This document analyzes and compares two magazine advertisements for Beyoncé albums. The first advert for her self-titled album features a simple black-and-white image of Beyoncé in a seductive pose showing her legs, with just the album title in matching font to draw attention to Beyoncé as the focus. The second advert for her "I Am Sasha Fierce" album contrasts with two colorful images of Beyoncé, one stripped down and one made up, representing different personas on the album, along with release date and featured singles to familiarize audiences with the music.

1. I particularly like the simplicity of this magazine advert. I feel that it
portrays Beyoncé as a figure of importance as she is the main part of
the advert. In this particular advert Beyoncé is stood in a seductive
stance, with her legs on show. Beyoncé is well known for her legs in
the media, so she often shows them of, due to her star image. Mention
of Laura Mulvey’s “Male Gaze” theory is relevant here as the main
image of the singer could be perceived as being quite sexual, not just
women would appreciate Beyoncé’s looks and outfit, and males
would be drawn to the album and video as the advert has set the tone
for the rest of the albums videos. She is dressed in a simple black all
in one; this complements the minimal colours and surroundings. The
setting for this particular advert is again minimal the colours are
bland, this contrasts with the dark outfit Beyoncé is wearing, making
her stand out. Referring to the typography it is the same shade as
Beyoncé’s outfit; this follows the simplistic theme that runs
throughout the advert. The title is in block capitals, again symbolizing
Beyoncé’s importance to the album. The simple theme throughout
leaves the audience wanting to know what Beyoncé’s album is about.
The album cover follows this theme also, with the same type of front

2. and style of image; this helps the audience link the two together.
There is very limited information about the new album on this
magazine advert, this could be because Beyoncé is such a massive
star, thisinformation is not important and just a small simple picture
of the new album with the title being ‘Beyoncé 4′ clearly puts across
the message to the audience.Beyoncé’s star image is so worldwide
not a lot of marketing is needed; her fans usually know the dates of
her out coming albums.
A contrasting Beyoncé Album advert would be this particular one.
Beyoncé’s 'I am Sasha Fierce' magazine advert follows the
conventions of a typical magazine advert unlike the previous advert I
looked at. Straightaway there is two main images of the artist that fill
up the entire advert indicating that Beyoncé is the star of the album.
The image’s that are used are contrasting, the image on the left is a
stripped down image of Beyoncé, and this is how she is presented in
one of her songs that is presented on the album ‘If I was a boy’. The
right hand image is a total different approach. Beyoncé is fully made
up with make-up unlike the image next to it, she looks fierce in this
image, linking in with the album title, however it also links to some of
her other songs that are presented on the album where Beyoncé is

3. portrayed being a fierce women. In both images Beyoncé looks
beautiful like the ideal women. Girl’s looks to this and want to look
like her; Beyoncé is seen as a key role model to girls this is a key
motive for females to buy the album and admire Beyoncé.The advert
is presented in a black and white; this differs from many other
adverts making this particular advert stand out.
Basic but important information is included to let the audience know
the latest information about Beyoncé’s album this again differs from
the basic advert that was published after this one the information
that is presented is key to the album release such as the date it will
be available from. The artists name is the boldest and biggest writing
on the magazine advert, which attracts the audience straight away it
however follows the same font of the other advert I analyzed this
suggests this font is used through out Beyoncé’s career, this font
would now be associated with the pop star, and seems to be her
brand. The advert includes three of Beyoncé’ssingles, which are
included in the album. This makes the audience feel familiar with the
artist and their music; the singles that are presented on the advert
are the songs that have been the most successful and the most well
know familiarizing the audience with the album. This magazine
advert does not include star ratings and any other
additional information, which makes it catchy and easy
to read, making the advert stand out from other adverts.