finished perfume advert

I created an advert for a perfume called 'Narcissus', with the intention that it would attract and appeal to an audience of C1 and C2 women, who seek conformity, but want to manage to get a higher status, making them mainstreamers and social climbers. I also think the type of women attracted to this advert would be esteem seekers and strivers, which means they will be materialistic and focused on image and status. In my opinion, my advert would appeal to this type of woman, as i think it is quite a typical perfume advert, but focus' on a kind of perfection, therefore attracting the materialistic woman. I believe the advert would mainly be successful among females aged between 18 and 40.


The name of my perfume is 'Narcissist', which is defined as a "person full of egoism and pride; One who shows extreme love and admiration for oneself". The word comes from the Ancient Greek Myth in which a handsome boy called Narcissus was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Narcissus pined away by the water's edge and changed into the flower that is common near water and bears his name, the narcissus. To emphasise this idea, i have positioned my model looking into a pool of water, surrounded by narcissus flowers. However, rather than having my model looking at her own reflection, she is looking at the perfume bottle; suggesting that even narcissuses prefer the perfume to themselves.

The advert features a young girl wearing a white dress, suggesting innocence, surrounded by natural settings - fields, narcissus flowers, a pool of water. These natural settings display natural perfection, especially when put together with girl wearing simple clothes and in a natural position. The fact that she is smiling again gives a more natural feel, and would appeal more to the audience of woman because not only is it advertising youth, but also the happiness the model is displaying. The advert seems to be suggesting if women bought the perfume, they would gain the youth and happiness of the model, and also be surrounded by such an idyllic setting.

I took the picture of the pool of water, the model, and the narcissus flowers, but found pictures of the painted background and perfume bottle on the internet. I had to edit these layers to give a natural effect, although i was aiming for an almost too perfect setting, to emphasise the idyllic feel of the entire advert. The editing I did required tools such as the lasso, magic wand, blur and smudge. These helped me to create images that looked like they were meant to be there. I also used lighting effects on the image in order to project and direct diagonal light onto the perfume to draw further attention and attraction to the perfume bottle. I also enhanced the colours to get a superficial shade of blue which would grab attention.

In general, I stuck well to my original plan, though added more green scenery as I felt that there was an excess of blue without it. I also used the font tool, which I hadn't planned, to create my slightly 3D text. If I was to make any changes to the finished piece, I would alter the refection's colour, which proved to be a problem when i tried to make it more natural. Another change I would make is to the flowers surrounding the model, as I think they look quite fake. All in all, however, I am quite pleased with the finished piece, and hope it portrays the ideas and connotations, and attracts the audience I aimed for