Advertisement Essay Response When reading “Sex as a Symbol in Fashion Advertising,” “Checklist for Analyzing Print Advertisements,” and “A Primer on Analyzing Television Commercials” written by Arthur Berger, I looked beyond all the billboards, magazine ads, television commercials, posters and internet pop ups and really saw the connections that each of them try to make with the average person in the world.
The way the companies design and portray their argument or item to be sold is completely more advanced than anyone would really think it is. To be subjected to the media from day one of their lives, people tend to not notice the manipulation it has over their life. Berger described every inch of the advertisements he was analyzing, and looked way under their surfaces. The idea of white space representing class was something that is very abstract and something that I am not sure that just anyone would catch on to.
The way he analyzed the bath tub as being a sexual symbol, a baptism, and a dehydrated woman as being not able to reproduce was very deep as well. I see the connections but it is very under the surface. The steps that were given in the check list were very helpful in being able to know where to start and what to look at when analyzing an advertisement. It was easy to see that he used the steps when he analyzed the Calvin Klein, Revlon and Benandre advertisements he mentioned in the beginning.
It is so interesting that the average billboard on the side of the freeway and television commercials have such in depth detail. All the way down to the facial expression, and the color of the clothes they are wearing, everything means something. The topic that jumped out most at me was when Berger was saying that knowing how to analyze an advertisement can stop unwanted manipulation.
