Dana
Averill
English 115 October 24, 2013

Compare and Contrast Advertisements
It’s no surprise that if you want to sell something in todays world, no matter what it is, you often have to put it out there, show it off to people, and well advertise it. The advertising industry is one of the top grossing industries in the world. The fact is that in this modern technology era we live in there are over 1 trillion pages of advertising on the internet alone, according to author Rachel Bauer, that’s about 417 pages per person. Seems insane but when someone really sits down to think about it it’s really not, there are ads everywhere these days. Ads for cologne, make-up, taxes, therapy, reality TV, and politicians you name it. Anything and everything that wants to create and keep a name for itself has to invest in some sort of advertising. Look around you, look around your kitchen and in your fridge, why did you go out and buy that yummy cereal you ate this morning, is it because you just happened upon it and thought it looked good or because the cute little girl on the commercial told you it was “heart-healthy “and because she said it about 3 times in 20 seconds. I believe it’s the second one advertising is everywhere in homes, on the television, on the radio, on buses and benches, in our magazines, everywhere. What we never pay attention to is how things are actually advertised to us.
Nothing in advertising is accidental, much like a favorite show there was something about it that either caught your eye or made you relate to it somehow to keep you watching. Well advertising is just like this, ads are targeted and marketed to certain types of people based on their race, age, sex, gender, and even class. Advertisements can even play on what they think the audience what’s to be like, feel like, and look like. Often time’s advertisers will place an ad in a certain magazine or on a certain television channel to appeal to a specific audience. An ad in one magazine for a makeup company for the single product can be advertised in another magazine targeted to a different audience in a totally different light, because the audience has changed so has the ad. To compare and contrast two ads from the same company likely advertising the same products can shed light on how powerful ads are and how they are used to specially make certain people feel and react a certain way.

To start off my research of comparing and contrasting I looked in two very different magazines, the first was an African American marketed magazine called Ebony, the other a more Rock N Roll scene magazine called The Rolling Stone which was notorious for having big name celebrity singer songwriters on their covers. The ad I chose popped up right away both ads seemingly very similar were from the same make up company called Cover Girl cosmetics. Cover Girl is a large makeup company that puts out many advertisments with big female celebrities. The first magazine is called Ebony. Ebony magazine is posed for the African American crowd, many black politicians and celebrities have graced the cover of this well known magazine making it one of the most popular magazines among black readers. This particular ad from ebony magazine by CoverGirl features full faced celebrity Queen Latifah. The ad places queen Latifah in the forefront centering the whole ad, she is the only person in the whole ad and it is just her headshot. The ad as a whole gives off a very warm and girly feeling to it, the background is pick and the writing is in skinny font, reading “ for soft lips, it’s the balm” and at the bottom reads “ because every women is a queen”. The model, Queen Latifah is wearing a red shirt and her makeup is extremely subtle and soft neutral color makeup with slightly tinted glossy lips with slight bronze eye makeup. This advertisement is suggesting more simple and elegant woman. While in other magazine, Rolling Stone, which is a magazine that tries to appeal to the younger pop culture invested audience. Rolling stone is a magazine famous for its musical coverage and focus on the popular culture events and people. The ad is this magazine although is laid out quite similar can be said to be the polar opposite. In the ad CoverGirl gives the page to the more edgy, rock n roll singer Pink. In this ad the model pink is the main focus with just her headshot and the upper half of the upper showing. The back ground of this ad is a light greenish color with the words CoverGirl written in bold straight across the top, across the bottom slanted font are the words “ blast your volume !” also written in bold green font to give off an edgy feel. The model, Pink, in this ad has very dramatic makeup, the eyes are shaped to have a flare and colored with black and silver makeup and heavy eyeliner, with extravagant eyelashes. He model is looking away from the camera instead of at it with her lips slightly open in a gritty sort of way. In the ad the model is holding in her right hand a black microphone with black leather gloves on, close to her face, in her left hand is what looks like is supposed to be the microphone cord but can easily be mistaken for a leather whip placed close to her mouth. She is wearing a low cut black top without any sleeves to give off an edgy feel.

When putting these two cover girl ads together, many things pop out as similar and many things present themselves to be different. When comparing and contrasting the two advertisements I looked at which magazine each ad came out of, the person chosen to be in the ad, what the ad is selling and more. To compare both ads are obviously for cover girl makeup line. The ads both present a mostly shoulders up shot of the models face. Both advertisements have celebrities and contain big letters telling you about the product. The contrast in this area is what the letters say and how they are presented, in Queen Latifah advertisement the letters are softer and the phrase "because every women is a queen " is there to make you feel mature and beautiful perhaps pertaining to a more reserved older audience where as In the Pink article the words are bold and green, almost shouting at you from the paper with words like "blast your lashes ". This is the opposite of the Queen Latifah advertisement showing that the audience intended to reach are different age group and different social groups.

In conclusion, the ads both are trying to convey only to certain audiences, I believe the Queen Latifah ad is put out towards a wealthier black community of women who want to be, look, and act sophisticated. Where as in the Pink advertisement I believe it is towards a much younger audience whom wants to be bold, dramatic and out there rather than shuttle and reserved. The pink ad can be said to be pushing towards a whiter crowd by the placement of the ad in a rock n roll magazine with a rock n roll singer as the cover. The advertisement industry wants nothing more than for us to buy, buy and buy again. They will research and push whatever it is they think we want to see so they can sell us on a product. In the case of these two advertisements I think that was just what they did, the crowd that they want to reach has been reached with them. The queen latifah ad makes you want to be a beautiful black women and the lipstick will certainly get you there. The Pink ad makes you want to go out, party and look bold and fierce doing it! The ads in my opinion worked and were placed in just the right places to reach just the right audience.