Blog Post Four

Argentinian Print Ad for Olay Skin Cream "Surgical Markers Can Do Prettier Things"

This print ad is a bright, positive, simplistic ad with one zoomed in focal view point being the drawings on the woman's face. It is very minimalist because there isn't much going on, it just gets to the point. I assume they chose an Aryan woman with little to no makeup to create even more of an emphasis on the drawing and on the product. The placement of the product is strategic because they put it in the bottom right hand corner, off to the side, so when you first look at the ad you see the drawing on the woman's face then the product then the quote tying it all together. The quote says "surgical markers can do prettier things". This is a terse and pithy statement that makes the whole advertisement make sense. It is saying use this skin cream to fix you up instead of getting facial surgery because surgical markers can do prettier things then remake your face. The speaker of this is the Olay skin company and it is intended to draw in people who want to 'look prettier' or 'younger' with surgery, Olay is saying you don't need all that, just their product. The included perspective in this is the Olay company who loves and wants to show off their product. On the other hand, they leave out a plastic surgeon's perspective who might say no face cream doesn't give nearly as good of results as surgery or the viewer who for whatever reason does need some kind of face surgery and knows cream won't help them. They also leave out males and people of other races than white because it's just this one face trying to sell their product. But personally I don't think this ad would upset any viewer too much. I think this is an effective ad because it is simple but original enough to catch your attention which is the initial objective of an advertisement. And then yes, I do think it is persuasive because it's making a pretty bold statement saying their cream is just as helpful as facial surgery and I think that will draw lots of people in to buy their product.