Critical Studies

Image analysis exercise

Compare and contrast Absolut advert and Meadow Hall website

Absolut Advertisement

I think that the layout for this advert works well as it’s displaying three different flavours so the background colours are the colours of the flavour of the product.
Also when you look at each section you notice the suggestion that there’s a flavour designed to cater for the style of life most suited to you. For example:

Absolut citron- looks like a tropical environment, reminding you of a summer’s day or a holiday. Giving the impression that this is quite a light refreshing drink.

Absolut raspberry- more of a down town street nightlife kind of theme in this one, aimed toward the young professional going out on the town, I guess.

Absolut vanilla- the background image looks like the upper class environment, classier than the other two flavours, possibly with an older age group in mind.

I don’t think there is one certain target audience, instead they have gone for the approach that no matter what your taste and style, Absolut is product for you with different flavours for all occasions. The advert is very colourful and illustrated but has a retro kind of art deco feel about it, the text is very simple and plain but the words ‘find’ and ‘flavour’ are much bigger than the word ‘your’. The advert doesn’t mention anything about the drink like that its vodka. I think this is because they’re trying to advertise the brand, Absolut rather than as a vodka drink.

Meadow Hall Website

The website is fairly plain and straightforward. The image on the front instantly makes me come to the conclusion the advert is aimed predominantly at women. To me it’s not sexist because the web designer obviously knows that its women that like to shop and will visit the site knowing what they want to look for, where as men would rather go to a shop and get what they need. I don’t think that men would generally look at the website for clothes as, well not in comparison.

Comparison

In Comparison of the two, I think that they are quite similar in the sense that they are both advertisements set in the interest of girls. They both use simple text to show important information. They use bright colours but the shopping centre is a simpler and has a negative space background, unlike the Absolut advert, which is filled with more colour. Even though both adverts are mainly aimed at women I don’t think that it is sexist because the Meadow Hall website is sure that its women that will be most interested in looking at the clothes. Also the Absolut advert is advertising ‘girly drinks,’ men would probably much rather have a bottle of beer, a pint or whiskey than vodka. So basically the target audience is women eighteen and over because the advertisers know they will be the majority that will use the site or be product in question.
I think they both have an old feel to the way they advertise such as the Meadow Hall one is so plain and has a scripture like type face for the subtext, the absolut advert has a retro art deco feel brought on by the symmetrical patterns.