Communication and Consumer Culture

Advertisement is a very popular form of communication, in general it intends to persuade receivers to purchase product. There are many forms of advertisement, TV commercials, banners, posters, ads in radio, newspapers or on the internet. All of them are made in such a way, so they easily call our attention. They are colorful, they might be funny or sad, famous people might star in them, there is nudity very often. In these days boundaries or limits slowly vanish. Ads are more insolent and courageous. Advertisement has a very long history, Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and banners. In time people began to see that this form of communication function very well.

This is an American advertisement from 1924. It appeared in Ladies' Home Journal and presented Ivory soap. This ad is directed to modern women, who wear clothes made from delicate materials. There is a drawing of young, beautiful and elegant woman, who's wearing silky dress. There are also drawings of clothes and hands, which is a clear message, that if you want to have beautiful clothes in a good condition and young, pretty hands, always use Ivory soap. This soap represent luxury and everything a modern, rich woman should have and use.

This advertisement is from 1926 and it presents Palmolive soap. It is addressed to women only. It shows young woman with beautiful skin. This ad is to tell women that if they want to have young and beautiful complexion they have to use Palmolive soap. Opening line says "Nature's gift to beauty", and below we can see coconut palm tree, African palm tree and olive tree. So this wonderful Palmolive soap is made only from those extracts, there is no chemistry in it, and basically this product is the best thing we could use to have gorgeous skin. Ad contains also an advice what to do and what to not do (ex. do not sleep with make up on, wash face with Palmolive soap, if there is a dryness use cream) to have beautiful skin.

This advertisement is from 1928 and it shows Colgate's Rapid- Shave Cream. It is directed to men with beard. Producer promises comfort, unique results, softness, and everything a man could wanted from shaving cream. It also encourage to purchase this cream by saying about new scientific method (no soap, just water). "Thousands buy it daily. From coast to coast the news has spread like wildfire " so you cannot be the only one with your old, bad shave cream! On the picture there is a man with friendly face, smiling. So automatically we think about this commercial as "friendly" and trustworthy.

Advertisements were, are and will be everywhere around us. They are extremely manipulating, and even though we know that, we still believe them. There are sales, promotions or new trends