The document is a student's media studies portfolio evaluating two fragrance advertisements they created. For the first ad, featuring a woman on a motorcycle, the student analyzes the codes and conventions used to target rebellious women. For the second ad, the student again features a woman on a motorcycle and explains design decisions. The student also discusses researching the magazine and advertising industries and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their ad campaign.

1. Sophie Scott 9138 Claremont Fan Court School 64680 OCR Media Studies J526 Individual Media Studies Portfolio B321 Planning and Evaluation: Commentary

2. Fragrance Advert 1: Target Audience for Rebellious My advertisement targets young and middle aged women as it promises adventure and romance. My target audience is likely to be a single woman in the age range of late teens to mid/late 40s. She is likely to spend a good proportion of her income on motorbikes, jeans, leather jackets. She is likely to spend her leisure time hanging around by herself or venturing somewhere. My target audience’s favourite holiday would be either skiing in the alps or trekking through the Amazon jungle. My target audience’s perfect weekend is spent exercising to maintain a healthy body. My target audience is rebellious and has a mind of their own. They don’t want to be like everyone else. My target audience doesn’t read much, but if they did, they would most likely read health or bike magazines. My target audience’s favourite genre of film would be action and adventure or horror and thriller. My target audience would most likely see my advert advertised on a billboard or in a bus stop or in a magazine.

3. How Advert 1 targets my audience: codes & conventions The product advertised is placed at the top right hand corner, the writing is jagged and rough but the use of the colour pink gives the image a female influence. The image features a rebellious young woman sat on a motorbike. She is in a hero-like position which makes her seem independent and strong. This suggests the ‘promise’ the perfume makes to make the consumer strong and confident. A leather jacket and boots suggests a biker influence, this shows she is a strong and almost ‘tomboyish’ woman who doesn’t need a man and can cope perfectly on her own or it may show that romance flows into her world and she doesn’t care. Her facial expression is almost looking down on you. saying that if you buy this perfume you will rise above the other normal people.

4. Fragrance Advert 2: Target Audience for Rebellious The target audience for my advert is mainly women, from young tomboy girls to middle aged athletic women: my product is like the recent brand produced by the Sex Pistols in that it targets a middle aged audience who still think of themselves as young rebels. They may be employed but they concentrate on themselves, they probably wouldn’t be rich but they would be middle to lower class. My target customer seeks adventure and romance. My target customer is probably unconfident about herself and desires to feel good about herself.

5. How advert 2 targets my audience: codes & conventions The product advertised is placed in the bottom left hand corner, I thought this would help seeing as the English language is written from left to right. The image features, again, a rebellious young woman who is sat on a motorbike but this time she is looking forward. Her heavy make up and leather jacket suggests she is a biker girl. I have deliberately kept the colours black and dark to give it a menacing theme. Overall the advert has a hint of pink, so it has a bit of feminism. Her facial expression is neutral and undisturbed. As if nothing in her life can disturb her – a sense of strength.

6. Institution: the magazine industry: my research Usually perfume tends to be a product for rich and high class people, however my target audience isn’t going to be rich and high class. My target audience is going to be athletic and tomboyish women. I would place my advert in a free newspaper ( Metro ). Readers of all ages and personalities read newspapers. Also the fact that my advert would be in a newspaper may suggest that it is not too expensive, that would most likely appeal to women seeking a cheap but good quality fragrance. I would place my advert in Women’s Health Magazine, people who read this magazine tend to be women aspiring to for success health wise. Since my product is aimed at athletic or tomboyish women I recon this would be the perfect place. The audience profile for the magazines that carry my adverts are aspirers, women of all ages, may not have a lot of money to spend, middle class, rebellious.

7. Research into the advertising industry First I studied soft drinks advertising, I studied Vimto and Pepsi. I studied how men, women, and young people are represented in these adverts and how the brands conveyed their messages. For example, in the Vimto advert Seriously Mixed Up Fruit , the fruit is personified as male and they decide to go on a fun fair which appeals to a young audience. Early adverts tended to have more text. For example, one of the early Pepsi adverts had a paragraph of writing next to the picture. In this advert the man is calmly drinking Pepsi, whilst the woman seems to be telling him off and he doesn’t take any notice because he does not care.

8. Advert 1: My original photograph, my decisions and my revisions At first I was not sure on what I should do with a photo like this. I practised with certain elements of Photoshop and eventually found something that fitted the theme perfectly. I reversed the letters in the word ‘different’ so the word actually looked different and stood out. I placed the bottle in the top right hand corner because then you could see both the woman in the advert and the product advertised. On one of my previous advert ideas, the words “dare to be” were very hard to see, so I decided to give the letters an outline which will enable consumer to read the slogan.

9. Advert 2: My original photograph, my decisions and my revisions Gave this advert a cartoon-like background, but left her realistic. An account of the decisions that you made. I made the word ‘different’ seem different to the rest of the advert to reflect on the theme. The words are also easier to read. I placed the bottle on the bottom left hand corner, in English you read from left to right so people would most likely see the product first then the picture. I placed the writing on the brightest part of the image to make it more readable. I changed the word ‘different’ to make it stand out more.

10. Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of my advertising campaign Looking at my first advert, I loved the heroic pose of the woman. She represents the stronger women of society. I loved the black and white effect of the photo. I think the Harley Davidson was also a strength because it is an iconic bike (The Harley Davidson from the film Easy Rider ). Despite the strengths of the advert, there were a few weaknesses such as the unintended white outlining the word “different” and the other words were also hard to read. Finally, I thought the bottle could’ve been a lot smaller. Moving onto my second advert, I loved the comic-like back ground and the fact the person in the picture is coloured so it makes her stand out from the rest. I also think the words are a lot better this time, they are much easier to read. I only noticed one flaw, that was again the perfume bottle being much larger than intended. I like the fact that she is still sat on the iconic bike, because people would be able to relate to it.