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

Ideas for perfume advert

To create my perfume advert, I have designed the following three adverts:

I tried to make each idea different, in order to make the choice between them easier for myself, and also so i could display my different lines of ideas.

After looking closely and further planning of each design, I decided that the middle design would be my final choice. I decided this because I thought it was more interesting than my other ideas, and would enable me to do more editing and manipulating of photographs than I thought the others would. Not only this, but I thought that the other two designs were too similar to existing adverts, and wanted to do something a little bit different.

Target audience for my perfume advert

In order to create a good and effective perfume advert, i need to chose a suitable target audience to ensure that my advert appeals to them.

I have decided to focus on C1 and C2 in the demogrpahic classification of audience, as this makes up 49% of the population, meaning it would attract alot of people; there would be more sales of my perfume. I also think that this group of lower middle class and skilled manual workers would be nice to make an advert for.

I think my target audience will also be mainstreamers/social climbers, meaning that they seek conformity, but want to manage to get a higher status using the things they buy/use to aid them with this. This will mean I will need to make my advert quite stereotypical, but also appealing.

For my 'insight social value group' i have chosen to target esteem seekers and strivers, which means they will be materialistic and focused on image and status. To make my advert target these groups, i will need to make sure that the advert makes the perfume look like a symbol of success, whilst using something traditional to appeal to the strivers.

I have decided that the target group will probably be driven by Physiological things, eg sex, and also sexual intimacy - Love/Belonging. The group may also be affected by Esteem, as they are trying to gain the respect of others. In general, the advert I create will need to involve some feeling of sex/sexual intimacy to appeal to the group.

Analysis of Pefume Adverts

I have chosen to analyse to perfume adverts, one for Kylie Minogue's 'Sexy Darling' and the other for Ghost's 'Sweetheart'.



Kylie Minogue's advert is predominantly red, with a low angle mid-shot of the popstar. The low-angled shot means that we are looking up to Kylie, both literally and metaphorically, whilst the red colours and shades connote feelings of passion and love. Kylie is raising her eyebrow and has slightly open red lips, making her look feminine and sexy. This idea of sexiness is added to when we look further at the mise en scene. Kylie is wearing a low-backed halter-neck white dress, has blonde hair swept back, and is wearing bright red lipstick, which is obviously meant to be an imitation of Marilyn Monroe, a fashion icon and sex symbol, encouraging us to believe that Kylie is too. Kylie is framed by glitter and sparkles; on the red wall behind and also the red pompoms she is holding by her side, making her look feminine and classy. The pompoms reflecting light off them are also framing the perfume bottle itself, to draw more attention to it. The perfume bottle is the same colour as the background of the advert - light red to dark red, and the bottle is placed at the bottom of the advert in order for the bright red of the top to stand out. underneath the picture of the perfume bottle is some text - 'The new fragrance by KYLIE MINOGUE'. the font is sans serif and is white, in order to stand out. Kylie's name is in upper case in order to make sure that the audience know that it is her perfume. The only other bit of writing used on the advert is 'Sexy darling' written again in a white font to stand out, and is also in a script font, which mirrors the writing shown on the perfume. Throughout the advert, only two colours are used - red and white. Red is used for the background, the perfume, and on Kylie's pompoms, and lips, which, teamed with Kylies provocative pose and expression connotes passion. The white is used for the fonts and Kylie's dress, and is used to contrast with the red colouring.



This advert appeals to the audience, because the mise en scene is very eyecatching. Not only this, but it seems to be suggesting that Kylie is a 'Sexy Darling' like her perfume. I think that the advert is meant to perhaps be like the inside of the bottle of perfume, the sparkles show the liquid and reflections of it, and the colour scheme being the colours of the outside of the bottle. Kylie Minogue is inside the bottle, to suggest that by using the perfume, we will also become 'Sexy Darling's and more like Kylie. Many girls would be attracted to this, not only because it is Kylie Minogue, but also because they are attracted to the idea of being 'sexy' and more attractive, which Kylie Minogue is promising in this advert.



The second advert I chose to analyse is Ghost's 'Sweetheart'. The advert is a mid-shot of a model which has been cropped so only her shoulders and face are showing. The model is surrounded by pink-y orange feathers; the colours connote happiness, femininity and health, whilst the plush feathers used connote ideas of heaven and angels. The model is staring into the camera, maintaining eyecontact with the reader, and instantly drawing us in. Her face is not covered in makeup, meaning she looks very natural, and her hair is simply parted in the middle, with no obvious style. Although she is not heavily made-up, she still looks very pretty, with her big blue eyes and long blonde hair showing typical British beauty as well as connoting ideas of innocence and youth. Her plumped glossed lips add to her beauty, and make her look even more feminine. The model appears to be naked, with only her long blonde hair and angelic feathers covering her. At the front of the advert, also framed by heavenly feathers, is the perfume bottle itself. It is displayed at the front of the photo, and large in proportion to the model, to show its importance. At the top right hand corner of the advert the words 'GHOST SWEETHEART' are displayed in an upper case sans serif white font. The word 'GHOST' is bigger, as this is the brand of the perfume. The white of the font used connotes purity and innocence, which fits in with the rest of the advert. The only shades, apart from the blue, used in the advert are white, light pink-orange, and beige - all neutral tones. These colours suggest simplicity, happiness, femininity, and youth, which the advert as a whole seems to be focussing on. This makes the blue of the model's eyes stand out piercingly, especially as they are staring right at us, with the blue confirming the purity and confidence that the perfume could give us.



This advert appeals to the audience because of how the model instantly attracts our attention, whilst the mise en scene appeals and interests us. The fact that the perfume is called 'Sweetheart', implying goodness and purity just heightens the impact we get from the heavenly looking feathers, and the natural beauty of the perhaps naked model. These aspects believe that by using ghost's perfume we too could be this natural, feminine 'Sweetheart'.