4th March 2008
Elizabeth Brown
English Media Coursework:
Comparing two advertisements.
Have you ever had to make a decision? Whether it was between two things or whether it was between more, perhaps four or five? You would be lying to yourself if you said that you’ve never made a decision. What about last time you decided to go on holiday? How did you choose your holiday destination? Most of my use posters, or advertisements, and when we do this we look for qualities that best suit us.
When looking at the two different holiday advertisements for New Zealand and the Dominican Republic I noticed a few main facts about them. Both advertisements had one main picture, furthermore, both main pictured feature sandy beaches. However, the Dominican Republic advertisement has three smaller side pictured capturing some of the main facilities and features of the island. Both advertisements include a slogan, information and means of contact within the text.
I believe that the New Zealand advertisement is aimed at younger couples between the age of eighteen and thirty, for means of a romantic getaway, relaxing weekend or honeymoons. My reason for thinking this is because the New Zealand as uses yellows and browns blended together to make the beach look romantic, also there is a couple running along the beach naked. In addition to this the picture contains a sunrise, a sunrise or sunset are used in most cases as romantic imagery. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic I feel is aimed at families with teenage children, or groups of friends, perhaps students. This is because the Dominican Republic uses bolder colours such as blue, green, red and white; these are eye catching and resemble a fun time and liveliness. While one of the three miniature pictures shows white water rafting, this is something that younger people would be interested in. Nevertheless, the Dominican Republic could also be aimed at an older generation as the main picture has a boat stranded in the water and so suggests that the Dominican Republic is secluded and peaceful.
Both advertisements contain beaches, however New Zealand includes a couple skinny dipping whilst the Dominican Republic had palm trees, white sand and a stranded boat. Both advertisements have a feel of peace and relaxation, though the Dominican Republic uses bright bold colours to catch it’s target audiences eyes and New Zealand uses yellows and browns to radiate the feel of romance.
Within the text from the advertisement for the Dominican Republic it comments highly on the island and the culture of the people who live there. Not only that, it uses language which makes the Dominican Republic look like the best place to visit on earth with words and phrases like: “Here I feel free.”, “a thousand golden beaches”, and “A land of sensations.”. The advertisement for New Zealand does this too, by using words and phrases such as: “That sense of freedom to do the things you have always wanted.”, “incredible”, “imagination”, “wild dramatic landscape.”. Nevertheless, I don’t feel that these words do much for the advertisements, as most of the things said in the text don’t match the photos. The Dominican Republic kept their text short though, this is good, they summed up all they needed to in a few small sentences and so people walking by, or looking at leaflets would feel more inclined to stop and read, whereas the advertisement for New Zealand includes a lot more read as there is a lot more text, although the difference is that the advert for New Zealand contains more information and more means of contact, while the Dominican Republic only has a telephone number, no website.
To conclude my essay I will say I quite like both advertisements for two entirely different reasons. The Dominican Republic catches my eye more, the bright colours and the little side pictures impress me as I love bold, ‘in-your-face’ colours, however, there isn’t a website on the advertisement, and even though there is less text, which makes it more likely to be read, there isn’t really enough information considering there is to website in which you can look up more about the island, nonetheless I would probably look into going to the Dominican Republic because the pictured appealed to me.
On the other hand, I also like the New Zealand advertisement as, despite the length on the text, after reading it I decided that were was a fair amount of information and they also included a website which I can visit if I find myself looking for more information, yet, the slogan was extremely cheesy and the picture didn’t really appeal to me because the colors were too blended and seemed far to romantic and soppy for my likes.
In all I like both advertisements, they are both places that I wouldn’t mind going to, but they both call to me for different reasons.