Friday, October 10, 2008

"I ERGE YOU"

"Surprisingly Luscious Shampoo"

Here's my 30 second clip




When we hear or see the hair product brand, Herbal Essences, we may think of the logo “I’ve got the Erge” or the pleasant, botanical scent which attracts us to this wonderful product. Currently many merchandisers try to find their way into persuading consumers to purchase their magnificent product. Most of the time they have famous celebrities to play as the spokesperson in order to awe or wow the consumers. By doing so, they make consumers think that since the famous athletes use it or since the super stars use it; it is probably worth the time to apply to this product. In the ad I chose, the merchandisers try to encourage the buyers to purchase this new product by Herbal Essences.

The setting takes place in some sort of beauty store, or I’m guessing some type of pharmacy store like CVS and Walgreen’s beauty/cosmetic section. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice all the different branches of products displayed in the background are products owned by Clairol. This ad begins with an African American male, he who has a Jamaican accent, or I guess you can say he’s Bob Marley’s twin. However he is trying to find some moisturizing shampoo to nourish and untangle his so-called dread locks. The sales person, who is played by Fernanda Andrade, guides him with some help. By doing so, she introduces him to the new range from herbal essences, which she recommends and has been using. (This is where the merchandisers bring the “celebs” into the picture like I mentioned earlier). The setting takes place somewhere at the beach as the consumer tries the shampoo, where he is having a good time washing his hair, and singing about the scents in the product. “Coconuts and Orchids are a hairs best friend.” Later he returns to the store and asks for his money back. The sales person asks what the problem was, and so he takes off his hat. You notice his dread-locks turned into long, black silky hair like mines. WOW, what a transformation, I guess it does work. At that point, you know the viewers are enthralled.

You can interpret that the central persona from this clip is the consumer because he has a goal to achieve, and that goal is to find the right shampoo for his hair. As for the sales person, she will be consider as the supporting character, like Virginia Kidd mentioned in her analysis, the supporting characters are those who help motivate the plot and cheer the central characters decision.

In the end we come to discover that the hero of the scenario is Bob Marley’s twin, the consumer. We can see that this product works for a variety of hairstyles, from curly to unruly hair, and frizzy ness. Not only that, its also targeting men to apply to this product. Before, most advertisements only had women to play the role as the consumer. But this ad is a perfect example to target a viewer this product isn’t just for women but for men and hair of all types.

So I ERGE YOU to try this product, even though it’s been out for quite sometime, it still works. The scent is wonderful, and you can smell it for days! Like the ad said, “Surprisingly Luscious Shampoo.”


2 comments:

Nathan L. said...

I thought it was an interesting concept that helped create a unique ad that appeals to both men and women. The majority of hair care commercials are aimed at targeting women or in some cases strictly men.

TheresaJoy said...

Your blog is well written,and informative. You described the commercial, and pointed out the fantacy analysis. Your breakdown in the analysis was good. I think that maybe in this commercial Herbal Essences would be the hero, or central persona. The product rescued him from his horrible dread locks. But I think that it could just be that the hero to whomever reads this blog could be subjective; depending on who or what you idetify with. In the retorical community this ad represents, who are the other members of the community? The competitors,or the other consumers?