Distributors pie chart

Compare how media language is used in the construction of gender in two print advertisements for fragrances.

The two adverts I have chosen are fragrances by DIESEL and Katy Perry. The semiotics is the way something is interpreted. For example, within traffic lights red means stop, thus giving the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the physical object and the signified is the meaning behind it. This can also be linked to Barthes ideas of denotation (signifier) and connotation (signified). He was also interested in how signs come to have significance in their social and cultural context. In addition, terms like anchorage are used in an advertisement. This means it fixes the meaning and does not mean anything else. Intertextuality means some meanings are only understood with reference. Furthermore, terms such as patriarchy, meaning the belief of which people have the idea that men are above women in society, and objectification, meaning they downgrade someone to comparing and using them as objects, can be used. There are also ways to persuade their audiences such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos means the credibility demonstrated in the ad as it shows how credible we believe the product to be, usually done with celebrity endorsements. Pathos means the emotion appeal demonstrated in an advert, this can be shown through appealing to their audiences’ common emotions to bring them satisfaction from watching the advert.

The first print advert I have chosen is Katy Perry’s killer queen fragrance. I have chosen this ad as it demonstrates the idea of feminine dominance. This is denoted by the images of her costume being royal like due to her crown, red dress, and heels. The colour red denotes of blood, royalty, and fire and is associated with meanings of love, passion, desire, heat, longing, lust, romance, joy, strength, leadership, courage, willpower, rage, anger, danger, wrath, action, vibrancy, radiance, and determination.(This can also be seen on the product itself) This emphasizes the point of female power giving their audience the idea that you can become more dominant and independently powerful like a queen. In addition, the background of the print advert is shown to be in a posh/fancy room which can lead their audience to think it is a room in a palace or castle. The white and gold used can connote purity, innocence, and elegance as gold is an expensive colour to buy in things such as jewelry.  The Killer Queen advertising has a target audience of 12 to 30 aged women which may be aimed at the social classes of D, C2, and C1. This advertisement could have been printed in magazines, newspapers, brochures, bus stop signs and the images can be altered to make it a billboard. The key elements used in this advertisement are star power, scale, bandwagon, colour, and reward. Star power is used in this ad effectively as it features Katy Perry, one of the most famous faces on the planet now. They have altered her to give the impression that she is powerful and royal. This is designed to give you the feeling of empowerment if you wear this perfume. Another element used in this ad is scale. The product is placed in the foreground which enables the advertisers to show the product at a much bigger size – relative to Katy Perry who sits in the background. To show the 50ml bottle to scale would be ineffective as you would not be able to see it from a distance and you would not understand immediately what Katy Perry is trying to sell. This would defeat the purpose of the ad. Bandwagon is another element that sells this product well. Katy Perry is inviting you to “Own the throne” as she wants you to join her in wearing this fragrance. It is good enough for Katy, so you should have it too. Colour is a compelling element in this ad. The background is a mix of white and gold which makes her red outfit stand out. Your eyes are automatically drawn to her body and the perfume. Katy’s outfit is a strong reflection of the perfume bottle. Her crown represents the lid of the bottle, her dress is the colour in the bottle and her hair is the outline and shadowing on the bottle. The name of the perfume, “Killer Queen”, is symbolic of power. She has toppled the king – his crown is on the floor – and is a symbol of female power, and when you wear this perfume, you will be a powerful female too. In addition to the name, the font used for the perfume’s name is in a calligraphy type font to show its royal side and which can also be interpreted to being personal to you as we can associate this kind of writing from a formal letter.

The other print advert I have decided to use is DIESEL’s “Only the brave” fragrance. Starting off, the overall look of the print is monochrome with the touch of blue presented by the product itself to stand out on the advert. The male model in the background reinforces the saying by having a very strong, masculine and dominant look, which is what the company, Diesel, most likely aimed for. The fragrance itself is in the shape of a fist connoting the idea of violence and strength. This is also projected through the edit of illuminating the fist of the model. As you can see the bottle and the model’s fist can resemble one another as the placement of the 2-finger-rings are placed on the same hand and fingers. This can show that he has the same strength and masculinity as what the fragrance will give you. The appeal of reward can affect their target audience due to their suggested demographics and psychographics. For this advert, the demographics are for those aged 25 to 35 of the male gender more dominantly of the sexual orientation of heterosexuality. In addition the ideal income and will agree with the following if they have had a middle rated income on average due to a particular age group, thus belonging to a social group of D, C1, and C2. Furthermore, their psychographics will be compatible with the ideals of having a mainstream lifestyle, a popular religion such as Christianity, a general sense of taste such as music, for example RnB and suggested to have a more laid-back personality that would like to get the job done within their profession as the character on the print advert seems to look laid-back yet serious and proud of themselves. Overall, this will promote the idea that due to their backgrounds etc they would want to seek out the product to have the feeling of joy from consumerism as it is a well-known brand with hinted potential rewards. The camera angle is on a slight tilt looking up at the model to connote the idea of dominance to seem more powerful to the viewer. In addition, the lighting seems to be minimal and illuminates behind the model to make the look almost holy as that is the only source of light coming from behind. The font on the ad is all in a bold, black font that is all in capital letters. This emphasizes the audience to look at the writing as it can almost be screaming in your face to catch your attention. Secondly, the writing saying ‘ONLY THE BRAVE’ is in a more noticeable state where it looks almost graffitied on. This can signify the idea of being rough and a rebel as spray paint on walls etc is seen to be vandalism and a disruption to society. This print advert, however, demonstrates the more rough and acceptable side of buying the product as you can aspire to become the model on the front who is masculine and attractive to the eye.

In conclusion, the comparisons between both print adverts can be similar but different due to their target audiences such as gender. The Katy Perry one being aimed at women and the DIESEL one being aimed at men. Both adverts, however, consist the idea of empowering their audience through dominance and becoming more serious as well as control as well as appealing through reward and aiming at the social groups of D, C1, and C2. The differences in both are also seen as in the DIESEL advert the overall colour scheme is black and white with a hint of blue whereas the Katy Perry on is a mix of red, gold and white. Both being successful and establishing their target audiences wisely, they have become memorable and iconic within their brands, thus creating an image for themselves.

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