Bait And Switch
Bait and switch?
The bias of advertising has existed as long as advertising has. Advertising is the art of applying bias to sell. It is the designed to make something attractive, to make something desired, or needed through the act of creating simple psychological games. The creation of fallacies to stimulate a sense of need is the very foundation of advertising. The pseudo logical appeal to emotion presented in such ads stimulates us to buy things like soft drinks, of which none admit to their product as being merely carbonated sugar water, in doing so they create an image, an image we are told is an ideal. (Cline 1) To this extent the biases used to sell to men and women have proven themselves to be as different as the genders. After an analysis of recent advertisements in both Cosmo and Maxim, two respected men's and women's magazines, it can be seen that while similar base techniques are used they are uniquely targeted. Thus proving the age old adage of advertising, know you're audience. You will see that those targeted at men tend to gravitate towards power, individualism, and ownership. Those targeted at women on the other hand tend towards belonging, empowerment, and a sense of freedom. However both are filled with a sense of control and sexuality.
The first of the ads that I would like to review is from Cosmopolitan by Bacardi entitled "Bacardi by night". In the ad we see a business woman, elegant, dark lipstick, in good shape, standing in a sexual yet relaxed posture. The peg line "Buttoned up by day, Bacardi by night" (Cosmo 121) straddles the woman's midriff, her shirt of a professional cut is unbuttoned almost completely hinting at the sexuality underneath breaking free and cutting loose and yet having an aire of living a greater life than the consumer. Not only does this show a strong appeal to emotion in sexual desire, vanity, as well as empowerment or control, by showing a woman who we could easily see dominating her field...
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