A shirtless young man stares out past the camera as if he is looking at the logo above his head. He needlessly clings to the rock to further accentuate his impressive body structure. The logo above his head reads “DOLCE & GABBANA” in a bold semi-transparent font. A small bottle of something is juxtaposed to his left. It is the item they are trying to sell, a sports cologne. This advertisement is very effective because of the use of ethos and pathos. Although those two parts are heavily used in this ad, logos is not present as much. Even with that being said many people are going to buy this particular cologne based on ethos and pathos. This is true because Dolce and Gabbana is a very well-known company, which plays a huge part in ethos with credibility and authority. Pathos is also used heavily with people wanting to look like that or women wanting their men to look like that; this makes the reader believe that if they wear this cologne women will be more attracted to them, and that they, too, can look as good as the model in the ad.
This advertisement was featured in Muscle & Fitness magazine. This particular magazine is aimed towards classy young to middle-aged men who are professionals. This can be seen through the contents in the magazine. The magazine has lots of ads that are of watches, cologne, and nice cars. With that being said we do not believe that this magazine is geared toward younger teenage men because of what ads, pictures and articles in the magazine. With that being said this ad would sell very well in this magazine because middle-aged men are always trying to feel younger, and with this product being a sports cologne they may feel more athletic wearing it, in turn feeling younger.
Although the cologne ad uses a stronger appeal in the other areas, it is very weak in the use of logos. In the ad there is a middle-aged fit and shirtless man posing for a newly released men’s cologne. This ad is highly ineffective to consumers who need valid statements or statistics to sell them a product. The ad gives a product next to a man who would be attractive to the opposite gender. Therefore, selling sex alongside of the cologne increases sales. However, a person who uses logic or intellect would find this ad to be useless because they do not connect attractiveness as a solid reason to purchase a product. What would make this appealing to those consumers? For logic consumers they find data, graphs, and statistics extremely attractive instead of a physically fit model that the advertisers use in this particular ad.
The ad does promise bona fide evidence of what it can offer the consumer. The main focus is just the model himself. As the ad tries to convey a series of messages, one would be that if a consumer purchased this product then the recipient of the product would smell like the model. Therefore, the consumer can “feel” attractive because the model who wears it is attractive. Not only is that one of the reasons used to purchase the product, but another reason used could be a woman or man can find equally appealing mate if they can find the person who wears that product. Hence neither of these options fit an intelligent thinker, as the ad does not rely on logos to appeal to consumers. The only way that logos could be seen could be that because it is a sports cologne wearing it could make you more athletic, but readers would not see this very well. Therefore, logos is not in this ad very much if at all.
This ad is packed full of ethos, from top to bottom. The most obvious example is the fine gentleman who is featured in this ad. Though shiny, his body appears to be without sweat despite being in the warm sun. His pants are clean and dry even with all of the rock climbing and beach frolicking the reader can assume has taken place prior to his decision to pose. He lacks any hair on his body aside from the well-groomed bit of hair on his head. In short, he looks clean, well taken care of and most of all he looks like he smells nice. This is very important considering that cologne is being advertised. Even though the reader has no idea if he is actually an expert on smell or cologne he sure looks like someone who would smell good. Furthermore he is handsome, he clearly takes good care of himself. Men who take good care of themselves tend to know the best products so having a handsome man who takes care of himself in the ad indicates that the product is the best of its kind. Furthermore, having the name of the maker in bold at the top of the ad is another form of ethos. The fact that Dolce and Gabbana has managed to establish a brand serves as proof that their product must be pretty good.
In the Dolce & Gabbana ad the author attracts the reader’s attention first of all by using an attractive looking middle-aged man. The advertisers are marketing this ad at more of classy middle-aged men and attract the reader emotionally in a few ways. When looking at this ad the first thing that comes to mind is: “I wear this cologne that I will not only smell good, but I will feel like I look a lot better as well.” This could help someone’s confidence and mental image of themselves. The advertiser appeals to the reader by suggesting that if a man smells good it can boost his overall appearance and essentially make him feel a lot better about himself as well. The Dolce and Gabbana ad appeals to females as well by showing a good looking guy and if they smell a guy with this particular cologne on that they would be attracted to them in a way.
The author using a good looking guy to establish the sense of looking good and smelling good go hand "in" hand and they both play a big role in having an attractive appearance. The intended audience will react to this ad in a positive way. This ad is directed more towards younger men starting in their late twenties to middle-aged men who are classy instead of older men. The audience would look at the men in the ad and think that only good-looking men who are trying to be classy or to be attractive to women would use this product. Dolce and Gabbana uses this ad to appeal to girls’ senses as well, causing guys to think that girls think that the man in the ad is attractive and that if they wear the cologne that the women might think the same about them as well. The advertiser can qualify the claim that smelling good has a role to play in looking good and if girls find the man in the ad attractive, they may find the reader attractive as well because of the cologne. Smelling good and looking good may go hand in hand and will make a man a more attractive to the opposite sex.
The man looks like he smells good and looks like he'd know a lot about smelling good. This makes the ad very effective through its use of ethos and pathos, which is good because the ad does not have any logos appeal. A consumer could definitely be swayed by this ad, especially if they are the target audience.