Magazines intended for teenage girls feature articles and advertisements appealing to their readers: beauty products, fashion, and celebrity gossip, to name a few. These magazines are also prime sources that discuss the concept of feminism and what it means to be a female in today’s world. Seventeen Magazine is one of the more prominent of these magazines. Seventeen Magazine, read widely by adolescent girls, contains articles that promote female power and vigor; however, the advertisements in the magazine tend to emphasize contradictory social values that women are supposed to possess by society’s standards. The feminine product company Playtex is a prime example. In the Playtex liner advertisement in Seventeen Magazine, advertising appeals, advertising formats, advertising strategies, and semiotics reinforce the value of female strength while establishing an underlying sense of delicacy that women are expected to possess. The advertising appeals and format used in the Playtex ad reinforce the type of consumer that the ad is trying to reach. Interpellation, one advertising appeal, is how a text “hails an audience” and calls out an identity (Iftkhar, 2015b). The Playtex ad showcases an intense girl running through the rain, focusing only on her run, though it is implied that she is menstruating. Through the use of this character, the ad interpellates a certain type of audience. The type of girl responding to the ad is most likely an athlete, or a girl who cares about personal health and power. This interpellation supports the value of female strength because the consumer is the type of person that embodies it. The mode of address, or the constructing of a relationship between the advertisement and the consumer, is another advertising appeal used in this ad (Iftkhar, 2015b). The mode of address is very subtle in the Playtex ad. The ad does not specifically address the consumer in words but rather invites the consumer into the world of the ad. The intense, focused look on the runner’s face pulls the consumer’s focus, establishing a relationship between the two. The audience is invited to possess the same type of power that the girl in the ad possesses, and thus the value of strength is reinforced. Finally, the advertising format is an indicator of the type of audience of the ad. The advertising format employed in the ad is the lifestyle format, which as Professor Iftkhar noted (2015b), “shows the product in the flow of everyday life.” The format here points to the type of person who uses the ad, a female athlete. The female in the ad appears as if she is going on her daily run through the streets and not allowing anything to stop her, even menstruation. The consumer that Playtex is formatting the ad for is a powerful, vigorous teenage athlete that can relate to the girl showcased in the advertisement. Through the use of these advertising appeals and the lifestyle format, Playtex appeals to consumers that value strength. The advertising strategies employed in the ad also exemplify the female aspect of strength. The first strategy employed is one of “showcasing how the product will make you feel” (Iftkhar, 2015b). The main focus of the ad is the girl running through the streets. By the intense look on her face, her athletic build, and ease of her stride, the consumer of the product receives the idea that using the Playtex liner will make them feel powerful, strong, invigorated, and athletic. The ad also “subordinates utilitarian aspects of the product” (Iftkhar, 2015b). Instead of discussing the practical function of the liner, the ad focuses on the symbolic aspect. The ad does not bring the liner into focus, nor does it discuss that the liner is used for menstruation. For instance, the product is only visible once in a small picture in the bottom left-hand corner. Instead, the advertisement focuses on the strength and power that the girl possesses, as shown through the large picture of her. The final advertising strategy that the ad employs is the association principle. According to Campbell, Martin, and Fabos (2015), the association principle is defined as a “persuasive technique that associates a product with some cultural value or image that has a positive connotation but may have little connection to the actual product” (p. G-1). In the Playtex ad, the liner is associated with breaking the stereotypes of women. According to female stereotypes, women are supposed to be fragile, weak, and gentle. However, in the Playtex advertisement, the woman is the exact opposite. The athlete is not just running anywhere, but she is running through hazardous conditions. It is raining and she appears to be running through an alley, yet the look on her face is not one of fragility or fear, but one of intensity. The liner is associated with strength over delicacy, and thus persuades a consumer to associate Playtex with the cultural value of the importance of breaking free of stereotypes. Through the use of these advertising strategies, the manufacturer reinforces the relationship between strength and the Playtex liner. However, through semiotics, it is also apparent that the ad reinforces contradictory values for women that make it difficult to determine whether women should be strong or gentle. As Professor Iftkhar pointed out (2015a), semiotics is the science of signs, and an approach that seeks to relate texts to their surrounding social orders. The signs in the Playtex ad that support the contradictory values are the colors, fonts, and backgrounds that are employed in the advertisement. The colors used evoke different connotations, or the meanings “additionally associated with a sign” (Iftkhar, 2015a). The usage of black and white throughout the ad suggests a very focused and powerful vibe, which connotes strength. However, the use of bright pink and yellow for the actual product evoke a very feminine, gentle, girly connotation. The contradictory use of colors establishes two social values that differ from one another: women are supposed to be strong and focused, yet feminine and soft at the same time. This contradiction is also seen through the font used in the ad. In harsh, black letters, the ad reads “Introducing liners with sport level protection,” showcasing how the liner is strong enough to withstand any physical activity, just like the user of the product. However, “Playtex” and “Play on” are written in a cursive font, suggesting a soft, delicate nature that the menstrual liner is reinforcing, just as those who use the product are expected to possess. However, the background of the ad reinforces the value of strength. The girl is running on a hard, cold city street, not frolicking through a meadow. Instead of showcasing a sunny day, the ad artists used rain, and her running attire suggests that it is not warm out either. Finally, the wood in the background that resembles a window is not polished but rather torn up and beaten down, and it gives off a rustic vibe. By employing background characteristics that connote a harsh vibe, the value of strength is exemplified. By applying the use of semiotics, the contradictory values, strength and gentleness, of the Playtex ad are brought into light. The Playtex ad employs many different advertising techniques that allow for the deciphering of the values that it reinforces. It is also representative of the standards that women in today’s world are expected to possess. Like the ad, they are supposed to be strong, focused, driven, and invigorated. However, they are also supposed to possess a sweet, feminine, girly, soft side at the same time. These contradictory values establish an accepted social norm that women are expected to follow. Quite interestingly, the cover of Seventeen Magazine supports the contradictions as well. The magazine suggests the importance of fitness and strength in adolescent girls’ lives, but depicts the cover girl as a soft, “girl-next-door” female. Through the use of advertising techniques and semiotics, deciphering the advertisement leads the consumers and audience to understand these different values and realize them in the larger scheme of life. Through its liner ad, Playtex emphasizes how women are expected to possess two contradictory values in today’s world. |