In Linda Scott’s “Images in Advertising: The Need for a Theory of Visual Rhetoric,” I found it interesting — and a bit shocking — how many advertising angles one can take. Throughout the article, Scott includes a variety of advertising techniques, analyzing the representation, theories, and psychology behind each one.
Scott’s first point analyzes three different advertisements about lipstick. Although all of these advertisements promote the same product, each one presents a unique lens for its audience. For instance, the first image simply illustrates three bottles of lipstick with some textual context. Scott’s third advertisement presents two images of lipstick: one picture of the bottles lined up together and one of the lipstick boldly applied on a woman’s lips.
Scott’s “First Advertisement”
Scott’s “Third Advertisement”
Scott argues these advertisements follow slightly different theories about advertising, explaining how the first shows the lipstick simply as it is, while the third advertisement uses framing to draw in its audience. Although I understand Scott’s point, I also find the definition of “framing” somewhat confusing.
Scott uses the focus on the woman’s lips in the third advertisement to illustrate the concept of framing. I understand this point, but I also see framing in the first advertisement, just in a slightly different way. Although the first advertisement may initially seem straightforward and simple, the designers intentionally placed the lipstick bottles in such a way to form a triangular shape. In real life, it would be impossible for the two standing bottles of lipstick to defy the laws of gravity and stand in such a way. Furthermore, the advertisement actually removes the lipstick from its regular context to place it on an entirely white background, “framing” it in a way that it clearly pops out to the audience.
Based on this, I think the first advertisement does demonstrate some theories of visual rhetoric, and specifically that framing can be applied to nearly every situation. Although Scott argues that some advertisements are more simple than others, I see ways in which this first advertisement can be considered just as complex, if not more, than the third. Although it may not use representation in the same way, it still uses framing techniques to make the lipstick product pop out to the audience. In this way, the designers of the first and third advertisement most likely put the same amount of thought, intention, and analysis into their advertisements.
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