There have been many interesting, funny and maybe offensive advertisement done by Summer’s Eve, but the one advertisement that I would like to focus on is from their “Hail to the V” campaign the commercial is called “The V.” The commercial focuses on the empowerment of women and the control they have over history and men. The message being our “V” is “the most powerful thing on Earth” and we need to “show it a little love.” In this post I will critique the commercial “The V”.
Describe
In this advertisement the content is mainly about powerful women throughout history and the dialogue of the narration has a tone of empowerment. The background music also implies a type of strength and power that the women have. The characters depicted in the commercial are women of substantial status queens or royalty. One example in the commercial is Cleopatra holding her arms up in a V in front of applauding audience worshiping her very existence. The advertisement also includes men, knights, competing to the death for the women’s affection. The commercial does not show the product, which is a cleansing wash, until the very end where they demonstrate a woman in a grocery store deciding whether or not to buy the product. The extended advertisement is three minutes and three seconds long the regular version is about 30 seconds long.
Analyze
The advertisement directors used a snob-appeal persuasive technique because the women and the men fighting shown are royalty and powerful. They also use a plain folk technique because of the woman in the store at the end is a normal person the advertisement is a T.V. commercial and for the most part depicted almost like a movie trailer. Another technique used is the association principle, there is a connection between the product and desirable qualities like the wealth and power of the women depicted in the commercial and a sense of success in terms of getting men to fight over you. These techniques are used bring forth the message, which was that all women are powerful because of one thing their “V’s” and by embracing your “V” and using their product you to will be great.
Interpret
This commercial is a part of a larger ad campaign for Summer’s Eve. The product is nothing new because we have all heard of Summer’s Eve before but it’s the first commercial I’ve seen and remembered from that company. The target audience is obviously women and the demographics appeals to women who range from young adults to women in their prime. The stereotypes in the commercial is that women don’t know how much power they hold by having a vagina and can change the world and under estimate themselves if they use Summer’s Eve products. The message is a bit offensive and is awkward to think about. The focus of the commercial is on one women’s body part and that on one body part is the only reason why women have any power over a men. But in reality there are so many other characteristics that women have that can give them a sense of empowerment other than a vagina.
Evaluate
I believe that this commercial makes you think about it for short period of time after it is over because women don’t often think of themselves as powerful figures for having a vagina. So the advertisement makes us think yes we hold a bit of power because of that fact. However, for the most part though the message is wrong to mean having a pretty smelling vagina gives us empowerment. The commercial is kind of embarrassing for putting such personal material out there creating a demeaning aspect on women. If the advertisement worked in getting the targeted audience to buy their product it would be because there aren’t a lot of products for that area and sometimes it needs maintenance. Although I don’t think the commercial would encourage all women to buy their product, only the women who have the courage to buy feminine products without feeling embarrassed and are open about their sexuality.
Engagement
I found the advertisement funny, awkward, and a little offensive because it may be true that woman does have a sort of empowerment for the reason in the commercial but there are also for a variety of other reason as well; like her intelligence and personality. I can see how other women may too find it offensive, demeaning, and even embarrassed when it comes to their private parts many people are very petulant about that subject and believe it should be kept behind closed doors. Although the substance of the commercial shouldn’t be taken personally and that it is not directed towards one person but to a stereotype, general audience, and if you don’t like it ignore it because there are many advertisements in the world that are ridiculous, and demeaning. When we are exposed to the ridiculous part of media, I believe that we should just keep an opened mind about everything and if we don’t like then to just ignore it.
Conclusion
We are bombarded by advertisements every day, in almost every aspect of our lives. It is up to us to decipher the truth about what makes us great and what doesn’t. We don’t have to have perfume smelling down stairs in order to be perceived as empowering. The more I researched this topic the more I realized that the company doesn’t mean to offend their audience, they just make mistakes and in this commercial there is a mistake by making women powerful because they have a good smelling “V”. We should give and take what we want from the message. As long as we leave with this one thought some people say stupid things but that doesn’t make us any less exceptional.
Links:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/annedoyle/2011/07/26/summers-eves-salute-to-the-big-v-campaign-deceives/
http://thatsvaginal.com/
http://summerseve.com/vpower/ad-campaign
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