JC Penney Advertisement Generates Business through Exploitation of Female Insecurities
Fashion advertisements that are released in the months June, August, and September tend to focus on the big event of starting a new year of school. These ads use many techniques involving logos, pathos, ethos, and place to target young women and lure them into shopping at their stores. JC Penney’s August 2010 advertisement displaying their line of Ronson clothes does just this. Their ad is specifically aimed to point out young women’s insecurities and encourage them to conform as well as belong to a group in order to benefit their company
Place as the physical setting of this ad is a very traditional classroom. There is a chalkboard with notes on it, the bottom half of the walls are a dark wood paneling, the upper half of the walls are a sterile white, and there is a clock hanging near the corner. There are two girls that look to be in their teenage years and therefore it is assumed that the classroom is in a high school. Place is created as a social context as well. When looking at this picture a typical Hollywood high school society comes to mind and therefore creates the culture of cliques and outcasts. The reminder of the typical high school scene recreates the fears that are most often associated with these four years such as not fitting in and being teased. JC Penney is clever in the way it presents this atmosphere and then counteracts it with the two models who show the viewer that their clothes help them to belong to a group and fit in through emotional appeal.
Pathos is extremely prevalent in this ad so that JC Penney can reach the goal of increased sales through the exploitation of female insecurities. First off, the two girls in the ad are dressed in nearly the same outfits. Both are wearing plaid shirts that are tucked into tight skinny legged pants. They have matching jackets slung across their shoulders and hats angled the same on their heads. As if this wasn’t enough similarity, the girls’ hair is cut and styled identically; the only difference is in the color. Because there are few differences between the two girls it is encouraging uniformity and lack of individual styles. This type of emotional appeal nurtures JC Penney’s agenda of feeding off anxieties by creating the message that it is not acceptable to be different. The idea that girls should be wearing the same clothes also benefits JC Penney because they don’t have to design, make, and stock as many different clothes which in turn cuts down on expenses.
Emotional appeal can also be uncovered through the physical attributes of the models. Both of the young women in the advertisement are very slim and attractive. Marketers at JC Penney are very aware that by presenting beautiful models with perfect skin and bodies is the optimal way to draw young female consumers into buying their clothes because these images create insecurity in appearances. “They know how to capitalize on important teenage issues and anxieties, like body image, peer acceptance, coolness, and need for power” (Carney 1). Due to continuous exposure of images implying the perfect body, young women face the unconquerable battle of obtaining these looks. Julie Napoli and Marie Murgolog-Poore explain the issue of this in their article “Female Gender Images in Adolescent Magazine Advertising;”
Adolescent females growing up in Western society are often exposed to unrealistic images of women. These largely set the standard for the image an individual should aspire to and, as a result, we are seeing an alarming number of young women and children on the dieting merry-go-round. Even women who fall within the normal weight range perceive themselves as too heavy and continue to pursue this ideal.
JC Penney’s advertisement caters to these body image insecurities in order to sell more of their clothes. By choosing to put skinny beautiful models in their ad they are producing the message that their clothes will make the viewer look skinny and beautiful as well.
The positioning and placement of the two girls provides pathos in the advertisement also. The girl on the left who has auburn hair is leaning against a ledge and staring straight forward at the camera. The girl on the right who has blonde hair is bending her knees slightly and looking dreamily up and towards the girl on the left. They are so close to each other that they almost seem to be touching. Because of the way the girl on the right is angled towards the other and the proximity of their closeness it creates the image that the two are friends. The blonde young woman also has her arm crossed which, through body language, makes the idea that no one else is allowed into their group and may not be their friend. Also due to their postures the two girls are at an equal height, which once again creates similarity between the duo which connects the viewer’s mind back to the fact that they are wearing the same outfit. This in turn tells the viewer that if they wear the clothes they can be accepted into the group. All of these positions combined make the statement that if the viewer follows the crowd then she will be treated equally and not only belong in group with others, but be thin and flawless just as the models are.
The wording in the ad creates another element of pathos. At the bottom of the ad is “JC Penney” in bold white letters and underneath that is the phrase: “New Look. New Day. Who Knew!.” Many back to school ads run with the idea of getting a fresh start with the upcoming school year and this phrase is appealing to that. JC Penney is trying to say that by buying their clothes it will give the viewer a new and better style, or “look.” Therefore going back to school is like a “new day” in the sense that the consumer has changed. Because of this change the consumer makes to conform others will notice and the consumer will then gain attention, be accepted, and belong. This small line also creates insecurity within the viewer because it points out issues the viewer might never have even considered. “A successful ad convinces the viewer that they have a problem that needs fixing, and then proposes to offer the solution, which just happens to be the product they are selling” (Carney 2). In this case JC Penney presents the problem that the viewer’s clothes are unfashionable and by purchasing new clothes their problem is solved.
JC Penney uses the wording in the upper right hand corner, that states “I ❤ Ronson,” to display pathos as well. This phrase is similar to the more widely known and publicized phrase of “I ❤ NY.” New York is internationally recognized as a city of high fashion. Therefore a connection is made between the credibility of popular fashion that is in New York and the Ronson line of clothing sold at JC Penney.
Logos is very sparse in this advertisement because it is trying to draw more emotional connections than logical ones, however there is one very obvious aspect of logos in the top right hand corner. There is a list of all the articles of clothing and their prices in fine print. Naturally the message being conveyed is that viewers should shop at JC Penney because they have low prices. Therefore making the young females seeing this ad believe that fitting in is obtainable through clothing since it is a reasonable price. Although lower prices allow young women to feel as if the look in the magazine is obtainable, security does not last long. “Ads are not healthy for women because they give that fond hope that [they] could look like that person if [they] just do/use ‘this’ and take ‘that.’ What many viewers do not realize […] is that often what we see are advertisments that have been air-brushed or created from a database of physical parts of various attractive human beings,” says Jennifer Gales. Therefore only more disappointment is created by JC Penney as they make the clothes accessible as the image still remains entirely out of reach.
All the different elements of rhetoric and place help JC Penney to manipulate women through their advertisement into buying their clothes. Ethos reassures the viewer that what they’re reading is credible because JC Penney has been in business over a hundred years. Place sets the scene of the picture by creating an uncomfortable vision of being in high school. Then pathos takes over and by manifesting self-image issues they create the idea that by shopping at JC Penney they can fit in even in such a cruel environment as high school. Logos implies the clothes are cheap and obtainable so therefore it is possible to look like the models.The combination of all of these encourages young women to shop at JC Penney because subconsciously that are being fed the message that buy wearing their clothes they will be accepted. “It has been claimed that advertising generates cynicism, insecurity, and conformity (Napoli& Murgolo-Poor 62) and through their advertisement JC Penney proves this claim.
Works Cited
Carney, Susan. “Advertising To Teens: Why and How Marketers Target Kids.” Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers’ Network. 23 Feb. 2007. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. http://www.suite101.com/content/advertising-to-teens-a14289.
Napoli, Jullie, and Marie Murgolo-Poore. “Female Gender Images in Adolescent Magazine Advertising.” Australasian Marketing Journal 11 (2003): 60-69. Print.
Rajagopal, Indhu, and Jennifer Gales. “It’s the Image That Is Imperfect: Avertising and Its Impact on Woment.” Economic and Political Weekly 37.32 (2002): 3333-337. Print.
Taylor Davis 