No such thing as a weaker sex!!!

After a long and tiring week at school, I looked forward to relaxing during the weekend but since there was nothing worthwhile to watch on television, I picked up an old issue of Cleo (november 2007) that was lying idly around my house. Flipping through the pages, I came across a advertisment that grabbed my attention. It was from the health promotion board regarding a campaign, Protect women against aids. This advertisment caught my attention for a few reasons. First of all the picture was enough to grab anyones attention, it was a painting of a man and women on a bed, to be exact it was like the cover page of a romance novel. The advertisment takes up one whole page and the colours are very striking, deep red which also adds to the whole atmosphere of romance. The velvet cushions on the bed also suggest sexual tension. To add on in bringing about the illusion of a romance novel, the advertisment makes use of a tittle ‘when a warrior breaks’. The writing of the tittle is also done in a font similiar to the ones we see on the covers. Also on the top of the picture, it is written, ‘her strong arms cradled him as he laid back in painicked excitement, helpless in rapture. The words here are enough to captivate the readers interest. From here we can see that the writer has spent alot of time deliberating on the aspect of invention and delivery. In my opinion, when doing an advertisment on such serious issues, it is hard enough when you have to target a certain group. Like in this advertisment, the target group is women and the writer has done a really good job in captivating the attention of women. The writer has used something that almost all women can relate to, that is a romance novel. Below in small font, it is written ,’there is no such thing as a weaker sex. Take charge and protect yourself form HIV/Aids and sexually transmitted infections by abstaining from casual sex and being faithful to one partner. A perosn infected with HIV/Aids usually shows no signs or symptons’. The message in very good one but I feel that the picture and the illusion of a romance cover page, overshadows the message. The writer for the advertisment was not able to present logos in an effective manner. It would have been better if the writer focused more on the issue rather then on the delivery. Also the use of pathos is not very good because when you take a look at the advertisment, you probably would not be able to understand the message. However after all is said, I feel that it is a very interesting and different advertisment. The writer has taken a different approach in conveying such a message and had managed to achieve his or her aim of getting people’s attention.