HOW TO ANALYSE AND CREATE AN ADVERT ? S.

Pépin, Lycée Armorin

Our ad is for a ....... It shows ... / There is .... We think it gives / conveys the feeling that ...
- advertising ( in general) : technique ...
- a commercial = an advertisment (US+ UK )= an advert = an ad - a product / to produce
- the advertiser - a brand
- the target audience - a label
- a slogan, a catch phrase - a firm
- a poster
- false advertising / bait and switch
- a box ( un encadré) → a boxed text / picture

• see “Describe and analyse a picture” p 264 + 265

copy the vocabulary to situate things / people / the text in the picture ( mind the prepositions : write them in red)

• Advertising techniques
Here are the techniques that make an advert efficient / effective ( efficiency /effectiveness)
(According) to me, this advert is (not) efficient /effective because ...

1) The colours : What are the dominant colours ? Why ?*

- a one-colour background to make the product stand out.
a unicolour highlight the product Here are the techniques that make an advert efficient / effective

- 2-3 matching colours max *to remain focused on the product (not too much information)
stay remind of the brand’s logo
fit in with/ correspond to the target audience (gender attrituded colours)
create a nice harmonious picture.

- either ( ou /soit) primary/flashy colours *to get attention,

or ( ou /soit) classy ( black, gold, silver, white) *to identify with wealth, class and power.

2) The text
- one catchy message, sometimes or shocking ( to create a controverse, a buzz)
- very few** things written, in capital(ised) or large letters ( ≠ lower case letters)
different fonts
different types ( bold, italics )
( **grammar point + ex p 203)

3) The layout (la mise en page)

- vertical or horizontal ? *generally like the product
- symetrical layout ( the brain unconsciously prefers symetry ) = *stability → reassuring
- the eye is supposed to be attracted by the upper middle line : slogan and / or unconscious selling messages.
- centered (US) text, generally written - at the top,
centred (GB) - as a side line, mostly on the left *- to let the product in the middle
- because of the reading direction
-sometimes in the middle *to higlight the message
- What are the dominant shapes ? ( round / long and thin / square // product)

• What is the common point between these adverts ?

They all present women in sexually suggestive attitudes or clothing : they are used as sexual objects of desire
considered as
OR / And are very gender stereotyped, perpetuating that women are the ones supposed to do the housework or obey their
husbands or men in general. Nowadays /Today what was normal at the time ( à l’époque) is acceptable not anymore. (ne plus)
(De nos jours)
• Word box
skin, arm, shoulder, hand, wrist, fingers, thumb,nails ...
face, forehead, ears, neck, throat, hair ( singular) / eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes / mouth, lips, teeth, tongue
dress, neckline (décolleté), top