Dominant and Alternative Adverts

Dominant Advert – Lynx



The lynx effect advert was produced by Lynx them self to address to mainly men to buy their product. From looking at this advert and others, it’s clear to say that their unique selling point is to attract women with their fragrance.

In the advert, the main dominant representation shown was the man and a large mass of girls following him which is a dominant stereotype.

To summarise the advert, in the beginning the man at the top of the cliff with lots of rats following him which shows that he has no popularity, no status and no real life. The connotations you could take away from this is that he finds it hard to be attractive for the women, which is an alternative characteristic for most men however eventually he slowly turns to a dominant one. This is because, as soon as he sprays the lynx, he has the ‘effect’ of girls suddenly finding him attractive which then makes him a popular man. This is Lynx’s main selling point for all men.

The use of lots of women following him was chosen as a dominant ideology because as an audience they want to see the norm in adverts rather than something that’s new which hasn’t created a status of being popular. Women are represented to have a high working class as the props used to dress them are smart clothing. You could say that this as an alternative characteristic of women as they are normally seen as the housewife. Once the man sprays himself, they become more relaxed and into their dominant ideology as they lose their dignity and respect because they follow him through alley ways etc. Also a couple of girls follow him by leaving another man which could show their immaturity in life.

Both the man and women looked as if they were in their 20s however Lynx can attract boys from 14- 30. This is a wide range because this from both ends of the target audience, they care about their image to attract girls. A more niche audience would be older men who are still in touch with impressing their wife at that age. In my opinion, the product attracts the majority of the middle class as they all are working people trying to create an image for them.

Overall this advert is effective for a mass audience because the characters and product are represented through a dominant ideology.


Alternative Advert 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CEQMv3vfYE
 

This advert was produced by Nike especially for women which was the main target audience. Only one young woman was represented in the advert on the main stage which draws our main attention to her and her dancing and nothing else.

Using the clothing used which is still feminine but at the same time sporty creates the alternative ideology as women are not generally seen as sports players who break dance. This form of dance is primarily done by most men which are successful hence creates the dominance. 

The woman dancer was shown to have some attitude, skill and presence which represents the alternative ideology of women. Stereotypically, women are seen as the behind the scenes workers who clean and look after the kids however from this advert you can see independence and control of her life and expressing it through dancing.

In my opinion this representation was created to address Nike products to a wider target audience to get more publicity and attraction by a variety of people and not just boys and men.

Overall, this advert is effective to attract female audiences to a product which may only been seen mostly on men.