Representation in Advertisements
The product that is being advertised is for ‘Victorious’ TV soundtrack. “Victorious” (styled as VICTORiOUS) is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. Dan Schneider is also the creator of other Nickelodeon hit shows such as “iCarly”. “Victorious” was first debuted on March 27 2010. Over the years it has slowly crept into the same line as other hit kids shows such as rivals Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place”. “Victorious” and “iCarly” have become the two most internationally famous Nickelodeon shows right now.
The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega (portrayed by Victoria Justice), a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's (Daniella Monet) place in a showcase while getting into screwball situations on a daily basis.
This advert takes up half an A4 piece of paper. Looking at the characters, even if the audience don’t know anything about the characters on the show, they can easily tell that “Tori” is the main star of the show, Because of her body language and facial expressions. She stands up quite tall and has her hands placed on her hips. She is also grinning widely and looking extremely pleased with her position in life. She has been positioned in the centre so it is kind of hard to miss her. Also the camera focuses on her, making her the main event. Crowded by her shoulders are her friends, all of them posing in different styles and positions. This may suggest they’re different personalities and moods. Some of them look more relaxed than others; this portrays the characters that they play. Each Character is dressed casually, some of them are wearing jewellery, this suggests that they are quite wealthy, which links into attending a Performing arts school and living in Hollywood. There is a large glow on all of the characters making them shine like stars , which refers to Hollywood and how they all want to make it big and be stars. All of her friends also shoot wide grins towards the audience, engaging them, direct mode of address. This gives the audience curiosity, making them want to find out more about both the soundtrack that is selling, but also the show. This advert mentions ‘From the hit TV show’ like mentioned before, this will persuade the audience to watch the show on nickelodeon; further on this may lead them to enjoy other shows on the channel and invest in merchandise by them. This is a media theory know as two step flow.
This advert also mentions the release date and the website that it can be pre-ordered from, which in this case is amazon.co.uk. Amazon is a very popular website; it’s one of the world’s largest retailers. Amazon is being further advertised by it being on an advertisement for this product.
The title “Victorious” is in quite large and funky fonts, to attract a younger generation of the audience. The title is in gold and blue, like the night sky and gold stars , which goes back to the point of trying to make it big and be a shining star in Hollywood .
The advert plays on a few subtle colours a light purple and pink around the characters, this makes you give your first attention to the stars and then the rest of the advert faded to a dark magenta. Like mentioned before , there is a large glow of bright light reflecting from the characters giving them a halo effect which makes them seem angelic and humble towards the audience . All characters are dressed casually in bright colours except one character who is dressed in black and green and seems to be them only one not smiling , this may suggest that she is envious or that she is the nemesis of the main character . She looks like she feels superior to envy one else and that she should be in the spotlight instead of “Tori”.
This advert was found in Bliss Magazine UK, according to Bliss it is one of the UK’s most read teen-girl magazine. This magazine is obviously aimed at teenage girls going through everyday life; the advert being placed here suggests that this show is aimed at girls at that age group also linking in with the colours of the adverts this shows that is advert is explicitly aimed at girls.
This ad uses a lot of direct mode of address “soundtrack includes all your favourite hits from the hit TV show”. This can link in with Maslow’s theory of needs the need to fit in and enjoy luxury ,since it is your favourite as they say it is in your adverts you think that you need it . Hence you buy it .