This document analyzes four magazine ads and summarizes each one. The Volkswagen ad appeals to fun and uses branding to show that owning a Volkswagen allows one to have fun like a guitarist. The Tag ad appeals to power and uses perceptions of beauty to suggest its product will make one attractive and irresistible. The Pepsi ad illustrates fun through a businessman blowing bubbles to show one can have fun at any age through a state of mind. The Macquarie ad fulfills freedom by suggesting it helps one achieve financial independence through spotting business opportunities faster than other advisers.

1. Analysis of Magazine ads In this slideshow I will analyze four different magazine ads. I will explain which of the basic human needs that the ads appeal to, the marketing technique the ad is using, how the ad is framed so that it catches the consumers’ attention, and what other type of meanings are expressed in the ad.

2. Volkswagen This ad appeals to the basic human need for fun. The evidence is that the man, once getting the Volkswagen and the free guitar with it, is now jumping and having fun while the others who don’t have the Volkswagen are grumpy and slumped to the side. The marketing technique this ad is using is branding. It shows a person playing a guitar which is considered by most teenagers as “cool” and “trendy” and ultimately, people who are “cool” and “trendy use a car like Volkswagen. The consumer’s attention is immediately focused on the guitarist jumping through the air as typically done by famous rock singers and artists, who are considered as examples or models of people who know how to have fun in life primarily through their music. The message that carries through is that Volkswagen owners are people who know how to have fun.

3. Tag This ad appeals to the basic human need for power. Tag makes the user feel attractive and important as evidenced by the number of girls who want to get close to the guy in the ad. The marketing technique of perceptions of beauty is effectively used here because it shows that if you use the product, you will be more handsome and irresistible to women. Who wouldn’t want to be this guy? The consumer’s attention is grabbed by the number of girls fighting to win the guy over, clearly he has the power over them. Attractiveness is almost always equated with power because most people gravitate to, listen to and follow people who are attractive.

4. Pepsi The ad illustrates the basic human need for fun. It’s a picture of a middle aged businessman who’s having fun playing with his drink by blowing bubbles with it. The marketing technique used is values association, specifically nonconformity. While everyone else is sitting in their cubicles, typing away, writing about their sad lives, you’re blowing bubbles, forever young. The image of a conservatively well-dressed man contrasting with the overflowing, bubbly drink immediately catches one’s attention. The focus is then directed to the caption at the bottom right hand corner and you can’t help but smile at the thought that no matter how old you get, you can still have fun in life. It’s all a state of mind.

5. Macquarie Freedom is the basic human need that is fulfilled by this ad. It shows that if you use Macquarie, they are the ones who are most capable of seeing things in the financial world which can lead to your being financially independent. This ad uses the marketing technique of values association – frugalness. The ad suggests that Macquarie spots things better and faster than other business advisers and therefore, helps your business succeed in ways that other advisers may not have the capacity to help you with. The use of an optical illusion is used very strategically because it illustrates how Macquarie can identify and separate successful business opportunities from losing propositions. The ad exudes confidence in a company who are sharp and always on the lookout for your best interests.