Clavin Klein advert analysis essay

I have chosen this advert for Calvin Klein’s new male and female fragrance range to analyse for my essay as I feel it is very effective in its purpose, and has a lot of interesting points and features on which to pick up on.
3 words I would use to describe this advert would be: Confident, Passionate and Mysterious…
I feel that this advert very much promotes confidence for a number of reasons. First of all, if ck’s target audience is to sell this product for a male audience, it gives a very positive attitude towards the male character in the advert. The man’s body language is saying that he is in control and confident about the situation. The advert is basically wanting you to think that if you, the consumer, purchase this fragrance, you too will be confident just like the man in the advert. Another word that this advert promotes that strongly links in with the confidence is ‘intimacy’. If you look towards their facial areas, you can see just how close the two subjects are. Because of the fact that they are promoting both a male and a female range, the intimate factor of the advert is extremely important in the sales pitch in order to get across their point that, whichever gender you are, if you buy this product you too will have the confidence to become this intimate with someone.
Another large aspect of the advert is how it portrays passion between the two subjects. Like confidence, passion is also closely linked to intimacy. If you look closely at their faces you can really see the message ck are trying to get across about their fragrance. The look in the eyes of the models really shows the passion they are feeling, how they are looking at each other so intently. To associate the fragrance with passion would be a good selling point, as this could well be an aspect that the consumer wants to feel when wearing it. The way that the woman is pushed up against the wall is definitely promoting passion within the product. From looking at this body language and closeness of the man and woman in the advert, you can see that the company want passion to be a connotation of their fragrance.
There is also definitely a sense of mystery about the advert… which would intrigue the consumer into buying the product with the intent of also wanting to have a mysterious side to themselves perhaps! The main reason I would describe the advert as mysterious, is because of the very clever lighting on both the models and the background. If you look at the eyes of the man and woman, there is some very dark lighting as to hide their eyes, not knowing who they are adds an element of mystery in itself. Both the background and foreground of the ad have a very hazy effect to them. This haziness is frequently associated with a dreamy, mysterious kind of feeling, almost like fog. This is a very important factor that compliments the sense of mystery that the company want to associate their fragrances with, which potential buyers want to be a part of.
The colours and lighting used in the advert also play an important role in telling what the company want their fragrance to be associated with. The grey, subtle colours used clearly show that they want it to be based around an urban theme, and indicate the kind of target audience they are trying to attract. This specific theme can also be distinguished by the fact that the picture itself is printed in almost a faded fashion like a gloomy urban street; there are no real bold colours. You can also notice the use of very light, subtle blue and yellow in the bottom half in the picture, most likely used to show the contrast between men and women to whom this advert is aimed both at. In general, the lighting on the two subject is quite bright, highlighting them both to show importance, yet still merging them into the urban backdrop theme as not to use any bold outlines or block colours. This, as previously mentioned, adds to the sense of mystery about the advert.