Good vs Bad Advertising

This advertisement was very confusing to me. In my opinion the advertisement itself does not match the product it is advertising for. I do not get the connection between “breaking free,” being an “individual,” and smoking cigarettes. I am a smoker, so I am not being biased towards tobacco; I just think this ad is stupid. This is a type-dominate advertisement, but I do not like the hierarchy of scale of the words. “IS NOT a” appear to be the most important words. This ad has a less obvious structural scheme, but appears to be appropriately balanced. It makes me wonder why the designer chose the color blue. Yes, this blue is very bright and eye catching, but again I cannot make the connection to cigarettes. I would improve this by coming up with a completely new slogan. The image is fine, but the two do not match.

In my opinion this advertisement is very weak. To start, the typology is all over the place. There is a mixture of lower case, uppercase, and caps. The words have different weights and different point sizes; there is too much going on. Secondly, there is too much negative space. Everything is aligned perfectly, but spaced apart weirdly. In my opinion this add is a little stiff and boring. There are no eye grabbing colors or clever phrases. The hierarchy of elements is a little odd also. Some words are larger than others, and the actually body of the advertisement and the visual element are tiny. I would improve this add by making the always box larger. This would add a little symmetry in the lower right corner to balance out the large 97% in the top left corner. I believe this would be an example of a Mondrain layout, because everything is geometric.

This advertisement is stronger than the previous two. The products look appealing and sophisticated. The colors used appear to be well thought out; the background color compliments the color of the products well, and there is a nice contrast between the white type and the red type. The products are arranged on the page well. The diagonal line of product counterbalances the OLAY at the top and REGENERIST at the bottom very well. This ad is different than the previous two because this is an image-dominant layout. The hierarchy of scale is accurate, the products are the most important and they are the largest.

This advertisement was my favorite. The model’s hair in this picture is amazing! The advertisement achieved exactly what it was supposed to. I want this hair, so I want this product. Her hair looks healthy, sexy, and full of volume. The most important thing in this hair product advertisement is her hair. It is clearly the main focus because of how large it is. She is beautiful, her hair is beautiful, and the viewer is automatically drawn in. The contrast between the white type and the blue type matches perfectly to the actual product. This is another example of an image-dominant layout. Everything is balanced well; asymmetrically. The type is in all uppercase with the same point size and weight. This was the perfect choice of type because it is simple. It complements the drama and crazyness of her hair well.

This advertisement is another strong one. The color pallet is very primary, which contrasts well with the white background. The ad uses type and image dominance. The proportion of the type matches the proportion of the image, though there is some hierarchy of scale in the type. This is an example of downstyle, only the first word in the title is capitalized. Everything is centrally aligned and balanced well. Allergies and dust make my nose dry and itchy. I want to use this product because the image looks soothing and moisturizing.