The Art of Advertisement — The Tactics & Techniques
Back in the 1920s, making sure to keep women’s complexion and beauty in check was still a hot topic. With this certain advertisement, it is highlighting Palmolive soap, stating all the benefits of this product to maintain what is called the “Schoolgirl Complexion.” Having a schoolgirl complexion meant to have flawless, fresh, and unblemished skin. Many ads from this era were filled with different tactics to keep your skin from breaking out and maintaining a face that looked like you were young. I do feel there is some stereotyping in this since it is showing that a woman has to have flawless and attractive skin to really make it.
There is an appeal to this advertisement from the title alone. When you see it, many would want to know the secret of how to get skin that is flawless. The ad shows a picture of a mother with her child, being a representation of how both the toddler and their mother have the same skin type; one being so young, and the other going through many stages of life. From researching other advertisements in the 1920s, a main focus I saw was regarding women’s beauty, health, and being the girl to stand out from the others. The ads would show tips and tricks or the singular product that kept them looking so young and fresh. The bulk of the ads were to show off Palmolive Company and its product.
In every one of their ads, they would make sure to put a bar of Palmolive soap. With its distinct green color and bold yellow text, this beauty product was able to stand out. In the picture, you can see a distinct background of Egypt and Egyptians taking care of a baby. Their expressions seem to be joyous and full of energy. This helped Palmolive’s product boom massively since it was suggested that this certain soap would have been favored in ancient Egypt and by the Pharaoh’s Daughter herself. The advertisement itself seems to be quite minimalist, but to the point when it comes to what the product can do to help. I feel that this minimalist background signifies pure and clean skin.
This is a Palmolive advertisement made in the 2000s. There are many differences compared to this one and the ads made in the 1920s. The main focus of this ad seems to fill up the whole screen. Maria Sharapova is a 2004 Wimbledon champion and is advocating to use Palmolive Deodorant. Another big component that stood out to me is the text on the top. In big, bold letters it exclaims “3 Hours on Centre Court. No Sweat.” This resembles how effective this certain deodorant is, especially for those who are athletes, up and at it all day. The advertisement makes sure to show a picture of the product as well, which is a nice touch. With Palmolive, they made sure to keep their iconic green color, but did change the yellow font to white. For this 2000s advertisement, the colors they chose for the background and even the outfit Sharapova is wearing goes great with the brand colors. This ad would be considered great for this advertisement since Palmolive is known to keep someone very clean and fresh. It also is showing someone who is playing sports and how fresh and clean they still look even being on the court for a couple of hours.
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When looking at both of these ads, they are both deemed “good” since they relate to the times they were made. After you have done your comparison of both ads, make an argument of what has changed or not and why that may be. I do feel both ads were persuasive since all advertisements come off like that. They are drawing us in and saying every good thing in the book to make you want their product.
Ads back then were way more stereotypical and sexist than what they are now. Many advertisements are gender inclusive and products shown have no label of what gender is allowed to use it. From looking at the ads from the 1920s , there seemed to be a line that you could not cross when it came to products you were able to buy. It specifically said women or men, but there was no crossing of these paths. I also feel that ads nowadays are really able to grab your attention with these bold, bright colors and fonts that catch your eye. In present day, there are many celebrity endorsements with ads and when you see a famous person’s face, it causes everyone to bandwagon to that certain product because of the face of who is endorsing the product. Looking at the 1920s Palmolive ad, the colors do seem muted, but gives off a bit of minimalism and elegance.
After reading an article from The Visual Communication Guy, it helped me realize the true intentions of the advertisement of products. “The idea was that, if you can establish yourself as credible (ethos), for example, you are more likely to persuade people. Likewise, if you tugged on your audience’s heartstrings (hit their emotions, pathos) or presented a logical argument (logos), you could persuade people to act. In other words, you (or your communication) appealed to people because you were credible, you affected their emotions, or you made logical sense.” (The Visual Communication Guy, para. 1). The truth of ads is that it brings in an audience to a product through a mean of different ways. To endorsement ads to bandwagon, the list goes on an on for how an ad can cater to you. When it comes to ads on some of my favorite products, it gets hard to not want to get the product. It is all a marketing tactic. Technology has helped advertisments exponentially. “Technology has enabled businesses to create more targeted marketing campaigns by providing access to a wealth of customer data, which can be used to understand consumer behavior and preferences” (LinkedIn, para. 17).
Sources Cited:
1920s Palmolive Ad: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/adaccess/BH1217
2000s UK Palmolive Ad: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-2000s-uk-palmolive-magazine-advert-85348516.html
