Advertising Portfolio
Old Spice
Old Spice’s advertisement is a national consumer ad as well. Again, a national consumer ad advertises products commissioned by the manufacturer of a product or a service. In this ad we see a fairly attractive male on top of a horse as he presents the new Old Spice to the viewers. The location is at a beach and to the right are different forms of the new Old Spice products.
Old Spice’s ad automatically exhibits an emotional appeal because they want the viewers to gain satisfaction after obtaining the product. Furthermore, the theme associated with the emotional appeal would be dominance and power. In today’s society, being on top displays power and dominance. One could say that the actor, Isaiah Mustafa, is dominating or controlling the horse because he is on top of it. In addition, Mustafa is clearly a male, and throughout history, males have been the most common sex that has been in power. This ad would not be as effective as it is had a woman been on the horse presenting the new Old Spice to the consumers.
Much like many advertisements that one might come across, figurative language plays a huge role in the content of the ad. This featured Old Spice advertisement contains an oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech where contradictory terms appear in conjunction. Old Spice uses the phrase “New Old Spice” that exemplifies an oxymoron. This catches the reader’s attention because there are not many new things that are also old at the same time. The use of an oxymoron is a great example of puffery, which can be defined as the elegant but largely meaningless language.
In addition to the previously mentioned puffery, Old Spice spices up their ad by adding even more. They have a short and striking or memorable phrase or slogan within the advertisement. That slogan is “smell like a man, man.” This slogan alone gives the viewer a catchy phrase that they can remember every time they think about Old Spice. According to Twitchell (p. 41), “Barratt painted “Good Morning! Have You Used Your Pears’ Soap?” on blank spaces all over the British Empire.” This technique used by Barratt was an attempt to make his slogan apart of daily language, which is exactly what Old Spice is trying to do. The slogan “smell like a man, man,” sounds like something an average everyday person might say to another. This helps Old Spice target viewers that might be able to relate to the language in the ad. The slogan itself also features alliteration, repetition, and a double meaning. The alliteration, or repetition of consonant sounds, is seen at the end of the slogan, “man, man.” Utilizing the same exact word, which is also repetition, exhibits the same exact sound, allowing the viewers to remember the slogan easily. Lastly, with the same part of the slogan, “man, man,” one can see that there is a double meaning with the way that the same word is applied. The first “man” is referring to the sex of a human being, while the other man is a commonly used slang word that represents a general exclamation that is not necessarily addressing anyone.
Figure 1: Isaiah Mustafa and Old Spice
Moreover, Old Spice is very creative and known for the way that they represent their brand name. They utilize another form of puffery called calligraphy, which is the text itself often used in connotative ways. The way that “Old Spice” is written gives the brand a personality. It shows that they are a bit daring by using a different type of font than most.
Looking at the overall picture, one can see how effective the language in advertising can be. We see that something as simple as the calligraphy of “Old Spice” gives the brand a whole new meaning and the viewers a whole new perspective. Also, it goes to show that a catchy, conversational slogan can really stick with the consumers.