Year 1, Essay 3

Question 15
Advertising images function in particular ways to make us
desire the product. Compare and contrast two advertisements
that use photography, highlighting the ways they are intended
to communicate with their intended audience.

Dan Foy

BA Hons Photography

Module No: PHOT100058

Seminar tutor: Malcolm Brice
Word count: 3054
Advertising images function in particular ways to make us
desire the product. Compare and contrast two
advertisements that use photography, highlighting the
ways they are intended to communicate with their
intended audience.

Advertisements are an inescapable element of modern life. They are

everywhere: obvious posters and leaflets on the sides of shops and at points
of sale, billboards on busy roads, in between programmes on commercial
television stations and content on websites, hidden in viral videos on
YouTube, masquerading as articles in newspapers and magazines. They
take the form of photographs in magazines and newspapers and on
billboards, moving images on television and the Internet, audio clips on radio
stations and during podcasts, and as text, logos, and other branding adorning
virtually every consumable in every market. In newer arenas, such as the
Internet, advertisements are even disguised as interactive games or system
warnings, albeit with variable success.

There are numerous motives a company may have for creating

advertisements, such as to promote a particular product line, the brand as a
whole, or a certain mindset beneficial to a company’s goals. The range of
genres within photography that a advertising agency are able to choose from
in order to communicate their clients’ message to their target audience is as
varied as the different motivations for creating these images. In product
photography alone, for instance, there is the ‘clean’ studio style, in which a
product is isolated from a contextual background and is instead lit evenly with
studio lighting and set against a seamless light or coloured background, or
else lit selectively with grids and snoots and set against a darker background
for a moodier, more dramatic feel. Alternatively, some products may be set
against contextual backgrounds and photographed on-set or on-site, as is
often the case with restaurant menus and furniture catalogues. Product

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photos may also be a combination of the two, with meticulously studio-lit
products placed within a separately photographed or rendered location in post
production, or against (or within) abstract backdrops, as with the iconic iPod
advertisements. Different styles of photograph offer different aesthetics that
can be used by photographers and advertising agencies to more effectively
communicate with the intended audience for the advert.

For the purpose of illustration, I have selected two photograph-based

advertisements from separate multinationals. Both images, although
described here in isolation, belong to larger sets of materials for their
respective advertising campaigns. The first is from a campaign by The Coca-
Cola Company advertising their flagship product in 2009-10; the second is
part of the online marketing for the 2007 version of Apple’s iMac desktop
computer. I have purposely chosen two images that are similar in their formal
presentation, in order to show how photographs shot using similar methods
can communicate very different messages to their audiences.

The Coca-Cola advertisement (Appendix A) consists of bottle of Coke with the

text ‘Aaahhh’ formed above it in what appears to be Coca-Cola that has burst
out of the bottle. The image is of the product-on-white style described above,
with a faded reflection underneath the bottle the only indicator that the bottle
may be in a physical space. The bottle is of the uncommon glass variety, is
perspiring and is adorned with small clumps of ice. Coca-Cola branding is
visible in three places: the logo in the top left, the logo on the bottle bottom
centre, and also through the iconic Coca-Cola font that is used for the
‘Aaahhh’ text. The ‘Aaahhh’ text is defying gravity, yet is peppered with
explosive splashes of the type that are created when small items are dropped
into liquid. An extended serif from the ‘A’ in ‘Aaahhh’ underlines the
proceeding letters, and at its terminus morphs into an impression of an open
mouth.

The Apple advert (Appendix B) follows a similar format – a product shot on a

clean white background, save for subtle shadows underneath the products.
Unlike the Coca-Cola advert, however, Apple’s image does not contain
fantastical elements. It features two subjects: the then current model of iMac,

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and a Dell XPS 410 tower and monitor set. Each subject is equipped with a
selection of peripherals and is shot in what could be considered the ‘profile’
for each product, perpendicular to the front of the monitor. The image
features just two tones, a light grey and a near black, with the same shade of
grey used for a thin line that separates the products, and also for small text
labels underneath the units which state their respective brands and product
names. The iMac is connected via aesthetically wrapped white cables to a
keyboard and mouse; the XPS is connected via an unruly mess of black cable
to a mouse, keyboard, monitor (including a separate cable to the base-
mounted speakers), webcam, and wireless transmitter.

Despite the formal similarities between the two images, the context in which
they would originally have been viewed is significantly different, which is an
important consideration whilst viewing these images out of context. The
Coca-Cola image was intended to be used in print, both in reading material
and on small billboards such as those on the sides of bus stops, and was a
small element in a much larger campaign, which also featured video adverts
on television and before movies at the cinema. It is an invasive type of
advertisement that is forced upon a viewer during a separate activity – i.e.
reading, watching a movie, or waiting for a bus. This contrasts the Apple
image, which appeared on Apple’s website in the guise of an informational
image, and required several mouse clicks to purposefully access, and is not
something that a viewer would have been likely to stumble upon in its original
context if he or she was not already researching into the product. These
differences mean that the images have to function in different ways: the Coca-
Cola advert is viewed incidentally, and must draw the attention of the viewer
through novel imagery – a new type of image for the prospective viewer to
consume. Conversely, the Apple image is something that a potential viewer
must purposefully seek out (despite its potential as a viral image by brand-
loyal Apple consumers reproduced on forums, blogs, and other Internet-based
social channels), and therefore can afford to concentrate less on branding and
brand recognition and more on the benefits of its product.

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Despite their apparent formal similarities, each image is specifically suited to
its individual purpose. The Coca-Cola advert is presented in the portrait
orientation, which makes it ideally suited to fill a single page of an A4
magazine or an entire bus stop billboard, without sharing page real-estate
with other distracting advertisements, guiding the viewer to concentrate solely
on the image’s message. Online images work differently, and Apple’s image
is presented in landscape, as this is the orientation of most computer
monitors. Taking into account the monitor shape, and also the fact that most
web browsers have at best navigation buttons across the top or, at worst,
numerous height-stealing toolbars, Apple’s image is ideally shaped to fit
inside a single browser window without the need for a viewer to scroll.

Although in its original context the Apple image masquerades as an

informational reference, it clearly exists with promotional intent. By directly
comparing its product to that of a competitor, Apple proposes that the viewer
has a free choice in product, which at a basic level is a functional tool, whilst
at the same time clearly positioning its product as the obvious choice based
on its materialistic qualities. This is an effective strategy as, according to two
authors on the subject, Sturken and Cartwright (2009, p.266), “the concept of
consumer choice is central to capitalistic consumer cultures.” The choice of
competitor is also significant – Dell was formed as a small, independently
owned and run business that sold lower-than-retail-cost machines running
Microsoft Windows, tailored with components of the customer’s choice,
directly to the customer. This contrasts Apple’s premium product model of
manufacturing both hardware and software for its products, and optimising its
products to work with a very limited selection of components. Whilst Dell’s
model was initially very successful, by 2006 the company was beginning to
collapse under its own weight, and between 2006 and 2008 the company had
a series of issues with poor customer service and faulty components.
Through this association, Dell becomes the lumbering and ineffective
commercial monster, whilst Apple rises as the nimble and innovative
alternative. This is clearly referenced in Apple’s image through Apple’s
innovative design and considered cable placement, versus their presentation
of the Dell product as cumbersome and unwieldy, mirroring Apple in design

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 5

materials and colour palette but ultimately failing to break from the
conventional. Apple achieves this practically through product photography
alone, without the lengthy marketing copy and the endorsement of perfect,
happy Arian faces and direct commands to buy found in the adverts of the 30s
and 40s, which respects the contemporary independent and advertising-savvy
consumer of 2007.

The idea that businesses have a personality is an important element in the

marketing of many products, and is something explored in the documentary
The Corporation (2003). People tend to anthropomorphise companies and
products with human traits and personalities – IBM is seen as being corporate
and businessman-like, Nike is seen as being young and sporty, and so on.
Through considered advertising, it is possible for a company to change its
personality to break into new markets. For instance, Coca-Cola’s flagship
product started life marketed as a health tonic sold to cure headaches (see
appendix C), but was reinvented as an informal beverage. Both Coca-Cola
and Apple avoid alienating demographic brackets of consumers by not
including images of people in their product images, with the exception of the
lips in the Coca-Cola advert. Because the lips are formed by the product,
they could feasibly represent any race; however, their fullness and soft curves
suggest that they belong to a female, whilst the explosive splashes present on
the text give the impression of excitement and youthful energy. The
unstained and perfectly aligned teeth, along with the fullness of the lips,
present a subtle sexuality that implies that Coca-Cola is the drink of attractive,
sexual people and that, by extension, in consuming it you too will become
attractive. The mouth device is beautifully balanced in that it is prominent
enough to attract males wishing to be ‘kissed’ by the product, and significantly
sexualising of females to infer a sense of empowerment, whilst being subtle
enough to avoid overly objectifying the female.

It can be useful to describe meaningful visual elements in a photograph in the

language of semiotics defined by Ferdinand de Saussure. Although Saussure
was a linguist, his ideas translate well to the realm of photography.
Saussure’s theories, translated for photography, suggest that a ‘sign’ (or

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 6

suggestion) within a photograph is given meaning by consisting of two parts: a
‘signifier’, the element of the photograph itself; and a ‘signified’, which is the
idea that the element represents. In the Coca-Cola advertisement, the lips of
the mouth are parted a little as if it has just received a drink, and roughly
forms a smile, linking the signifiers of the ‘Aaahhh’ and ‘open happiness’ texts
into the signified idea ‘drinking Coca-Cola will quench your thirst and make
you smile’. In addition, the direct link between the product created by the line
‘open happiness’ reveals one of the major driving forces behind capitalism:
the idea of commodity fetishism, and that products are sold as experiences
rather than functional consumables. Drinkable fluids are plentiful commodities
that at a rudimentary level exist as consumables to allow us to live, but in the
context of a contemporary consumerist society also provide social status. This
is described in Practices of Looking – An Introduction to Visual Culture:

“It is commonly understood that commodities fulfil emotional needs.

The paradox is that those needs are never truly fulfilled, as the forces
of the market lure us into wanting different and more commodities – the
newest, the latest, and the best. This is a fundamental aspect of
contemporary consumer culture – that it gives us pleasure and
reassurance while tapping into our anxieties and insecurities and that it
promises what it can never fulfil.”

Sturken and Cartwright (2009, p. 274)

Coca-Cola is effectively marketing itself as bottled happiness, an experience

rather than a product; however, by its definition as a consumable, this
emotional connection is short lived and the product will need to be
repurchased again to maintain this level of psychological comfort. Even the
text, shown as an explosion from the bottle suspended in mid air, has a
fleeting feel to it – a momentary experience that ends when the explosion of
feeling comes crashing down. The advert creates a superficial feeling of lack
in the customer, which the customer is then inclined to purchase Coca-Cola’s
product to fulfil this created need – not only a physical lack of the thirst
quenching and refreshing drink, but also a psychological lack.

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It is a premium product, magnitudes more expensive in monetary value than
tap or rainwater, yet holds added value in cultural capital – it is ‘the original’, it
advertises that you as an individual are young and sexy, and that in drinking it
you are making a conscious image decision. The product is standardised and
despite being a basic commodity and a consumable, through open-ended
adverts that require interpretation by the viewer, it has broad appeal beyond
its physical makeup. This phenomenon of cultural capital as a driver of
commodity fetishism is described by Andy Warhol, who explored Coca-Cola
and other consumables during his career as an artist:

“What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition
where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the
poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know
that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think,
you can drink Coke, too”

Warhol (1975, p .100)

Coca-Cola’s image contains exclusively shades of its iconic red branding, in

contrast to the equally iconic blue of its major competitor, Pepsi – bright, bold
branding in primary colours that is instantly recognisable, like the uniform of
your favourite sports team, and echoed in society and commerce: Roses
versus Quality Street, Visa versus MasterCard, Labour versus Conservative.
The ‘brand war’ phenomenon is an aspect of consumer culture that Apple has
historically used very effectively.

Whilst the inclusion of Dell’s logo in Apple’s advertising image has already
been discussed in relation to how it arouses negativity to the competition
through Apple’s suggestion of alternative consumer choice, the conspicuous
absence of Apple’s own logo is a statement of Apple’s confidence in the
recognition and reputation of its own products. Other companies in the
technology sector, such as Microsoft, Intel, and nVidia – and also in other
markets, such as with Coca-Cola - will often plaster their comparative
advertisements with branding that weight the advertisements in their own
favour. In contrast, in terms of the lack of branding in the Apple image in

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 8

question, the image could almost have been created by a third party if it were
taken out of the context in which it originally appeared. Apple’s confidence in
its own brand is reasonably justified – at the time of the photograph’s
publication, Apple was considered one of the brands that customers felt the
most loyalty to (MacNN, 2006), and more recently one of its commodity
products was voted a more important invention than the flushing toilet or
space flight (Telegraph, 2010).

Apple presents two products, both with the same colour palette: one machine
barely 3 inches thick with just two small and immaculately coiled cables
protruding from it, which are white and fade into the background; the other,
magnitudes larger and consisting of more twice as many components
connected messily via a tangle of unruly black cables. The photographer for
the Apple image has purposefully chosen a competitors product whose design
appears to echo the iMac in choice of finish, but which is presented in a way
that is clearly inferior in terms of elegance and practicality. The Dell XPS is
packaged with a wired mouse and keyboard, same as the iMac, but is also
shown with modular, optional elements to provide functionality equal to that
which the iMac has built into its main chassis; namely: a display, speakers
(mounted under the monitor in the XPS image), a webcam, and an external
WiFi adapter. The aluminium exteriors of these machines suggests sterility
and fine precision engineering – something that is clearly undermined by the
mess behind the Dell, suggesting that the back-end and ‘under the hood’ have
been neglected, placing the iMac as the more considered product.

The message that Apple wishes to convey is that personal computing doesn’t
have to be about complicated setups, bulky hardware, and additional optional
components to provide missing functionality – Apple’s alternative solution
offers everything the user needs as standard, in a standalone package, as
part of the premium products it provides. This is epitomised by the company’s
old slogan, retired by 2007 yet still strongly associated with the company
ethos: ‘Think Different’. The choice of showing the products in profile is also
an unusual decision (although the product was shown front-on in other
images in the series), but showcases the iMac’s sleek aesthetic curves and

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perfect balance on its stand – elevating the product from the realm of the
office drone or the boys toy to something accessible to both male and female,
the design conscious, and the technophobe. The image encourages the
viewer to be dissatisfied with the competition (and, by extension, the
computers that the viewers themselves probably own), and to lust for the iMac
in this case not for any specific functionality, but for its elegance, aesthetic
qualities, and the psychological benefits of considering oneself a cultured,
premium customer who appreciates such refined matters as design.

This final point highlights a significant difference between Apple and Coca-
Cola. Coca-Cola is the market leader, ubiquitous to the point of owning the
generic product name ‘Coke’, whose primary focus is retaining customers and
reminding them that consumption of their product is directly linked to their
happiness; whereas Apple, despite inventing the ‘personal computer’ with
their Lisa and early Macintosh products, command a tiny percentage of the
overall personal computing market, and seek to differentiate themselves
through innovation and the creation of aesthetically pleasing, user friendly
products. Despite the formal similarities between these two advertising
images – both product shots, featuring isolated products taken out of context
and shot against a seamless background - these opposing aims are clearly
evident in the marketing campaigns of both brands.

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References

The Corporation, 2003 [documentary]. Canada: ACHBAR, Mark, and

SIMPSON, Bart. [Distributed by Zeitgeist Films, free to watch on YouTube or
download via Torrent].
MACNN, 2006. Apple, Google tops in loyalty survey [online]. MacNN.
Available at:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/11/apple.google.find.loyalty/ [accessed
on 26 May 2010].
STURKEN, Marita, and CARTWRIGHT, Lisa, 2009. Practices of Looking - An
Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
TELEGRAPH, 2010. Britons vote for the iPhone as most important invention
ahead of flushing loo and space travel [online]. Telegraph. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7738684
/Britons-vote-for-the-iPhone-as-most-important-invention-ahead-of-flushing-
loo-and-space-travel.html [accessed 26 May 2010].
WARHOL, Andy, 1975. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and
Back Again). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 11

Bibliography

BARRETT, Terry, 2006. Criticizing Photographs – An Introduction to

Understanding Images, 4th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, 2009. Open Happiness Press Kit [online]. The
Coca-Cola Company. Available at: http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.com/presscenter/presskit_open_happiness.html [Accessed 25
May 2010].
DUDROW, Andrea, 2000. Notes from the Epicenter: Exploring the Reality
Distortion Field [online]. Creative Pro. Available at:
http://www.creativepro.com/article/notes-epicenter-exploring-reality-distortion-
field [Accessed 25 May 2010].
EKMAN, Paul, 2003. Emotions Revealed. London: Weidenfield and Nicolson.
STURKEN, Marita, and CARTWRIGHT, Lisa, 2009. Practices of Looking - An
Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 12

Appendices

A: Advert from Coca-Cola’s ‘Open Happiness’ campaign (Aaahhh)

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, 2009. Open Happiness Press Kit [online]. The
Coca-Cola Company. Available at: http://www.thecoca-
colacompany.com/presscenter/presskit_open_happiness.html [Accessed 25
May 2010].

B: Image comparing Apple’s 2007 iMac to the Dell XPS 410

APPLE INC, 2007. iMac Design [online image, cached]. Apple Inc. Cached
image available at:
http://ifs3.imageshack.us/img253/7404/1394460783ml9.jpg [accessed 25 May
2010]

C: Advert promoting Coca-Cola as a health tonic, circa early 1900s

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, Date unknown (posted 14 September 2009),
Coca-Cola - The Ideal Brain Tonic [online image]. The Coca-Cola Company,
via The Retroist Blog. Available at:
http://www.retroist.com/2009/09/14/classic-coca-cola-ad-the-ideal-brain-tonic/
[accessed 26 May 2010].

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Appendix A

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

Dan Foy Year 1, Essay 3 16