The action of catching a deadly shark shows how the product leads you to believe the product is for the strong and adventurous man and shows how anything is possible. This can appeal to consumers who aspire to be adventurous and take risks.
The scenery in the ad, adds to the overall appeal of the product by connoting the brand will give you a sense of escapism and luxury.
The use of a woman in a seductive pose lying down gives the idea of hypermasculinity and can enhance attraction for the buyer, this can potentially appeal to the male gaze and stereotypes of male desire.
The Old Spice ad uses humour, volcano as a head and going shark fishing to create a tone of masculinity and adventure. And to lure in the target audience as they it would be suggested that it would be more amusing and appealing to a young male audience.
The eruption on the celebrity's head does contribute to humour but also adds connotations of hotness and power that a male is most likely to ‘want’ to be like when also looking at the successful celebrity.
Intertextuality is used through the celebrity endorsement of a former footballer and actor and the reference to Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea. This all is directed to young male users, as football is stereotypically a very male prominent sport. And the idea that you would be like Poseidon also gives the user figures that they would ‘smell’ like.
The use of colour that are high-saturated, represents happiness and "paradise" a place in which everyone would want to be. The blue connoting trust and strength, adds to the overall appeal of the ad.
The Old Spice font is serif, suggesting reliability and traditionality, much like a signature, a trust within the brand. Making it official.
The mid head shot of the celebrity in the ad symbolizes a direct view, this is what you will be like if you use the product.
Analyse the use of media language to represent product, people, and place...
In the old spice advert the use of intertextuality, celebrity Isaiah Mustafa an American football player and actor (very well known in 2010 in the US) is used to give the impression that if you use old spice, you will be like him. The mid shot of Isaiah shows us is face and his upper body, shown as an island or beach. His facial expression gives a direct mode of address to the audience. This is shown through the eye contact he has with the camera in turn with the audience. He also has a slight smirk, a raised eyebrow, and ‘moody’ eyes all of this gives the impression of the male gaze. Is suggests that this is what the men that use old spice will look and be like and plays on the side of, woman will want to be with this man because he uses old spice. Moreover we also presented with persidon a strong Greek god Overall playing with the stereotypes of masculinity.
Within this advert the use of humour runs throughout, used as a USP for the brand image, giving the impression of the idea that ‘boys will be boys’. The man getting pinched by crabs, a man buried almost fully in sand, the reference to movies such as King Kong and castaway. Within all this it goes in hand with the idea of strength and power, shown by Isaiah. In the typography of the main slogan, “comes from an anti-perspirant mine”, “this fact has not been fact-checked.” Also continues the theme of humour, it is showing how old spice doesn’t lie and is straight to the point, you will get what is being shown. It also makes fun of other advert that try to suggest that its scientifically proven, giving old spice the USP over these other products.
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