Monday, 30 April 2012

Advertising and Self-Image.

In order to attract their target consumers, advertisers use images with which they think those consumers associate or to which they aspire. So what’s going on with this advert for ‘low cost’ life insurance that’s proliferating everywhere I look?

They use three head shots of people – a middle aged man, a middle aged woman and a child. Every one of them is made up and photographed to look ugly, ordinary, characterless and utterly dependent.

So, my first question is: why on earth would I want to associate with such an image? But, of course, the real question is this. Do these pictures accurately represent the self-image of the average low cost life insurance customer?

It’s difficult to write a closing sentence to this post. Let’s just say that I find the questions interesting, especially the second one.

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