Analyzing Advertisements

Aaron Stokke
Sadashivan – Representation

Old Advertising

Advertising has changed greatly in the past century. As time progressed, a list characteristics for good visual and written work was developed. This list includes four core requirements: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. After viewing an advertisement for Polident brand denture cleaner from 1939 at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/BH/BH22/BH2254-150dpi.jpeg, it is clear that this list was not developed by 1939.
For starters, the add lacks any clear visual alignment. The title of the add is aligned to the right, whereas some of the finer points of the denture cleaner are listed in a bold frame to the bottom left, throwing the whole add alignment off. I have also counted nine different size fonts. Having a few different font sizes is one thing, but with so many sizes the add loses good repetition and focus. By adding bullet points to the bottom left hand corner, the add did have some good repetition at least. Another characteristic that this add has in spades is contrast. There are many parts of the add that stand out as unique, including the title, artwork, and bordered bulleted points. Of the four characteristics for good visual work, this add only seems to have incorporated repetition and contrast. They were weakly incorporated at that.
As far as writing in the add is concerned, most of the four characteristics are also not met. Repetition is one characteristic in particular that stands out as not being met in the writing of the add. The first paragraph start with the phrase “Why let tell-tale stains or ‘denture breath’ tell the world your teeth are false, and then continues to entice you to try Polident. Then comes a gap in the writing, followed by the bold phrase Prevent Denture Breath, and then another paragraph describing effective and easy to use Polident is. Another paragraph follows telling you where to purchase Polident but without any gap between paragraphs this time. The lack of repetition in how the writing is laid out, with uneven distances between paragraphs is just one of the things wrong with the writing in this add. Another problem with the repetition in writing with this add is that although several things are mentioned in the paragraphs of the add, no information is repeated at the end of the add to emphasize its importance. Also, very little is done with the writing in the add to apply the characteristic of contrast. There are virtually no transitions between paragraphs. One paragraph ends and the next just starts off at a new topic.
Overall, the add for Polident from 1939 could sure use a lot of work. In comparison, in an add for Bergamot from 1945, at http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/BH/BH07/BH0762-150dpi.jpeg, more of the four characteristics for good writing and visual work have been met. Visually, the add does a good job keeping similar things in the same area, meeting the requirement of proximity. The writing is isolated at the top of the advertisement, whereas the prices for other products are alone at the bottom. On top of where they are located, the writing, prices for other products, and images of the Bergamot products all stand out from each other because they all are different colors. This fits the characteristic of visual contrast very nicely. One of the only problems that I could find with the visual layout of the add was the lack of alignment. Although it was clear that the advertisement was designed so that your eyes are drawn first to the images of Bergamot products in the center, there was no clear next step for the natural progression of the eyes. They could go down to the prices of other Bergamot products, or they could go up to the writing of the ad. Unlike the visual aspect of the add, the writing aspect of the add was not as well done.
The writing in this advertisement does not have any clear alignment. There is no statement in the beginning of the paragraph that is backed up in the rest of the writing. A statement is made that no man wants to walk in an orgy of scents; he only wants one distinctive scent. Nothing in the rest of the paragraph backs this statement up. There are no transitional sentences in the advertisement because the only writing is the descriptive paragraph at the top and the list of similar products at the bottom, not allowing for much contrast.
There are many factors that go into determining the effectiveness of an advertisement. By looking at the mistakes from the past and by attempting to utilize the characteristics of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity in both the visual and writing aspects of advertising, adds in the future are sure to be much more effective than the adds from our past.