Wednesday, July 16, 2008

IVORY MAN



Our ad presents a scenario where a mother and father are late to an important dinner meeting because their son can’t seem to locate the soap in the bathtub and is taking longer than expected. The art itself is simple and realistic, with clean lines and minimal shading. The copy headlines are in two different fonts for the concerns of the father and mother, the mother’s font being slightly smaller and italicized. The language is very dramatic for the situation, “dad thundered in to the bathroom breathing fire and looking daggers – going to spank!”. The language gives the impression that the child will be flogged with a paddle or something more severe than a regular spanking.
The copy plays off of anxieties of a well off audience, the ad was made at the end of the 20’s when the economy still looked strong. The parents are having dinner with the bank president and are possibly on the rise in the company, the father is dressed to impress with his tuxedo, the mother is wearing pearl earrings to dinner, and they live in a nice two-story house with purple carpet (purple being associated commonly with royalty). It also has two different appeals for each the mother and father. First it creates an anxiety for the father’s business affairs, suggesting that the child could screw up your important business dinner and make you late, compromising your ascendance in the company. And it plays to a mother’s protective nature of her children, suggesting that they could incur father’s wrath if they screw up their important plans.
The makers of the ad use constructive discontent here, because the whole premise of the ad hangs on the idea that children lose the soap in the bathtub for long periods of time, half an hour in this case. I find it hard to believe that the tub is so expansive that a normal child couldn’t find the soap for half an hour. And so it provides a logical solution to that problem, buy the soap that floats and this surely will never happen to you. The ad wraps up with a quick “everyone else is doing it” appeal, “more baths are taken with Ivory than with probably any other one soap in the world”.

5 comments:

Dr. V said...

Soap keeps "a-sinkin' and a-hidin'"? Then put it on the side of the tub or the floor next to it. Ok, so the story being told here is lame but I'll look deeper than that.
First of all, this ad seems to be old but if it's from the Depression era, I can't tell. Why? Because one, it says they're having dinner with a bank president. Two, the woman is putting a pearl earring in her ear and three, you can tell that they are on the second floor of a house. If they are in the depression, they must be doing alright.
Basically, what this ad tells me is that parents are late to dinner because their children can't find the soap and therefore get spanked should use Ivory because it floats. Lame story + few real reasons why you should use product = fail. That's all I have to say about that.

Kendra said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kendra said...

laughing at the comment on top..
From what a read of the article i think the story is in the middle between realist and lame, because soap does slip but it doesn't slip till were you are in the tub that long. And it also shows that dad has the upper hand in these kind of situation because dad is shown in the picture and talked about in the text while mom is just talked about in the text.
Also i don't see how Ivory would not slip in water as well,i don't think they use a good enough reason why you should ivory soap. But they make it seem that the family tried to use a lower budget soap and it didn't work so now they have to go with the best which is ivory. but it still doesn't convince me to buy ivory soap because it slips out a child hands! And who spanks kids!!!

mjg504 said...

I this advertisment because its picture is very catchy to your eye. A naked lady in the tub always catches your attention which I think is good for this ad to help you read what there product has to offer.

Adam Eddy said...

This ad is refering to people who are stuggling at bath time with children and making a mess of there own home. This ad seems to be in the style of the 40s with bright colors to attract the readers eye and make thme thing twice before turing the page on the ad.