Final Paper

Joseph DeTullio

2/16/13

Product Ad Analysis Final Draft

ENG 112

           

Outside World Cancelling Headphones

           

The advertising industry is one of creativity and focus.  Those involved must try to sell products in such a way that it makes people want to buy the product right away without thinking.  Some of these advertisements do such a thing without the use of words.  The advertisement that I choose to analysis is a very clever one.  I believe that this advertisement is trying to sell the feeling of being in your own world when you have the Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones on.

            Sony’s ad that I chose is pretty simple at first look but as you look deeper into the artwork, the more you start to realize that it is a little more complex. When looking at the ad, the first thing that would catch your eye would be a lone girl standing on the other side of the street.  Right above her head is the picture of the headphones in their packaging.  After you notice those two things the next interesting part is the background.  All the buildings look like they were pulled right off of a New York City block.  It has tall buildings and convenience stores with apartments on top of them.  The buildings all seem to be in a two-dimensional form, which gives the ad a very stylistic feeling.  The colors and shape of the buildings make the ad look like a movie set.  Probably the most important part of the advertisement is the street.  The ad has a road that runs right through the center of it.  There are no cars on the street but there are car shadows that seem to be driving.  This is supposed to show that when wearing the Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones, you cannot hear anything outside and you are in your own world.

            The feeling of being in your own world is exhilarating and one that should be experienced by everyone.  You feel like you are the only one that matters and you control everything.  This ad sells such a feeling with the fact that she is the only person in the advertisement.  It looks like a busy city area that should have a lot of people but because there are no cars or people, you get the sense of being alone.  There are also people’s shadows on the sidewalk which adds to the fact that when the headphones are on, you’re completely by yourself. When you’re in your own world, you can be whatever you want.  Since the background looks like a movie set, I think because the girl has her headphones on, she’s in her own world on a movie set.  Everyone has dreams of what they want to be or what it would be like to be a famous celebrity.  The feeling that courses through your body when you first put the Noise Cancelling Headphones on is truly like a dream. 

            I think that the target audience for this advertisement is both men and women between the ages of 18-40.  I believe this because headphones are used by a lot of people and someone between those ages is most likely going to want to have a nice pair of headphones.  They use a girl who is in her late teens, early twenties to give the sense that younger people are using them and they are high-quality product.  The ad uses a majority of pathos to appeal to the target audience.  They are selling the feeling that the product generates by appealing to your emotions.  The makers of this ad took a lot of time in creating something that would make the audience really divulge their attention into the advertisement. 

The girl in the advertisement looks so focused on what she is doing that she seems not to even notice that she in the only person standing there.  She looks as if she has gotten lost in the music that she is listening to.  The experience that you feel when you listen to the headphones is really what the advertisement is trying to sell.  A busy city street is very loud and for the headphones to make it sound like you’re in your own world, says a lot about them. 

This advertisement is a very interesting one.  It uses no words and after looking at it for a long time I believe I have figured out what they are actually trying to sell.  I think that they are trying to sell the idea that when you have these headphones on you will be in your own world.  They do this with making the girl the only person in the picture and there are no cars on a busy street.  Overall, I believe the advertisement is successful in their attempt to sell such an idea with their product.