Media Analysis - Reading an Image

This is an advert made in 2010 for the sports clothing brand Reebok which features a photo of and two quotes from the American rap artist 50 Cent.The quote at the top of the advert could be a subtle way of persuading its audience to buy the product, especially the line "take advantage of today because tomorrow is not promised" which could be Reebok's message to buy the product now because you might not get another chance to. The advert is all black and white and there isn't much light in the photo of 50 Cent; these could be indicators of sadness or depression and this is further suggested by 50 Cent's facial expression. On the right side of the advert is an image of fingerprints, supposedly taken during a person's arrest and this could symbolise rebellion. This could also suggest that the advert's target audience are most likely to be fans of 50 Cent and other rap artists or they could be people that are quite rebellious or maybe stereotyped against as being rebellious or reckless, specifically young people, who have a tendency to be wrongly labelled by certain elements of the media and so are able to relate to elements of the advert, which then inspires them to buy the product. The second quote "I am what I am" spreads across both images and this could be implying that 50 Cent believes that although he may have made mistakes in his life, they've made him the person he is now and this could be Reebok's way of saying that the product they are advertising will make you your own person and will be part of your identity. This idea of identity could be further emphasised by the close up shot of the fingerprints, enabling the audience to see the individual lines of each print and we are reminded that everyone's fingerprints are unique and again this could be Reebok trying to tell their customers that their product makes you unique.

This is a print advert for Water Aid which features a fish in a fishbowl and we can see that the tap on the side has been left dripping. The slogan for this advert is 'Save Water. Save Life.' This slogan is a direct link to the dripping tap and it leaves the audience to infer that if the tap just kept dripping, eventually the fish would die and so this is a message to the audience that if we keep our taps dripping, it could cost the lives of people around the world. This is the subject matter of the advert. I think that the fact that the slogan is visually very small with nothing framing it and the fact that the photo has been taken using a relatively long shot with very little else on the right side of the photo is a message to the audience that an action as small and simple as people turning their taps off in one country can impact the rest of the world and save lives as the slogan says. Also, the decision to have negative space next to the fishbowl could have been made to be representative of how empty the world will become if people leave their taps running. It could also be Water Aid's way of getting across the simplicity of the solution; that nothing huge or complicated needs to happen in order to save lives. The colour scheme of the advert is quite plain and bland apart from the orange of the fish, which highlights the importance of the matter in that if the fish dies, all the colour will be gone from the picture which represents what will happen in our world eventually if people leave their taps running. By looking at this and realising its message, the audience is able to relate to the issue, specifically the idea of leaving taps on and so they could feel a sense of guilt and will subsequently act on this guilt and feel compelled to start turning their taps off.