The magazine ad to be analyzed is a Burger King ad for their Big Severn Incher. The advertisement shows a floating sandwich and a wide eyed young woman about to take a bite. This ad was chosen because it layered several different techniques into the same advertisement.
First, this article uses a combination of three basic appeals. First, there is the appeal for physiological needs. The woman is just about to satisfy her need to fulfill her hunger (Fowles). This is the most obvious and blaring message. It was given prominence because it is the most socially acceptable. The second appeal in the ad is the appeal for aesthetic sensations. The food was photographed in a way that is aesthetically pleasing. It is intended to look so good that viewer feels immediately hungry for it. The third, and intentionally subtle, appeal is for sex.
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In this advertisement a young woman has a wide open mouth about to receive a big “seven incher.” This term is reserved for certain male body parts. The term “blow” is also colloquial as well.
“To the extent that sexual imagery is used, it conventionally works better on men than women; typically a female figure is offered up to the male reader”, (Fowles).
This advertisement uses two different appeals to attract the male and female audience. The subtle sexual connotation and the young, beautiful female appeal to the male need for sex. The ad appeals to the female gender through both the physical need for food and the sexual connotation as well.
This advertisement use darker borders and neutral colors, allowing the tagline to be highlighted. The area of the photo where the action is about to take place is highlighted.
“Advertisements in colour typically cost 50% more than those in black and white but they are 100% more memorable,” (Quiet Storm).
This advertising uses colors that blend well in all parts of the photo. It uses a neutral background, which allows them to focus on their logo and phrases. The action words are bigger than the resto of the words. The girl has on casual makeup and the fonts used are informal. This appeals to the general audience, rather than a specific demographic. The girl in the picture could be any age from 16 to 30.
Using action words is a key to effective advertising (Willliams). This advertisement uses two key action words, one telling what it does, and the other telling what effect the product will have on the consumer. The ad directly states that the product “tastes better”. It does not say better than what, leaving the impression that it tastes better than anything else in the world. The term “will blow” is another action phrase used in the advertising.
When a company is offering humor, patriotism, facts, or discounts to the customer, any medium will work (Miller). The humor in this ad is the sexual connotation. The comparison of the sandwich to sex ads humor to the ad. The professionals all suggest telling a story about your brand (Gibson). In this ad, the story is that the girl will eat the sandwich and feel satisfied. She will have a highly pleasurable sensory experiences in connection with the sandwich. They also suggesting owning a word, phrase, or characteristic of the brand (Gibson). This ad does both all of these. The story is about what the girl will feel when she eats the sandwich.
A good advertisement focuses on what the customers want and then highlights those features.(Witt, p. 17). The advertisement focuses on taste, experience, and value creation as the key brand features. The sandwich is intentionally made to look big in comparison to the other elements of the ad. This ad is a good example is using layering to convey multiple messages on a single page. The ad bombards the reader with messages on multiple levels.
- Fowles, J. “Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture.” Ed. Michael
Petracca, Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998. - Gibson, Nick. Advertisement Techniques: 5 Ways to Make Your Ads Work. Udemy. 2 May 2014. Web. 22 June 2014.
- Miller, Joel. Advertising Solutions: Selecting the Most Effective Advertising Techniques. Admedia. 2014. Web. 22 June 2014.
- Quiet Storm Solutions Limited. Using proven techniques to increase selling power of your trade journal and magazine advertising. 2014. On-Paper Advertising. Web. 22 June 2014.
- Williams, Roy. Cheap and Effective Advertising Techniques. Entrepreneur. 2014. Web. 22 June 2014.
- Witt, G. High Impact: How YOU Can Create Advertising that SELLS! Marketing Psychology. 1999. Web. 22 June 2014.
