Social Success Or Material Rewards Essay, Research Paper

Social Success or Material Rewards

As Jack Solomon tells us in ?Master?s of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising? everyone in America wants to attain the ?American dream.? I ask myself, however, is this a dream of equality, or rather a bettering of one?s self to become a greater individual who may rise above the crowd. Whatever the case, advertisers manipulate each person into desiring this infamous dream. They do this by giving value to our insecurities and by giving us a sense of acceptance if we buy their products. Whether it is our hope, our fears, and our desires or beliefs, all play a part in determing who advertisers target. Advertisers include and exclude.

When comparing two advertisements we must take some things into consideration, one such as living in a nation of fantasy. Some think we live in this type of environment today I suppose. In fact, I believe people prefer sign to substance, both men and women alike. Take an ad of Virginia Slims for example: it presents a young, vibrant woman with a beautiful smile receiving a dozen red roses from a good looking man. She is flirting, laughing, and it truly looks like she is having a good time. For some women this is a fantasy. The advertiser is trying to produce an image every woman wants to be when she is smoking. While women want to look sexy, men also share this point of view. An ad selling Parliament Lights pictures a woman in a white, pure looking dress walking casually up the winding stair case of a castle. The man, who is smoking this time, is gazing into the woman?s eyes, while holding her hand, and is following her up stairs. Like the Virginia Slims ad, this ad provides a fantasy for men this time. Advertisers provide these smart ads for a wide range of buyers.

Every ad has to have the right setting to pull the story of the picture together. In the setting of the Virginia Slims ad, a soft, gray background lets the woman stand out in the illustration while receiving the expensive roses in her sexy looking dress. This type of setting suggests more of an elitist approach to the ad. The woman is obviously both special and unique to receive the gift of roses. Although the Virginia Slims ad is eye catching, the Parliament Lights ad includes a few extra components to its setting. For example the ?story? takes place in a castle which is surrounded by a relaxing blue water, and both details bring purity and elegance to smoking. This type of effect not only provides a fantasy for a man, but also a sense of paradise, an elitist approach. The two individuals definitly portray a belonging to the upper class.

Sex sells because it never fails as an attention getter. In the Virginia Slims ad the woman is perfect, her teeth are straight and white, she has a flawless complexion, and a great figure. That is why she is wearing such a bare dress. Women want to look like this to attract to the opposite sex. There is only a side view of the man giving her roses, but he as well demonstrates the same qualities. The two in the picture look like they are meant for each other, what a surprise! I found there are more sexual clues in the Parliament Lights ad though. The ad shows both of the character?s whole bodies instead of just the top half as does the Virginia Slim?s ad. The man who is smoking is only wearing his pants, while the woman is wearing a considerably tight dress with high heals. Not the kind of outfit you would expect on an everyday stroll. What really gives the clue is that the woman is walking up the stairs to her castle with the man following closely behind. What do they really mean by the ?Perfect Recess??

Photographic techniques are very important to the ads themselves because they actually provide the illusion that allures the reader to visualize the story of the ad. The techniques differ considerably between the two advertisements. In the Virginia slims ad, the photo of the woman is an up-close shot, her body is facing the front, while her head is slightly turned towards the man. Also, the background lighting is subdued producing the effect that the woman is the center of attention. While the Virginia Slim?s ad produced a zoomed in picture of the couple, Parliament Lights wanted the reader to visualize paradise with more of a background setting. The blue water is very calming, and is eye catching against the white castle. The reader that looks at this ad relates their fantasy of smoking with a place.

It?s true that a picture can act as thousand words, but where is the persuasion without them. The slogan for Virginia Slims states: ?It?s a woman thing.? That grabs the woman?s attention right away. It gives them a sense of belonging to a group, if they smoke they are accepted. The ad also has a caption to go along with the photograph. It states: ?Just because we laugh at your stories doesn?t mean we believe ?em for a second.?

This quotation fits the picture perfectly. You can just tell by the woman?s look in her eyes she is thinking that very thing. The Parliament Lights advertisement doesn?t have a quotation, but it does have a persuasive slogan: ?The Perfect Recess.? How perfect, smoking upon the grasp of a woman on an ocean of perfection. This slogan while having sexual implications, seems more geared to the upper class: it provides a reality that only status can obtain.

I found it very disheartening because in the Virginia Slims ad: (the one geared more towards a woman) the surgeon general warning states: ?Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health.? While the Parliament Lights ad: (geared more towards a man) the surgeon general warning states: ?Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight.? It?s fairly scary when even a warning to your health and well being can be altered to fit each consumer.

Advertising in America uses the everyday person to make them feel better about themselves to buy a product. They provide the best looking models, in settings that people fantasize about to do this. Advertisers have it easy to prey on one?s desires because they know no one can ever attain as much as they desire. Advertising appeals to our subconscious emotions also. Deep down everyone has the secret desire for social success or material rewards. Advertisers leave the door open for this desire and we will always walk into the traps.

Solomon, Jack. ?Master?s of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising.? Writing Lives: Exploring Literacy and Community. Ed. Sara Garnes, et al. New York: St. Martin?s, 1996. 328-41.