Most advertisers use different appeals to create stereotypes about their audiencesbecause people often buy magazines which fit the stereotypes they make about themselves.
Forexample, people who always read Newsweek are mostly people who are at work, who areeconomically stable, and who are interested in the world situation. On the other hand, theaudiences of Shape are mostly young women who are interested in reducing their weights orshaping up. In Jib Fowles essay, Advertisings Fifteen Basic Appeals, he discusses thefifteen emotional appeals that are often seen in many advertisements. To corroborate hispostulations of advertisement, I focused on a specific magazine, Cosmopolitan, and checked ifI could determine the stereotypes the advertisers make about audiences by applying appeals heAfter analyzing ten ads from Cosmopolitan, I realized that there were two commonappeals in most of the ten ads: sexual, and autonomy.
First, lets look at the three ads aboutdifferent perfumes, Splendor, Dazzling, and True Love. Both the ads of Splendor andDazzling have women clad in strap dresses and held by men. The photo of Dazzlingshows a woman in black party dress, dancing with a man in tuxedo. Next to her dazzling smileis the word, Dazzling, and the two perfume bottles. In the ad of Splendor, a young,attractive, blond woman with her left arm around a mans neck is about to kiss him.
Its copyreads A fragrance Sensation, A Sparkling Love Story, and Wonderfully Romantic. Theseads surely involve sexual appeals because it is obvious that the advertisers are trying to makethe women look as feminine as possible by having them expose their skin and embrace theirmen. Also, the copies of Splendor fetch audiences attention by appealing to their longing for romance and affections. The ad of True Love also appeals to sexuality by showing awoman with a drowsy expression in a lying down position. The second appeal I found is the need for autonomy, the need to credit the self.
Thethree ads about womens suits, glassware, and make-up are great examples. An ad ofwomens suit has five women in five different gray suits who look competent. The catch phrasesays, Letem know who you are. The other ad of glassware shows a beautiful white womanin a white blouse with glasses.
She has her blond hair put up, and she is reading a paper. Thecopy on the upper left corner reads, Endless Possibilities. The third ad of Maybellinesfoundation cake also has a white woman wearing white blouse with her hair up. All of thesethree ads have women who look aspired, intellectual, and independent.
These ads strikewomens strong need to become the way they want, and to endorse themselves. These appeals are effective in persuading women to buy the products by giving womenillusions that they will look sexy or independent just like the women in the ads if they buyBy finding the appeals advertisers use, one can tell how the advertisers view theaudiences. Women usually buy perfume to add to their charm and confidence. Especially,women who are physically matured are easily attracted to sexual appeals as advertisers intendbecause such women consciously fear the fading of their sexual glamour as they age.
Also,women at work or women who want to work strongly seek independence because women areusually oppressed by the society, for the stereotypes about women that they are incapable havenot completely been removed. To overthrow such false assumptions about women, many wishto prove to themselves and to the society that she is aspired, and she has abilities to deal withthings. With such womens tendencies in mind, the advertisers of the magazine, Cosmopolitan,are stereotyping about their audiences that they are young women of age twentys to earlyfortys who are living in cities, who are interested in relationships with men, and who areseeking to be looked as independent women.Bibliography:
