Polished Second Essay (ads)

Sarah Hamal

Begert English 101

Advertisement Analysis

Practical Products

Starting from the time we are born, to until we are through college for some, we highly depend on our mothers in our life time. Whether conscious or not, moms do small things throughout the day that all combine into one big picture that often times we cannot see. This is basically the job of a mother figure. Keep everything on track, with as little time and attention to the smaller things. Most people focus on the big picture, which is making it through the day, taking care of one’s self, and, in the case of these moms, their offspring as well. This influence on young lives is often times brought to light in the transition of leaving childhood, and becoming an adult. During this time in our lives, we truly realize that we must time manage on our own, to do daily tasks. One of those somewhat irrelevant and commonly overlooked tasks is the time women find to put into their own hair, and or its general appearance.  Personally, waking up in the morning, (keeping in mind how much I don’t want to), I analyze every step I will take to get ready that morning and approximately how long it will take me to do so. Being that I only worry about myself, the amount of effort I put into my look for the day is up to me. I do not have to think about getting my child ready for school, I do not worry about presenting myself at work, nothing. I worry about how much sleep I can possibly get. Keeping that in mind, it is very easy to spot the angle that an advertisement would approach women from, now a days. There is an illusion that all women actually care about is the opinion of a man, but in reality she considers how much time she can actually spend on herself at that time. Out of the ads that I have analyzed, one common theme has occurred. Advertisements strategically target women in these ads by offering products that will supposedly save valued time.

Although these ads are different brands of hair product, the ad still is doing its job in a similar way. The Suave ad, and the dry shampoo ad were very similar in concept. The Suave ad really draws the eye with a large picture of a woman’s head, with an even large stack of dirty dishes on top of it.  To me, this represents the big picture that the women’s hair in fact, is replaced with dishes, and therefor she does not care about is appearance, but instead she cares about getting done what she must get done in one day. Or, maybe the time she does have for her hair is preferred as minimal, the stats in this ad would still it the bill. The advertisement directly targets any women who feels that they spend a lot of time on tasks such as dishes or laundry, in return making them question the time they put into their hair. This ad; along with the 1970’s dry shampoo ad, both suggest that the busy mother do not sacrifice time from her day on her own hair. Or in other words, represents that a mother figure just simply would spend less time if any on themselves.

In contrast to the theme of advertising by saying,” spend less time here and you get more time for said task!” This ad draws readers in a different way. By painting a picture of a possible example of a ”girl(s) you hate”, this draws a readers eye in a different way. By giving this young thin girl, pretty blonde hair with nice curls, she seems to be the spokesperson of jealousy in this sun-in-hair-treatments world. In one way or another the girl in this ad is looking at you in a way that suggests that people would hate her for her great hair and polished features. The ad specifically suggests that you can simply “Stop hating them. Start being them.” Whoever the “them” they are referring to is, must look like this girl does. At least that is what w are lead to assume. When you use this amazing Sun in product, etc. Although this ad successfully paints the image of what an American woman may wish to be, current ads can clearly also connect with an audience and sell a lot of product. By being honest in the way they are trying to target the bustling mother or other young woman's busy lifestyle. One that doesn’t necessarily involve any large amount of time spent on worrying about what others may think of them, or what they may look like.

In this instant shampoo ad, conceptually it is very similar to the Suave ad. The hidden picture is communicating the idea that this shampoo may take just as little time as it does to say the name; “Psssst!” Here you can see the same exact text, side by side. It shows one message in two pictures. The (Psssst!) Dry Shampoo ad reads “Between shampoos my hair starts feeling dirty and stringy and I get very depressed. I feel ugly. So I handle the problem this simple way. It’s quick. It’s easy. It doesn’t get my hair all wet. Now I never have to worry about my hair not looking clean and shiny.” This ad is almost comical, yet very efficient in delivering the main idea of the product. Side by side a women who is smiling and holding what seems to be an unnamed beauty product, is right next to a figure with a bag on their head, but the same message to follow. This image brings the comedy, because the reality and thought of someone actually trying to solve a problem by putting a bag on their head, quickly becomes unrealistic. Whether it be suggesting that putting a bag over your head would in fact take the same amount of time as it would to use this product. The next thing that is appealing to the eye, is the brand name “Psssst!”, this draws my eye towards the ad in the sense that there is some sort of great secret to be told about this product.

Over many decades it is obvious, and easy to see how each and every advertisement has evolved. Evolving not only in the way that they change, but by using and re-using techniques that have always worked the best. Starting anywhere from way back in the 1970’s, to modern day we can see the effort women do and always have put into presenting themselves; either to the world, or a man. The difference really is in the audience they approach and how. These ads were an example of just how precisely one could draw in a busy woman, with all her added needs, and really target and provide for her something that works with her lifestyle. With this new way to reach women, comes a great new importance to maintain this audience; being that it has opened the window to what we now call a very large, very successful hair product industry.