Loreal Ad Coursework 1A PDF

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My submitted Coursework 1A for the course....

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The following analysis will be looking into L’Oréal Paris’ advert titled: “THIS IS AN AD FOR MEN” (Appendix 1). This advert is part of a three-part social media campaign released in March 2019. The advert was created in collaboration with McCann World group Deutschland to undertake research for this advert. This advert had a shocking factor to it, which influenced my emotions, therefore this is the reason why I wanted to analyse this advert. The makeup in the advert is L’Oréal recognised with distinctive packaging represented through interesting designs. The advert’s visuals, text and main messages will be analysed throughout. The title of the advert in analysis “THIS IS AN AD FOR MEN”, has a certain provoking meaning. Meaning can be influenced by language, social construction and culture. “Where you live and when you lived there is extremely important” in terms of social construction when people construct meaning towards signs (TedXTalks, 2016). This is what creates meaning for a person and how social constructions are made and perceived to shape our meaning. Depending on the era we live in (1920s, 1950s, 2000, 2010), social construction subconsciously happens arounds us, constructing how we see and perceive things. Semiology is the investigation into the meaning of signs and the laws governing them (Saussure, 1959). Semiotics is the study of how we make meaning towards ideas, symbols and signs. It is how we form a particular thought process from a ‘sign’ (Saussure, 1959). The history of Semiotics derived from two key finders of semiology: Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Pierce. In regard to Pierce’s research and work into semiotics, he was focused on pragmatism and logic. Saussure emphasises how a linguistic sign is analysed by evidence of its senses which makes a link between a concept and a sound pattern. It is clear the unique link that humans make to create ‘signs’, between the signifier (sound or word) and signified (concept, object or idea), referring to Appendix 2, we can see the clear link between the two. A sign must constitute of both a signified and a signifier, the signifier could have a different signified depending on the interpretation of the person, shown in Appendix 2. Furthermore, the signified will influence a person internally, coming from their ideas and beliefs which links back into where a person is brought up, therefore, linking to social construction. The signifier is the word or object and it is how this is interpreted that meaning is then created. Therefore, the signifier reflects the signified, it reflects how as humans we create meaning from it (Changing minds, 2019). This campaign advertisement is bold and eye catching, however in a simplistic manner. The L’Oréal advert features one of the brands’ mascaras, with the strokes of the brush fading out higher and higher. This advert is one of a three-part campaign, each advert uses a different L’Oréal product in the style of a bar chart, to emphasise the statistics of the research undertaken. Hence, this highlighted the figures of female leaders’ benefits. The text in the advert stating: “THIS IS AN AD FOR MEN”: constitutes a bold nature. In L’Oréal’s advert, they wanted to highlight the lack of women leadership in Germany and how there needs to be a change to equality in management. The red background of the advert has a powerful connotation and can be seen to emphasise the important message within the advert. Connotations can be defined as: “a feeling or idea that is suggested by a particular word although it need not be a part of the word's meaning, or something suggested by an object or situation”(Cambridge Dictionary, 2019). Furthermore, emphasised by Divvy (2014), the colour red in advertising can evoke certain emotions/reactions including passion, aggression, energy, grabbing attention. Thus, L’Oréal would want this colour to evoke these emotions to make the viewer feel attached to the issue. Red has connotations of strength and danger. Red has associations with the ‘stop’ sign, and with the L’Oréal advert, the company want viewers to

stop and think about the issue of equality in the German corporate ‘world’. The white bold text: THIS IS AN AD FOR MEN, contrasts with the red background with a bright light respect. The contrast draws attention to the text. White is a light colour; therefore, this has connotations of L’Oréal bringing light to woman leadership. Underneath the bold statement of the advert text (“THIS IS AN AD FOR MEN”), the smaller text states: “Hire more women in leadership roles. We’re all worth it”. Using L’Oréal’s famous slogan “Because you’re worth it” and turning it around to send a message to men in management. The slogan is very timeless and proves to make change even in 2019. They are proving to men in management that women are worth employing and they should be employed. It makes a statement of the fact we are all equals, targeting men in high board positions to act on this issue. The slogan has many meanings no matter which era of time it is perceived in, therefore, the company can use this to their advantage. The connotations of their slogan ultimately link back to equality. The power of L’Oréal being a multinational company, enables them to use their power to fight bigger issues, such as leadership/equality issues like they are doing with this advert. Using data on the advert and striking messages, adds a sense of importance to the advert. The middle of the advert features a mascara with the strokes going in an upward direction. The mascara strokes have connotations of a bar chart, with data running either side. The mascara strokes are an iconic sign. Linking to Peirce’s theory, an iconic sign, is one that resembles its signified object (Lanir, 2012). The signified object is the bar chart, which is a recognisable sign, particularly towards the target market that L’Oréal are trying to reach. L’Oréal created the look of the advert in this way, to create a simplistic look for corporate men. Since the men they are targeting are used to dealing with and analysing data, this is how L’Oréal could get their message across to them. This is what L’Oréal are trying to show, how employing female leaders will benefit the companies in many ways. In all three adverts (shown in Appendix 4), there is an increase in height of the product, showing a different benefit of female leaders in corporations; Profitability, Employee Satisfaction and Innovation. Showing figures proves the ‘worth’ of female leaders to the closed-minded men in management in Germany. This advert is particularly specific to Germany, with research showing that 91.4% of management and governing boards in Germany are men (Glenday, 2019). With further investigation from L’Oréal and McCann group, they found that although there is a lack of women leaders in Germany, they make up for this in results and performance. For example, where they found 30% of women comprising management positions, profitability was found to increase by 15% (Glenday, 2019). This research was carried out purely in Germany due to the clear issues of leadership quality in this country. Following on from this, there is a clear target market in the advert. The advert is aimed at men, specifically men in management in the Germany region. With men holding the majority of corporate positions, they will be recruiting in Germany, thus, holding the responsibility of hiring more women. L’Oréal used the opportunity of the advert to pinpoint men in management to act on this equality issue and show them that women contribute a considerable amount to the business as well as men. Kesa (2019) argued: “this could be the first ever cosmetics campaign aimed at old, white men”. L’Oréal used a women’s stereotype of makeup to not only promote their brand and their values, but to fight an issue. In conclusion, L’Oréal created a thought-provoking advert with a particular meaning behind it. In collaboration with McCann group, research found that 91.4% of management in Germany, consisted of men. Delving deeper into this issue, both groups found that where women lacked

in numbers, they made up for in results. This research was shown in clever graphics of the products to be made to look like bar charts, to fit their male corporate demographic.

References Ads of the World (2019) This Is An Ad For Men – Lipstick, Mascara, Nail Polish. Retrieved from https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/loreal_this_is_an_ad_for_men_lipstick_mascara _nail_polish Ammann, J (2019) L’Oreal Advertises Gender diversity ‘Because Women are worth it’. Retrieved from: https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2019/loreal-advertises-gender-diversitybecause-women-are-worth-it/83146/ Berger, A. A. (2004). Semiotic analysis. Media analysis techniques, 3. Cambridge Dictionary (2019) Connotation. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/connotation Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics: the basics. Routledge. Changing Minds (2019) Signifier and Signified. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/critical_theory/concepts/signifier_signified.htm De Saussure, F. (1959). Course in general linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library, 2. De Saussure, F. (2011). Course in general linguistics. Columbia University Press. Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) Semiotics. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics Encyclopedia Britannica (2010) Pragmatics. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/pragmatics Glenday, J (2019) ‘This is for Men’ – L’Oréal Paris unveils clever ads calling for more women in leadership. Retrieved from https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/04/08/l-oreal-paris-turnsthe-tables-men-with-female-empowerment-campaign Lanir, L (2012) Charles Sanders Peirce: Symbolic, Iconic, and indexical signs. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@llanirfreelance/charles-sanders-peirce-symbolic-iconic-andindexical-signs-29e0e40bef1d McCann World Group (2019) Makeup Genius – Work. Retrieved from https://www.mccann.com/work/makeup-genius Peirce, C. S. (1991). Peirce on signs: Writings on semiotic. UNC Press Books. Peirce, C. S. (1902). Logic as semiotic: The theory of signs. Philosophical writings of Peirce, 100.

Puntoni, Stefano & Schroeder, Jonathan & Ritson, Mark. (2010). Meaning Matters: Polysemy in Advertising. Journal of Advertising - J ADVERTISING. 39. 51-64. 10.2753/JOA0091-3367390204. Sociological Images (2008, September 16) Social Construction [Video File] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVWmZAStn8 TEDxTalks (2016, January 28) We construct our reality | Rory O’Carroll | TEDxYouth@TheSpire. [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTB-TG62BNM Yandell, J. (2013). The social construction of meaning: reading Animal Farm in the classroom. Literacy, 47(1), 50-55. Kesa, I (2019) Case Study: ‘This is An Ad for Men’ by L’Oréal, April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-study-ad-men-loreal-april-2019-ingrid-kesa/ Visual Memory (2017) Semiotics for Beginners. Retrieved from http://visualmemory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem02.html?LMCL=D0JFRF Vizard, S & Roderick, L (2017) Greggs, L’Oréal, gender stereotyping: 5 things that mattered this week and why. Retrieved from https://www.marketingweek.com/greggs-loreal-genderstereotyping-5-things-mattered-week/

Appendices Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4...