Damn the Royal Mail being on strike!

We have recently started another Module for Critical Studies.
The two briefs in which we have to complete are not necessarily something to look forward to. The briefs are maily written essays and oral presentations, two things in which i am not best at.
The first part of the brief "Illuminations" in which i had complete was an image analysis on two different advertisements. I didn't feel as if this essay was too difficult to complete despite the little time we had to complete. It was a nice easy opener to the brief and hopefully the easiness will not stop there!!


Image Analysis Exercise


The purpose of this citical analysis is to analyse two different advertisements, stating their target audience, differences and similarities and how the adverts come across in general. I will start this assignment by analysing the separate adverts then compare the two and finish with an evaluation of my findings.


Meadowhall Website



The first advert I studied was an internet webpage for Meadowhall Shopping centre. My first impressions from looking at the webpage was that it is predominantly targeted for young women as it stereotypes how people seem to see women. On page is an illustration of a young woman with shopping bags. The bags look as if they have been placed in the sun, as they bordered in a shiny yellow pattern. It could be argued that this was done to suggest that shopping is women’s sun. And the sun is often represented with happiness so by doing this its showing that shopping makes women most happy. The page is decorated with pink flowery décor, also another feminine trait. After further studying the website it came to my attention that the shopping centre sells more than just what women would find appealing, for example the centre sells from children’s toys to electrical and entertainment stores. With such a broad range of stores in the centre it would seem more sensible to aim the website to as many types of people as the store has to offer, because if a man visited the website, his initial thoughts would be that the website is a girls website full of information about clothes and shoes and such like. Another feminine feature in the website is the use of font. The font is curly and almost handwritten, although the directory is in bold type, almost to show that its more serious as the rest of the site. All in all the website would not appeal to men or children.

Absolut Vodka Poster



The second advert I examined was a poster advertisement for Absolut Vodka. My first impressions of the advert was that is was targeted for people interested in the “drinking scene”, perhaps people ranged from 18 to 25 year olds. After closer examination it came to my attention that the advert advertises three different types of vodka for three different moods. The three moods where a busy city at night, somewhere that looks like a posh Jazz bar, and a beach. The three moods are montaged together within the poster which is a clever technique to use as its broadening its audience with one advert instead of making three different adverts for the three different vodkas. With that in mind, the poster is widening its audience to appeal to everyone with one of them tastes in lifestyle. The poster is very modern and contemporary and with its bright colours and busy layout it makes the poster interesting and eye catching. The poster almost seems to be trying to sell you a lifestyle or a “good time”. I think this advert especially works well to target its audience because of the content and style of the poster.

Both the adverts are very different in relation to how they try and appeal to their audiences. The Meadowhall website is very limited as well as simple and stereotypical, where as the Absolut vodka has more to offer to a range of people and uses the three different moods cleverly to target more people of a different class.

After writing this assessment I’ve came to realise that within adverting, its about both content and style that makes an advertisement successful. Without the right content to appeal to all of the audience that the creator would hope for it will limit the attraction to the advertisement.