Persuasion Without Speaking

"The Role of Images in Advertising" is an excerpt from Paul Messaris' book Visual Persuasion. This excerpt explains two different types of advertising, advertising that appeals to young, sexy, happy people and advertising that is abrasive, belligerent behavior and physical recklessness. When viewed some ads are viewed as more than a product. Advertising companies will appeal to the group of people they are trying to sell to, which in this case are young people. Ads will portray a lifestyle instead of a product. This is what causes the target group to be attracted to the product because they like more than just the product. Ads will make people think that with the product comes sexiness or prestige. The other type of advertising posed in the excerpt is appealing to children who resent parents and authority. Messaris believes that these types of advertising are not the best type and are in some cases counter-effective. Messaris believes that there should be an honest portrayal without the irresponsible tendencies of children. Messaris brings up that Benjamin Demotte argues that ads and movies portray a phony picture of harmony between races.

There are many advertisements out that cater to the physical recklessness and belligerent behavior party. A very good example of the sex appeal and the physical recklessness are the Axe body wash and spray commercials. These ads lead you to believe that if you use their product that you will be tackled by women relentlessly and they will want you sexually, no doubt about it. I believe that the truthfulness of this is not entirely there, but it is effective. Advertising is not about changing the world; it’s about selling a product. I agree that advertising should be more of an honest portrayal of something, but from a business perspective it is brilliant. Advertising of this type may not be the most beneficial to our children, but from the seller's standpoint it is a marketing goldmine.

Over the last couple decades, magazine ads featuring persons of color has increased substantially. Minority groups have been placed in advertising where they traditionally have not been. Also, stereotypes have been placed in advertising to appeal to certain groups. Particularly, in the Reebok ad with Jay-Z shows there is some beneficial stereotyping. In the ad, which is split in half, on one side of the ad Jay-Z sits at what looks like a desk with a very classy pin-striped suit with a large city in the background. On the other side of the advertisement there is an image of a black male hand at the male's hip and the man is looking toward a housing unit. There are two captions in the ad "i am what i am" and "I got my MBA from Marcy Projects". If you look at this ad as a whole you could analyze that Jay-Z, since he said he got his MBA at Marcy Projects, came from the projects, but made his way to the top and is living to his full potential. This ad gives hope and inspiration to those living in the projects, telling them that they can do it also and there is a future.

In the Dockers ad there are many different races of people walking happily down a cobblestone street. This is what DeMott was talking about when he said the races are happily together or in “happy harmony.” The thought of this is how the world would like to be viewed, but this is not reality. An example of the surrealism of the ad is the line in the ad that reads “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were all equal?” This quote in the article is said because it would be nice, in a perfect world. In ads there are always going to be different portrayals of the same group. In the Met-Life ad there is a middle-aged black man holding his son high in the air and it gives you the thought he is a happy man living a good life. In the Reebok ad with Jay-Z it gives the thought that the blacks are in housing projects and Jay-Z is one of them who got away from that culture. In the MetLife ad it portrays average life, and in the Reebok ad it portrays the thug life.

Jordan Engel