Using media language, compare the advertisement for Lucozade Sport with the advertisement for Gatorade.
Your answer must show knowledge and understanding of structural features and persuasive techniques.
Gatorade and Lucozade are two competing brands which
primarily manufacture sports drinks, this means they have a similar demographic
which is seen to be young males who are ‘sporty’. In this case, the Lucozade advertisement
is only advertising one product
(orange flavoured isotonic drink), whereas the Gatorade
advert is promoting a plethora of products are called ‘G Series Pro Range’. Both
of these landscape advertisements clearly depict a visual narrative of the
product of which they are advertising, but it is not the main focus, in fact
the main focus is the sports star endorsement used to help promote the drinks,
whilst also attracting the eye of their target audiences. One being Gareth Bale
and the other involving one of the Brownlee brothers. However, both portray
very different careers, Gareth Bale is a well-renowned football player, and the
brownlee brothers are triathlon runners.
By featuring the sportsman Gareth Bale within the Lucozade
advert, looking determined and serious (no positive emotion shown), the target
audience would be more encouraged to buy the product because it creates the
illusion that Lucozade aids his success so it could help others be as successful
as him. It also encourages the fact that his face will be easily recognisable by
those who enjoy football because the photograph used is a direct gaze, mid shot
portrait. However, those who do not particularly participate in sport will not
be able to recognise him, which places a border on who Lucozade is aiming to
promote this product at.
It could be argued that both endorsements used are equally
as successful, thus, creating an association that the drinks being advertised
played a part in helping these sports stars get to that point. The photograph
used for the Brownlee brother is not as clearly shot as Gareth Bale’s portrait,
it is only clear as to who the athlete is within the advert because it boldly
states ‘BROWNLEE’ upon the runner’s shirt.
The blue and yellow colours in the advert links well with
the image of the footballer Gareth Bale on the front. All the colours
effectively link with each other as the yellow compliments the colour of the
Lucozade drink and the different shades of blue in the background compliment
the blue bottle. Bale’s eye colour has been emphasised so that it matches the
light blue shade of the background as well as the bottle. The bright and
vibrant colours attract the young, active target audience. Considering Bale is a
young male, it encourages other young people to drink Lucozade as it may be
considered more acceptable amongst their generation. in opposition to this,
Gatorade has used a monochromatic image, this infers a more matured look and
also causes the visual narrative of the products being advertised to stand out
more, this is because they are in colour unlike the portrait of the athlete. The
portrait of one of the brownlee brothers is an action shot, and therefore makes
it appears as if he is running towards the viewer, making a clearer statement
that this is a sports drink. Even though Gareth Bale is not shown to be in
action, it is noticeable that there is sweat on his forehead, making the
audience assume that he is a hardworking individual and the Lucozade drink is
aiding him to progress further by providing him the energy that he needs.
Neither involve a quote from the sports star involved in the
visual narrative aspect of the advert, but mutually they have a copy that suggest
that the drink(s) being promoted are proven to be beneficial by ‘experts’. These
references to authority such as ‘scientifically proven’ and ‘experts say’ attracts
more educated people to purchase the drink because they believe that it will be
beneficial for the body. The audience would also like the large copy which
states ‘In a different league’ as it suggests that Lucozade isn’t like any
other sports drink, it enables you to be on Gareth Bale’s level of success if
you drink it creating an impression that the drink is highly beneficial. This quote
can also be instantly associated with Gareth Bale due to the fact word play has
been used with the word ‘League’ as is a common term used within football. On the
other hand, as well has having
the quote mentioned by the Brownlee Brothers co-coach: “If you don’t take the
right fuel for the race, you’ve got a very good chance of coming second”; the Gatorade
advert also has a hash tag, which is: ‘#Winfromwithin’. This
incorporation of a hashtag further emphasises Gatorade’s target demographic,
because hashtags are commonly used on social media- a huge platform used by
young people.
