Visual Analysis Argument
Name of Student
Institution
Visual Argument Analysis
Benetton United Colors Campaign
One evident aspect of Benetton’sBenetton’s campaign adverts is that they are outwardly explicit and controversial with loud expressions of the aspect of unity, color, and diversity. After reading and analyzing them for the first, one is likely to grapple with questions about life, reality, and humanity, among others. One stops viewing life from a narrow perspective that is ruled by comfort and instead, embraces a rather appalling and real nature of things that can be considered to be controversial by most. Benetton’s objective was to change the world’s perspective about life and shift the focus of advertising from a falsified objective of increasing consumerism in a bid to address social problems more openly. The pictures appeal to an individual in that they provoke a deeper meaning of the most ignored aspects of life owing to the strong visual, political, and social message. The emotional appeal is not one of beauty from within as that promoted by the Dove Real Beauty Campaign but one that manages to shock an individual owing to its eye-opening effect and the aspect of highlighting actual social issues.
Figure 1: 1991, United Colors of Benetton
Benetton’s attempt to evoke emotions and strike an awakening moment to real-life issues is portrayed in this picture. This 1991 ad is deep and heavy with lessons of reality and the most underrated aspect of life (Floros, 2020). Evidently, one can see two women whose hands are clasped together close to the child’s heart revealing a message of unity in diversity. A single blanket has provided warmth for individuals from continents that were historically conflicting. The use of a purple and green color blanked to unite a diverse people shows that although it is the inherent distinctness in people that makes them attractive to one another. The message is also sending a strong message of societal deviance and non-conformity to stereotypes about homosexuals in terms of interracial love and the aspect of adopting.
It is in this explicit expression of life and social issues that Benetton reminds people of inherent differences in unified people. For instance, although the picture below shows two young and “innocent” children clasped in each other arms, Benetton made a successful attempt to convey a message that is deeper than meets the eyes.
Figure 2: 1986 United Colors of Benetton
One evident aspect of this visual representation is that it pronounces the differences between the two children louder than their similarities. In this, one can envision the desire to showcase racial differences and the need to degrade one race while glorifying the other one. Although this picture may be considered by most as irrational, Benetton attempted to portray logic in people through the use of a highly politicized concept of inherent differences in race. This image from 1982 showcases the inherent imbalance in the race as the white girl is full of life with glowy hair and full cheeks as those of an angel. On the other hand, the black girl shows fury with her eyes sending a message of “I’ll come for you” which could probably take the viewer back to the history of the black slave trade. The girl’s hair has been spiked to appear like two little horns while the white girl’s hair is flowy and graceful. In the end, the hidden facts and logic drawn from the picture after analyzing it deeply dims an individual emotional growth of a uniting effect by highlighting the aspect of racial differences that are divided into good and evil.
After analyzing the website, one can notice that Benetton’s focus was to portray the messages through an emotional appeal more than a logical or factual perspective. All the visual images are intended to evoke deep emotion and understanding of the represented logic about various societal issues (Tinic, 1997). The campaign also showcases that placing societal issues within the perspective of product promotion creates disharmony between facts and the need to promote consumerism. In the end, the campaign is an attempt to embrace life for what it is without hiding the inherent differences in gender, race, homosexuality, while still embracing the unity of humanity.
Dove Real Beauty Ad Campaign
The dove ad campaign is a consumer good under the personal care category and the classification of beauty.
Figure 3: Dove Real Beauty Campaign
This advertisement is part of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Looking at the advert, one can identify that the product’s main target market is the female market and the need to promote self-esteem and beauty in women. The text used to convey the message in the advert has the words, “experiences of beautiful moments with a friend” in a bid to provide a solution owing to the fact that women are likely to grapple with their body images and self-acceptance. Analyzing the advert, one can envision that Dove’s aim was to portray the benefits of body wash as a product with attainable benefits regardless of their race, age, and ethnicity.
This advert has adopted a creative strategy whereby the company has used models who appeal whose appearances are above those of an ordinary woman. This aspect generates a false idea on the consumer about the product in that even prolonged use of the cosmetic product does not change the consumer’s looks to measure up to the models (Dove, n.d.). Although this generic approach is likely to generate dissatisfaction amongst the users, the advert has passed a message of self-acceptance by propagating the idea that beauty is unique and relative owing to the diversity portrayed in the campaign. As such, this eliminates the growing perception that women should emulate plastic beauty that is often peddled by most advertisements in the beauty industry.
Figure 4: Dove Real Beauty Campaign
Although figure 3 advert has used models, the dove real beauty campaign employed diversified needs of women regardless of their race, age, and appearances, an aspect that has enabled the company to separate itself from beauty fallacies such as to attend to the actual needs of the clientele by attempting to portray women in line with their actual beauty.
The dove real beauty advert managed to appeal to the audience’s emotions (pathos) through facts and credibility owing to the messages used and the focus of the advert. For instance, rather than attempting to make the audience search for beauty, this campaign focused on making the audience feel beautiful as they are regardless of their age, race, and appearance. Unlike other strategies that are cold and unengaging such as the promotional strategy of “buy one get one free”, this strategy focuses on appealing to the audience through their emotions by making them feel good about themselves (Millard, 2009). The company’s reputation has provided it with the authority to address the subject of beauty in a manner that wins the attention of trust. In addition to swaying the audience’s emotions (pathos), the company has adopted the use of reason and facts to persuade the audience to choose their product over other beauty products. For instance, the message in fig 1 above states, “experiences of beautiful moments with a friend” while fig 2 states, “campaign for real beauty” which is accompanied with pictures of diversified women showing that beauty is not limited to thin boundaries but rather, actual beauty is in diversity. The advert has provided facts that not only stir the user’s emotions about how they feel but also facilitate the purchase. The logical argument that beauty is not limited to a particular size and shape resonates with most people who have experienced difficulties grappling with their inability to become like models who are fit, flawless, and young.
As a potential customer, I would say that the real beauty campaign has left a mark on how I feel about the company and the product, showing that it has appealed to my emotions. The facts provided are deep as opposed to being superficial and plastic in that they dive to the real core of humanity rather than promoting aspects that are unachievable.
References
Dove (n.d.). Dove campaigns. Dove. Retrieved 1 October 2020 from https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/campaigns.html
Floros, G. (2020). 10 most controversial united colors of Benetton ads. In Art and Culture. Retrieved 1 October 2020 from https://friendlystock.com/top-ten-controversial-united-colors-of-benetton-ads/
Millard, J. (2009). Performing Beauty: Dove’s “Real Beauty” Campaign. Symbolic Interaction, 32(2), 146-168. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2009.32.2.146
Tinic, S. A. (1997). United colors and untied meanings: Benetton and the commodification of social issues. Journal of Communication, 47(3), 3-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1997.tb02714.x