Week 11 Blog Post

The Image is an advertisement by Nivea that is targeted to Men for personal grooming. It sends a message to a wide range of men because most men have to shave or groom his face. The symbolism of a rough and hairy figure that is an artificial head, is the opposite of the fully shaven man who appears to be superior to the head that he has in his hand. The advertisement enhances and highlights the fully shaven man’s appeal over the non-shaven figure by its choice of clean and neat clothing. This appeal to men because it creates an image of sexual appeal and cultural acceptance, so when seeing this image the male viewer uses this image of a reference told his physical goals. The Advertisement’s picture was taken with the shaven man in the motion of throwing the non-shaven head as far as possible. This give the image of not being shaved a highly undesired and unwanted one. Also I notice that the man in the ad is isolated from the rest of normal everyday society as if he has been distance from it for quite some time, and it appears that he is making his return to it once again creating a feeling of needed social acceptance. The position and frozen motion he is in almost symbolizes emancipation from non-grooming as if a heavy burden is being lifted and he is being free and ready to return to society. It appears if he is about to rise in social class as a symbol of neat and clean successful men.  The viewers of the ad will sub-consciously assume the device that was used on the shaven man was the exact device being advertised so that they would want to look at close as the very figure as possible.

The text of the advisement “RE-Civilize Yourself” is Simple but is equip with a much deeper massage, which is one of many. It creates standard of social acceptance almost as if society will not accept you if you do not meet the physical standards of grooming that a man should. It can also be based on the standards of relationships and dating given a massage of what appeals to women. So subconsciously the view of the advertisement will want to get this product in order to meet woman that the image will appeal to. Not only will the image appeal to Men but also to a women who may be in relationship or married and may have an idea image of what they would want their significant other to look like when groom. This creates an image in the head of the female consumer so that she may consider buy the product for a gift. The Text is Phrased with “look Like you give a dam” this seems to place a forceful perception of self-care of the subconscious bluntly stating that if you are not groomed with the advertised product that you lack self-care creating a desire for acceptance by society.