Quick review: Comparing perfume for him for her

Hello, we can all agree perfume adverts sometimes are a bit weird and do not make sense – this is due to it be hard to sell something that is not visual. Therefore the smell needs to create a story of how a person may feel wearing it. Theres no physical result so advertisers have to find another way of selling it. The most frequent techniques is tapping into peoples feelings. Smell is strongly tied to our emotion and sexual desires – this perfume will make this perfume sexually attracted to you. As a Director cant show visuals of the scent – they storylines follow how it makes the user feel weather that be unstoppable, sexy, scandalous, sweet.

I want to look at the print and TV advert for 2 of the latest Dior adverts for perfumes and comparing the different media forms and conventions used to persuade women or men demographics. One advert is J’adore for women and HOMME for men.

The House of Dior namesake label was established on 16 December 1946 in Paris and has since seen some of the most influential names in fashion take to the helm. It is known for its features in VOGUE which is quite a high end and sophisticated brand. There was a controversial side to his approach; his collections were theatrical and often more artistic than they were wearable. The house of Dior issued perfumes to match its new fashions, launching company Parfums Dior and its first fragrance in 194.

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The print advert follows typical convention for women’s perfume having the camera angle looking down on the women. The model is attired in a gold sparkly dress as seen on the video advert. This creates a sense of continuity – the print advert is dressed how she was dressed at the end of the video advert. This id due to the model feeling beatified at the end after being rinsed in a water bath of perfume.

The uses and gratification is for the audience to fulfil entertained by the modern upbeat upcoming fragrance where they will be informed about the delightful perfume by using persuasive language. They want to be persuades in some way this perfume can change their life to make them feel more sexy and free.

The shots that are the most important is featuring a opening shot of women lying down in a steamy room with a pool. The money shot is The main model gliding towards the camera in the pool with eyelids down to begin with to them gradually opening. This is the money shot as it shows a sense of satisfaction. To then the women coming out feeling glorified.

The audio “flashing lights” implies that if you wear this perfume you will feel famous and wanted. This also makes the person feel centre of attention implying if you wear this perfume people will turn heads to smell you.

This is very different to  Dior adverts perfumes for him. instead of the main character being more passive and glamorised. The men are featured as more active to embrace a masculine and muscular reflection.

The print advert is in black and white apart from the perfume. It shows Robert paterson showing off his muscles  in his basic white T. The lexical decides used is using the slogan “Im your man”. This implied this fragrance works to achieve masculinity. Also detonates if you wear this the men can attract the ladies.

The opening shot opens with Robert Paterson’s punching to show a key quality of men which is strength. It then shows him on a table for a date, him flicking the table cloth off and going under gives a sense of good humour which men desire. It also shows him being very protective when the couple are walking down the road and other men are staring him – this shows he is unstoppable and no other men would get in his way to get the girl he wants. It also shows him being romantic hugging his girl in dawn across the dimly lit city.  The end shot shows the girl he’s dating and him making out naked showing he reached his full desire of making the girl his. It shows his journey of building his confidence through dates to getting the girl. His role is very active in this.

The audio used in the piece matches the storyline called “Im your man” by Leonard Cohen. The lyrics matches each moving image. It opens by saying “if you want a lover, ill do anything you ask”. This shows him putting on “a mask” by becoming more romantic and humour and manly in the dates. “here i stand, i’m your man” implies he got the girl.

It was interesting to compare Dior’s brand in how they advertise perfume for men and women in a storyline. It defiantly has similarities in focusing on sexualising features – for women that wet look and for men that muscular and cheeky smile look. Both adverts follow the brands values of maintaining the french aesthetic voiceover. Also making sure to open and end with the perfume and name and brand to create impact and make it more memorable.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog of contrasting how a brand attracts different genres.

Hope to see you soon and thanks for reading,

Lizzie X