Everything You Always Wanted From A Stylist
In my opinion, Advertisements
today focus more on selling an image than a product. Sometimes it
is even hard to tell what is being sold in the advertisement. Some
companies feel that showing images of beautiful women will better sell
their product than showing the actual product itself. Not only do
advertisements like these sell their product by showing pretty pictures,
but they also try to lure us in by giving the idea of a better life, or
a stronger, happier, more confident personality if we should buy their
product. When looked at closely enough, we may see that advertisements
can sometimes contradict themselves. The reason for this is probably
so that they can reach a more wide spread audience. If the advertisement
shows two different angles, then it will attract two different groups of
people.
Imagine a picture
of a young woman with short blonde hair cut into a modern style and gelled
to give it that extra shine. She is independent, sexy and confident.
She has a pale face, so she wears glossy red lipstick and black eyeliner
to bring out her facial features. She stands with her arms folded
accentuating her muscular biceps. Her right arm is raised to her
neck so that her thumb is resting on her bottom lip, and her fingers are
just below her chin. She is dressed in a sleeveless white shirt with
gold sequins, and she looks like she is on her way to a party. This
is an advertisement for L.A.Looks Pro Styling hair gel.
Off to the left of the advertisement,
there is a small picture of the L.A.Looks Pro Styling gel product.
The reason it is smaller in proportion with the woman is probably because
the woman is more important in selling the product. When one looks
at an advertisement, they are more inclined to be drawn to a pretty face
than a bottle of styling gel.
The image of the woman being portrayed in this advertisement is a sign
of our culture and it’s values because of the idea being portrayed of a
strong, independent, sassy woman. She is also a sign of our culture
because she is the image of what most American women strive to be: beautiful
and athletically fit. She is not wearing any jewelry, which could
indicate that she does not have a boyfriend or a husband supporting her.
Often when we see jewelry, we assume that it was a gift from someone, usually
a man, because people do not usually buy jewelry for themselves.
The woman in the advertisement is also not wearing any nail polish, which
could indicate that she does not even have enough time to bother with painting
her nails. She has well defined muscles in her arms, which also could
be a sign of hard work and success, based on Stuart Ewen’s essay “Hard
Bodies”.
In the essay, Ewen explains how our bodies themselves can be signs of cultural
desire. Ewen says, “The hard shell is now a sign of achievement, visible
proof of success in the ‘rat race.’ ” He goes on to say that hard, muscular
bodies symbolize industrial products because they can be “built” by going
to the gym every day (Ewen 82). Relating to the L.A.Looks Pro Styling
advertisement, the woman’s muscles indicate that she is a successful woman.
Another thing that is worth mentioning is the length of her hair.
It is not the typical long hair you see in most hair product advertisements.
It is short, which can also be an indicator of a working woman. Most
of the time, we associate working professionals with shorter hair.
Having long hair is too much of a hassle for people “on the go”.
The words displayed in the advertisement coincide with the picture, and
are also important when analyzing the ad.
In the center of the picture the words “Everything you always wanted from
a stylist. Except the high price, the gossip and the appointment,”
are displayed in a white font with a red background. This indicates
that women can achieve the same look they receive from an appointment with
their stylist, simply by using this product. Surely this saves time
and money, which is very important for hard working, successful women who
lack the time it takes to go to a hair stylist.
Red is one of the two main colors used in the advertisement. It is
a ferocious, daring color, which coincides with the look on the woman’s
face. Red is also a color associated with sex appeal, which is one
of the most common methods used in advertising. Gold, the other of
the two main colors, obviously is a color of success and wealth.
However, if you look at it from a different angle, the woman’s skin almost
looks like it is gold. The texture of gold is not very strong at
all, so the fact that the girl almost looks like she is made out of gold
could symbolize that she is not as strong as she appears to be. In fact,
the woman in the advertisement might symbolically be the jewel, which could
be the reason that she is not wearing jewelry. At this angle, the
advertisement might appeal more to timid, passive women who like to be
supported by men and put on a pedestal.
Red and gold are bold, bright colors, so they could easily grab one’s attention.
Also, the gold blends really well with her shiny, blonde hair. There
are a lot of shadows in the advertisement, most of which are on the girl’s
body. This helps to accentuate her head, which is very bright and
unhidden by shadows, and draw attention to her beautiful hair.
At the bottom of the advertisement, there is a slight description of the
product claiming that no matter what type of hair you have, their product
is what you are looking for. They do not want to single anyone out
because they want everyone to buy their product, no matter what type of
hair they have. At the end of the description they have included
the slogan: “It takes strength to look this good.” This is a direct
relation to the muscular arms of the woman mentioned earlier.
The advertisement, in my opinion, is a successful one because it grabs
the attention of the viewer, which lures them in to look closer.
When they look closer, the image of the woman appeals to them causing them
to want to look like, or even to be her. Obviously the only way for
them to become like this woman is to use L.A.Looks Pro Styling hair gel
– and the product is sold.
Works Cited
Ewen, Stuart. “Hard Bodies.” Signs of Life in the USA. Third Edition.
Boston: Bedford / St.
Martin’s, 2000.
80-85.