Media Log Two

     It's a good thing our media logs are due on Sundays. They coincide perfectly with my pre-existing Sunday plans of sitting in my room with my laptop and a about ten different fashion magazines. Sorry to disappoint any of you readers looking for me to analyze song lyrics or something of the sort, the only think your likely to find here is my thoughts on ads in fashion magazines.

     I'd like to start this log off by defining a term. 

        Pun(n): Bad joke, usually having a double meaning, which no one finds funny. The jokester usually finds themselves knocked out on the ground or being thrown tomatoes at. (As defined by Urban Dictionary)

     Do you hear that Neutrogena? Puns aren't funny. Especially the one you used. Right, now that I got that off my chest into the actual content of this ad.

     This add uses two of Advertising's 15 Basic Appeals, the need for attention and the need for autonomy. The need for attention is obvious in that this is a beauty product used to enhance your own personal appearance and draw every one's attention on you. The need for autonomy is seen when the ad says, "Does your makeup do that?". The ad argues that their product is unique, it is the only one that can make you your most confident and beautiful self, any other product won't. If you use something else then you're missing out, and you don't want to miss out, do you? No. You want to have beautiful, confident, oil-free skin. Neutrogena uses this techniques to make you stand out by grouping you with the average makeup user. It encourages you to break the mold and be different, fulfilling our need for autonomy.

     The use of weasel words in this advertisement is another very obvious tactic used to persuade. Words like, "exclusive" "instantly" "continuously"convince the reader that this is a revolutionary product with fast working results. And let's not forget the "Rice Protein Complex". No one knows what it means, but it makes that product sound more scientific and tested. In a way, it makes the reader inferior, mentioning things that they would have no way of knowing what it means so all they can do is read the description and nod along, assuming that it must be true. The reader is more likely to believe what the ad is saying, because there is some scientific "complex" behind it. 

     This ad has combined both weasel words and Advertising's 15 Basic Appeals to create an overall successful argument. However, in my perspective, if I were the average reader (not a high school student trying to run a media blog) I wouldn't have read past the awful pun.