Dkny Ad Analysis free essay sample

Be Delicious Perfume by DKNY Advertisement Analysis In the competitive market America has today, all companies strive to be the number one choice for consumers out of all their competitors. To achieve this goal, companies use various strategies in their advertisements to appeal to the public. The company, Donna Karan New York (also known as DKNY) is one of the millions of companies that works rhetorically in its advertisement for its Be Delicious perfume. With sexual innuendos, symbolism, attention grabbing images, the creation an image of beauty, and the indication that one will be unique after using the product, DKNY effectively advertises its Be Delicious perfume. DKNY uses sexual innuendos in its advertisement for the Be Delicious perfume in order to convince consumers to purchase the product. Sexual innuendos are shown by the woman’s sensual facial expression and body language. She is smiling seductively while her finger is in her mouth after having taken a bite from an apple. With these strategies, DKNY portrays the secondary message that by wearing the Be Delicious perfume, women will be more sensual like the woman shown. DKNY’s use of these sexual overtones allows this advertisement to be effective. Jack Solomon, the author of â€Å"Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising† explains the great success sexual innuendos in advertisements have. He states, â€Å"Sex never fails as an attention-getter and†¦advertisers like to bet on a sure thing. Ad people refer to the proliferation of†¦ads as ‘clutter,’ and nothing cuts through the clutter like sex† (Solomon 408). Solomon’s point is that since advertisements with sexual innuendos produce powerful emotions, they are more likely to obtain attention, which causes many companies to use them as strategies. Since advertisements with sexual overtones are greatly noticeable, they can generate sales for companies. Therefore, DKNY’s use of sexual innuendos effectively captures attention in order to increase consumer interest in its product. DKNY’s use of attention-grabbing images in its advertisement for the Be Delicious perfume serves for the purpose of convincing consumers to purchase the product. This advertisement captures the attention of consumers by having the woman in the photograph look straight at the viewer. This makes the viewer feel like they are the only ones being watched and targeted and therefore cause them to pay more attention to the advertisement. Also, the title of the perfume is written in capital, bold, and bright green letters to draw the reader to them. Since Be Delicious is an apple-scented perfume, the advertisement shows fresh and moist apples around the woman. The apples are made to look delicious in order to receive the women’s attention and to make them want to â€Å"be delicious† like them. Among the apples is the perfume bottle, which is also shaped like an apple. Since this is a unique and new shape for a bottle, advertisers of this product cogently capture viewers’ attentions and stimulate viewers’ interests in the product. With the use of these attention-grabbing images, the Be Delicious advertisement effectively attracts people and is therefore highly likely to generate sales. In its advertisement for the Be Delicious perfume, DKNY creates an image of what beauty is supposed to be like in an attempt to convince consumers to purchase this product. Solomon writes about the media’s manipulation on humans’ minds: â€Å"’Manipulate’ is the word here, not ‘persuade’; for advertising campaigns are not sources of product information, they are exercises in behavior modification† (402). In other words, Solomon believes that to convince people to buy their products, companies try to change the way Americans think. The Be Delicious advertisement manipulates what women believe a beautiful woman is supposed to look like. The woman in the advertisement who is thin and has clear skin is supposed to be the epitome of beauty. The Be Delicious perfume advertisement tries to portray the secondary message that the product will allow women to be as attractive as the woman and to live up to the standard of beauty it has created. Since similar standards for beauty have been created by advertisements have been around for so long, women do not know they have been manipulated and now accept them as true. Because of this, this advertisement’s portrayal of a â€Å"beautiful† woman is an effective strategy to convince women to buy the Be Delicious perfume. By portraying the secondary message that whoever buys the Be Delicious perfume will stand out among others, DKNY tries to convince consumers to purchase its product. The title of the perfume, Be Delicious, shows that those who buy the perfume will be attractive and those who do not buy the product will only be ordinary. The woman in the advertisement also as a wide gap in her two front teeth. In American society today, perfect teeth are considered to be gapless and straight. This woman was most likely chosen to be in the advertisement because her gap is unique and therefore makes her stand out. The advertisement tries to portray the message that whoever uses the perfume will be as unique as the woman. The name of the product and the woman’s unique physical feature therefore show that this perfume is made for women who would like to stand out among ordinary people. The portrayal of the secondary message that a consumer of the product will be socially distinctive is an effective strategy in convincing viewers to buy the Be Delicious perfume. This is because Americans often try to receive social distinction from ordinary people. Solomon describes this desire when he writes: â€Å"We Americans dream of rising above the crowd, of attaining a social summit beyond the reach of ordinary citizens†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (402). The essence of Solomon’s argument is that people constantly strive to stand out among ordinary people. The Be Delicious perfume advertisement is effective because it promises to fulfill the desire women have to be special and stand out. DKNY make the apples in this advertisement a symbol of temptation in order to convince viewers to purchase their product. Apples were first given this symbol when Adam and Eve, the first humans according to the Bible, ate a tempting and delicious-looking apple although it was a sin to do so. Ever since then, myths and Greek mythology have given apples this deeper meaning. In this advertisement, the apples also represent temptation. The apples look fresh and moist to make them look tempting to the viewer. The woman in the advertisement also has moisture on her, just like the apples. This means that after using the perfume, she became as delicious as it and is as tempting as the apples are. This gives women the feeling that after wearing the perfume, they will also be as desired as the apples and the woman. Therefore, giving the apples in the advertisement a deeper meaning makes this advertisement effective. In conclusion, DKNY uses strategies like using sexual innuendos and attention-grabbing images, promising that whoever buys the product will be unique, and creating an image of beauty in its advertisement for the Be Delicious perfume to try to convince the public to buy the product. These strategies are effective because they create powerful emotions in viewers, cause people to notice the Be Delicious perfume advertisement among others, and promise to fulfill the desire of women to stand out and to be beautiful. References: Colette, Shelly. 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