who has the best product, so the best
way to convince people Avon is the best is to show how other companies copy
them because they’re so great. In today’s society, makeup is HUGE. Almost all
girls wear makeup and the industry is vastly different. I think in this society
the most important aspect of makeup is the quality of the product itself, since
famous bloggers and Youtubers do makeup tutorials comparing different brands.
Ad credit: https://www.avon.com/blog/avon-insider/130-years-iconic-avon-advertisements
These ads are very different from each other. The first one uses sexual appeal, claims, and repetition, whereas the second uses emotional appeal and claims. I think they were both very effective ads because they used proper appeals and techniques. The first ad focuses on the woman using the products and how it can make her look more beautiful, and the second ad focuses on the product itself and how it is better than products from different brands.
