John Ross, Ian Rowland, Nadiah Mohamed-Azmi, Caleb Mihalik
Blog analysis
In this ad for Elite Rent Luxury Car Rental service, we see a number of things. Moving from top to bottom, we see the bottom half of a woman. Next to her are the words “Get There Faster”. One can also see that the woman is wearing a black leather jacket, red undergarments, red leggings, and red high heels. The very bottom of the ad shows a pair of Porsche keys with the company name on them. The whole ad is back dropped with more red. One can also see that the heels of the high heels have stripes on them, as do the leggings.
Let’s start by looking at the colors. The main color in this ad is obviously red, as seen by the woman’s leggings, shoes, undergarments, the Porsche keys, and the background. But what does red mean? Well, it means a lot of things, for instance red is often considered the color of love and passion. It is also often associated in the car industry as a flashy or powerful color and is known for drawing attention. So, in a subconscious sort of way, this ad could be saying that by purchasing from them, you will find passion, be powerful, or draw attention, possibly from the other sex, while driving their rental cars. Also, the keychain at the bottom with the company name on it is gold, which is often associated with opulence and wealth, thus possibly saying that people who drive these cars are wealthy.
One feature of the ad that stuck out to us the most were the words at the top of the ad that read, “Get There Faster”. At first we figured that they were trying to say that the cars they rent out are faster than other cars, which makes sense because they have a Porsche key at the bottom, which is a notoriously fast car. However, after reevaluating the ad, we noticed the stripping on the back of the woman’s leggings. The stripes appeared to resemble the dividing lines one would find on any given road. If one looked at the woman’s leggings as if they were a road, the ad could be implying that when the ad says “Get There Faster” they really mean getting to the woman’s undergarments faster, thus adding a sexual component to the ad.
Another question that came to our mind was why the ad chose a female model instead of a male model. A reason they might have made this decision is because a car rental service that deals with sports cars like Porsches, tend to cater towards men more than woman. Because of this a man seeing this ad is more likely to be sexually attracted to a female model than a male model. Thus by putting a woman in the ad, a woman who is sexually posed no less, the ad is more likely to attract men to it. It could also imply that by driving one of their rental cars, a man has a chance to attract a woman who looks like the model.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think sex actually does sell? Do you think sex sells more for men or for women? How would the ad be different if the female model were fully clothed instead of in her undergarments?
2. Why do you think the ad does not show the woman’s top half? Why do you think the ad has the woman posed in the way she is? How would the ad be different if it was a male model instead of a female model?
3. What did you find interesting about the colors chosen for the ad? Do you think the stripes on the woman’s clothing mean something other than earlier stated? Do you think the fact that she is wearing a black jacket significant?
The woman’s upper body features are not fully pictured in the ad, and their mysterious absence is embodied by the black jacket she wears. This sense of mystery within the woman can be said to contribute to her overall sexual appeal within the ad. As the eyes move down, however, they notice that the black mystery jacket is actually somewhat provocative in the sense that is reveals the skin on the woman’s lower back. This contradiction indicates that the rest of the woman’s body is not as mysterious as her upper half is being kept.
ReplyDeleteAs one continues to gaze down the ad, they notice that the woman is wearing translucent red stockings, accompanied by a revealing pair of red underwear and a pair of tall, red and white high heel shoes. The color red often is associated with intense love and sexual passion, and this is contextualized in the ad by the woman’s scarce red clothing and provocative pose. The woman’s red clothing seems to scream for attention, which implies that the lower half of her body is to be accentuated in contrast to her mysterious upper half, adorned in black.
The woman’s lower half is the primary focus of attention for a reason. As one finishes scanning the ad from top to bottom, the stripes on her shoes revert the eyes upward and back to her legs, which are symbolized by the lines in her tights as literal roadways to be explored. Following these roadways leads to desirable results as the eye travels back up the woman’s legs to focus on her partially exposed behind. The words “Get There Faster” are printed directly to the right. This encourages customers to rent a car in order to travel quickly and pleasantly to exciting destinations.
Primarily, the red and black color scheme is used to contribute to the sex appeal of the ad. However, it can also be viewed in relation to the actual product being advertised. The company rents fast, luxurious cars to its customers. In this sense, the dominant color red also can represent a wild passion for speed that potential customers possess. The limited use of black may represent the small thrill of danger that coincides with fast driving. The glittering gold keychain indicates the luxury status of the cars being advertised. Gold may also be interpreted as an added touch of class within the overall sex appeal of the advertisement. This element could make the product equally appealing to women who take pride in looking sexy, and who want to drive a car that will complement that sexiness.
The key selling point for the ad is the promise of a fast car, while the sex appeal serves to attract initial attention from a male-oriented target market. The dominant text that reads “Get There Faster” is printed in white, which is generally a neutral color. The words “Luxury Car Rental” below it are also printed in white, indicating function of the company. The fact that both of these texts are printed in white shows that they similarly hold value to the actual product, not just to the sex appeal of the ad.
The woman’s red and white striped heels are the foundation on which she stands. The heels of the woman’s shoes also represent solid foundation for the advertisement. Colored stripes illustrate the necessary balance and distinction between its two main components; sex appeal (red) and literal meaning in regards to the product (white). Both are necessary components in creating the desired effect of the advertisement. The sex appeal stimulates interest, but without the proper information regarding the product, the ad would be virtually useless both to the consumer and to the company.
I think ads with sex references are more likely to draw the attention of viewers, which in turn gets them to look at the ad more closely. You're more likely to notice a half-naked women in lingerie than a housewife in a sweater. I think men notice ads with attractive women in them more than women notice ads with attractive men in them. Men are more visual people and a women wearing hardly any clothes will attract their attention. I think this ad wouldn't have gained nearly as much attention if the women was fully clothed. The viewer's eye is drawn from her underwear down her long legs and then finally to the company's logo in the right bottom corner. This ad's sexual appeal makes it more noticeable and also makes men have a second thought about renting one of those cars.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to say whether sex sells or not. To be honest, how can one remember what the ad is about when distracted by something sexual, like a women in red undergarments who's behind is facing you? The product placement is also very small compared to the woman, causing it to get lost in all the red. Yet this ad is more of an attention grabber than say an ad with just the logo of the company or a woman fully clothed. And because it grabs the attention of the viewers (who are probably a mostly male audience) it may be able to sell their product better since the company is remembered more for the ad itself than the product.
ReplyDeleteThe way that the ad only shows the bottom half of the model and her dressing is suggestive. At the first glance of the ad, I noticed her legs. And as the article pointed out, there are stripes on them, which mean the “road” maybe. It respond to the purpose of the ad—car rental service. So if the female is fully showed in the ad, we may not be able to notice that. The ad uses a female model instead of a male maybe because men are easier to rent an expensive car than women. Expensive car and beautiful woman are pursuits of men, as always showed in films. Instead of just selling things, good ad sells a lifestyle. This ad maybe wants to leave an impression to the audience that if you rent the car, you will be in a life with beautiful woman. Although we don’t know whether because the ad doesn’t show, but everybody assumes I guess. The red implies the passion, and the posture that she is leaning forward also gives you the motion to chase her. And then you see the word “get there faster”, you might be appealed to rent the car.
ReplyDeleteSex appeal in ads can appeal for both men and women. Ads that use sex appeal though are generally targeted more towards men. This ad in particular definitely uses sex appeal to help appeal to a male audience. Sex sells more commonly and more often for men. Victoria's Secret ads use sex to sell to both men and women,and appeals to both audiences which is rare. If the woman in this ad were to be fully clothed, the ad would probably focus more on cars.
ReplyDeleteIf a male model were to be used in this ad, the target audience would have been missed. Often in society, women are viewed as prizes or trophies that men chase after. The model in this ad could be posed this way because of the view society sometimes has of women.
I think that the stripes on the woman's clothing represents lines of a road. The black jacket could be used in this ad because jackets like that are usually associated with driving. Red is a color of desire.
I think the fact whether sex sells or not is determined by the product thats being sold. For example it may not be appropriate to add the sexual tag to some products. It can be targeted towards men and women but ads like this one are more often made and targeted for men. If the woman was completely clothed , the ad wouldn't have the same impact that it has , i think its the boldness and explicitness of the ad that gives it an 'edge' .
ReplyDeleteI think if the woman's whole body was included in the picture , the focus would shift from the rental company to the image of the skimpily dressed woman. If a male model was used it'd probably become more of an advertisement targeted to women depending on how the ad would change its theme and also how the male model would be dressed.
The ad has an overwhelming red color . This can be interpreted in two ways . firstly red is often associated with passion or love which supports the role of the woman in the ad.. Secondly it could be in accordance with the urban legend that says that red cars are faster and get more speeding tickets than cars of any other color , so they could be associating the color red with speed.
The black leather jacket adds a sort of "badass" element to the ad as well as an element of mystery to the woman which would appeal to both men and women.
I think having something sexual does help someone notice an ad, even if the person is not even interested on the product. The women in the ad is dressed provocatively. She looks dressed like a prostitute more than anything to me. The slogan "get there faster" could be insinuated sexually as well. A women dressed like a prostitute/ is a prostitute could "get you there faster", as in having sex. Usually people who use the services of a prostitutes are in and out, getting their business done quickly then they are on their way.
ReplyDeleteI think a female model is used because this ad is meant to draw a man's attention. I could see this ad saying that women like the men that rent these cars or that you could get a women like this if you rent one of these cars.
I think the ad has a lot of red because red is the color of desire. Red shows that the women is desirable, and renting these cars is desirable for you so you can get noticed by women.
Sex definitely does sell, and this ad is perfect proof. Aside from the keys at the bottom of the poster, the viewer would never be able to tell that this is an advertisement for car rentals. The woman is meant to leave a vision in the consumers brain, to recollect for later use, because, let's be honest; if you saw this ad on a billboard, you're more likely to remember it than a picture with just a car on it. And yes, men are more of a target audience when it comes to sexual advertising, due to the stereotype that men only have one thing on their minds. It's an easy solution to get men to buy more things. If the woman was fully clothed, it would probably have less of an effect than the undergarments, because you wouldn't be able to analyze the stockings in the way stated above if they were covered up by jeans.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get the intended reaction, the ad needed to present a female model in the pose chosen above. The lower half is all that is important in this case, going back to what was said earlier about men only having one thing on their minds. The model isn't even all that important to the image of the rental company. The only purpose she has is to hold the image of this poster in the viewer's head until they need a car and call the number. So it saves space by focusing on the key aspect of the photo while still delivering the desired message. A man could be a model and still get the target audience, but wouldn't be appropriate considering the slogan used and the effect the company wants. Male models for products focused on men try to show the desire to be cool with the objects they're working with. This rental company is called "elite", which has a different sort of label on the market. It means the best of the best, the wildest desires a person can have come true, and this woman in the photo is trying to be one of those desires for the viewer.
Red does convey power and passion psychologically, but it also conveys lust and intensity, which I think can better centralize this particular ad. The need to "get there faster" is amplified by the color red due to the intensity. Any other color would actually calm the viewers mind, red will send it racing. Also, the lust for the woman can be equivilant to "putting on the red light" like the Police's song "Roxanne". The entire song is asking Roxanne to stop sleeping for money and just love the singer. The red light has sort of always had the sort of image for unloving sex. I like the idea of the seams of the stockings being sort of a road to her undergarments; its truly clever on the advertiser's part. Also, i agree with what was said earlier about the black leather jacket and it being associated with racing and passionate driving. It also can be a symbol of money and wealth.
Sex definitely does sell. With each generation,sex becomes more open, public, and used. The commercial media is no different. Companies will throw sex into anything, not because it's relevant, but because it sticks in our minds. For example, you may be thinking of some celebrity that happened to be on a commercial, and sometimes we believe the message that buying some thing will make us more like them, or give us what we are "supposed" to have. The more clothed she is, the less appealing the advertisement becomes(mostly for men).
ReplyDeleteRemoving the top half adds a sense of anonymity. That woman, specifically posed to be sexually enticing, is as important or unimportant as we want her to be. Maybe you add a face of someone you know, and maybe she is just a random hook up that you can drive to in your rented car.
There is no way around it, sex sells and it always will. I don't think sex is the reason the product sells though, but the reason the product gains attention. If this ad was in a magazine and a guy was flipping through they might have to double take when they see this page because of the women in not much clothes. Once the view gets past the women they might be interested in renting a car. In my opinion women are not as attracted to sex in ads as men are, but this is because ads that target women are not as prevalent as sexual ads towards men. If the model was wearing more clothes the sexual appeal wouldn't really be in this ad. Their would be a women, an attractive women, but not a women who is being sexual represented. Men would be less tempted to get a car from this rental agency because they wouldn't have the sexual attraction to the ad and they wouldn't think about the connection between driving a nice,fast car and getting good looking girls. The ad would have still been effective with the bright background, but it wouldn't have had the strong sexual connotation without the half naked mode.
ReplyDeleteThe models position emphasizes a few things, her heels, butt, the lane division on her tights, and the leather jacket. The heels are black and white striped, which is very reminiscent of a flag at the end of a car race, which shows that winners drive cars from this rental company. The model is wearing red underwear to emphasis her butt, this adds a lot of the sex appeal to the ad. The tights have the lane dividers on the street which connects the sexual attraction the view may have towards the model back to driving. The model's leather jacket does the same as the lines on her tights, they connect the model back to driving. A leather jacket reminds people of motorcyclists on the open road enjoying them selves something the ad wants to convey about renting a car from this company. If there was a male model, the primary audience would be women instead of men, which doesn't follow the primary target of fast sports cars, men. The company would probably lose a lot of their customers because men would give this ad less attention because there isn't a half naked women on the ad. The red background and just usage of the color red really grabs the viewer. This ad has Ferrari keys in the bottom right corner and who doesn't love a nice red Ferrari, or maybe just the idea of driving one. Speeding through traffic and switching lanes in a bring sports car is almost every mans dream.
@mwilson1231 I absolutely believe that sex sells. Sex is universal, so no matter where you are in this world all of the viewers of this ad will know what the advertisement is trying to do here. This is the reason why sex sells. It appeals to most people. Of course, naturally, when we as humans see something that appeals to us we have to find a way to get. Even if it ultimately means buying something that we most certainly do not need at the moment, which is where this ad is trying to get at.
ReplyDelete