Essay #2 Rough Draft

Holly Snider

November 2^nd, 2015

Dr. Sonia Begert

English 101

Advertising is a way for companies to convey messages to their customers. CoverGirl is a company that sells a wide variety of makeup products. Anywhere from basic foundation to bold eye shadow. CoverGirl’s marketing slogan is “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful. CoverGirl” Through these ads, there is a certain message being conveyed to the customers. What is it that makes people have such a strong desire for these products? Well, put simply, the advertisements.

Commonly in today’s society people are not seen as good enough. There is a typical norm that everybody ‘must’ follow. In some ways, CoverGirl encourages stepping slightly outside the lines of this norm, by promoting being unique and wearing bright or dramatic products. But at the same time, in some ways, doing nothing but motivating people to follow this common judgement. By showing people that in order to be perfect enough for society, they need to buy this makeup.

This Taylor Swift Cover girl ad is used to sell eye makeup. In this advertisement Taylor Swift is wearing bright purple and green makeup. The company’s name is shown above her head and the statement is in front of her, “don’t live in someone else’s shadow!” This ad is encouraging boldness is beauty. CoverGirl wants their customers to stand out and be bold.

Cover girl uses Taylor Swift in their ad to immediately attain the audience’s attention. She is gorgeous and widely famous. Using Taylor Swift alone, has a big impact on the way the makeup is seen. People associate Taylor Swift with talent and beauty, so maybe if they wear that makeup they will be talented and beautiful. The first thing noticed when looking at the picture is the unusually bright makeup. It’s hard to look away from. The makeup is bold, which CoverGirl wants their customers to be. CoverGirl wants the audience to have an idea of ‘since she is stepping outside her usual self and still intensely confident, why can’t you?’ Including the words in the photo make leave a lasting impact. “Don’t live in someone else’s shadow!” Makes the customer think personally, are they living in a shadow? Should they buy this makeup? The words themselves are a type of pun, they are selling eye shadow and telling the audience “not to be in someone else’s shadow” as if saying, “do not buy any other eye shadow,” doing this implies that CoverGirl is the only eyeshadow worth buying. This particular ad follows a color pattern of purple, some of the makeup is purple, her shirt is purple, the words are purple, the title is purple, and even her earrings are purple. Using the light background behind this contrast of a color really makes the subject matter stand out. This ad projects that women need individuality and makeup to be beautiful. It encourages confidence while showing that someone needs to wear makeup to be attractive. The picture gives off a message of without this brightly colored eye makeup, you won’t be as noticeable as someone with it, and being noticed is what people want.

This particular ad is trying to sell mascara. This advertisement is a picture of Katy Perry with bright teal colored hair and eye liner. The words used to label the mascara are “Introducing the Super Sizer Mascara”. The bottle is shown on the right hand side of the page in a similar teal color as Katy Perry’s hair. The company’s name is on top in yellow. “Supersize your lashes” appears on the left hand side in small white writing. The image is trying to sell supersizing mascara to people who like Katy Perry and people who want bigger, thicker eye lashes.

 When the audience looks at this ad for the very first time they notice Katy Perry’s bright teal hair in contrast to her light white skin. Her eye lashes are easily noticed because they are thick and black. This ad has a theme of using the light teal color almost everywhere on the picture. The woman’s hair, eye liner, the actual product, and most of the words all coordinate back to that color. “The Super Sizer Mascara” words, located in the bottom left hand side of the image, implies that the makeup product will drastically change the users eye lashes, by supersizing them. The teal supersizing object is a little bit lighter than the rest of the image, making the audience’s attention get easily drawn to it. This product image is encouraging confidence for people who want to have dramatic lashes and stand out. But, at the same time looking at this image, shows the reader that they are not good enough, or attractive enough, to be beautiful or dramatic without this makeup product. This ad shows people that they need to wear makeup to be as gorgeous as Katy Perry.

 

                Above is an image trying to sell multiple products from CoverGirl. “Red, White & Beautiful!” are the words featured towards the center of the picture. The ad is targeted at the Fourth of July audience. Once again, this ad is selling boldness is beauty. The CoverGirl name is shown above the subject matter. This time in white. On the bottom left hand side there is a picture from inside the magazine showing more people who would use these products. The woman in the center is wearing all the makeup products, and she appears as bold and beautiful. This person is wearing a blue shirt in theme of red, white, and blue. People who want to be decorated for the fourth of July would buy these beauty products.

When looking at this advertisement it is very easy to notice that the red, white, and blue colors are all shown. The red background makes the girl with blonde hair really stand out. Most of the writing is done in white. Some of the writing is done in blue, along with her shirt, some of the products, and the eye makeup the subject matter is wearing. The girl wearing the makeup is centered so she is the first thing seen. Then as eyes scan the image the words and objects are noticed. This ad really pushes a message that people need to have this makeup for the fourth of July. Linking the theme of the ad with patriotism is intelligent because patriotism is a positive, popular attitude. Using this theme reminds people of simple things relating to the national holiday and makes them immediately want to buy this makeup. This picture as well as the others, shows people they are not good enough for society without CoverGirl makeup. As if saying, “To be prepared and ready for the fourth, and of course patriotic enough, you need to be wearing this bright makeup”. When in fact in reality, is not necessary or true.

All three of the advertisements above, have a lot of similarities, but also a lot of differences. For example, all of the ads use attractive women. But, the first two use popular, well-known celebrities, more specifically music artists. Whereas the third one uses a less known model. All of the chosen ads follow the simple CoverGirl slogan of ‘Easy, Breezy, Beautiful.’ The featured women are obviously beautiful, the makeup appears to be fast and simple to use. These three ads all express wearing bold makeup equals beauty. They are all directed at relatively the same audience. The first two ads shown, are simple and zoomed in on their faces, in the third, the picture has more detail and picture.

Concluding that CoverGirl’s beauty products promote being yourself, they also encourage the belief that women simply are not good enough without it. In some ways, confidence is key, so by telling women that it is okay and accepted to step out the lines of society they are easily targeting a larger group of people. CoverGirl uses great marketing techniques that help shape their ads into making them the best-selling makeup company. The Taylor Swift ad, Katy Perry ad, and Red, White and Beautiful ad have different distinguishing factors making them targeted at slightly different audiences. Some advertisements send mixed messages to their audiences, which is sort of what is shown in these CoverGirl ads. Boldness and indivuality is beautiful…but only when wearing CoverGirl makeup.