Jennifer+Cicchini

__ Olay’s Regenerist Wrinkle Cream __ : Description: Background music is upbeat with drums. There aren’t really any sound effects. The actress in the advertisement only speaks two times, first to say “eye lift, mini lift, full lift.” Later in the commercial she says, ”A force to be reckoned with…” Another woman’s voice comes in after the actress and says the different “lifts”, and that woman has a deep, alluring voice that describes the products. There are 3 different kinds of products, one for eye lift, one for sculpting the neck and jaw line, and one 14-day intervention kit for lifting the cheeks. That same woman says the disclaimer, that the results are “not surgical results, of course, but just an overall lifted look.” The audience hears the word “lift” many times during the 30 second clip and also the word, “gravity”.

What is shown in the clip is a very young-looking woman in her 30’s wearing a shiny black cocktail dress without sleeves. Her hair is pulled back in a sleek chignon. She is wearing diamond stud earrings. The backgrounds are black and red, however; in the beginning of the commercial when the actress says the 3 “lifts”, everything is in black and white. The setting is nothing familiar. The actress comes from between two red and black panels that are circular with a coy look on her face. There is a lot of focus placed on the actress’ face, and every time they show her face she has her lips upturned as if smiling. When they go on to describe what comes in the package, the ad shows the actress smoothing the 3 different creams on particular areas of her face and as she is smoothing it on, there are purple sparkles that move up the curves in her face and disappear. There are also rays of light that seem to come from the cream she is smoothing on her face. When the narrator says that the results are not surgical results, the actress throws her head back and smiles with all her teeth showing as if to convey that she didn’t have surgery and look how beautiful she looks.

The camera angles are mostly side shots of the actress and lighting is side lighting appearing to come from the right side of the screen for the most part. The lighting during the beginning of the commercial when everything is black and white is straight in the actress’ face. Background lighting is dark. Most of the close up shots to the face are concentrated on the chin and up to the hairline. The editing changes frequently. There is a break between the black and white scenes and the color scenes, but there are breaks in the filming as the narrator talks about different products that come with the program. I think this is done to make the process seem short and easy. The meaning of the ad is to convey that you can avoid surgery if you use Olay Regenerist. The advertisers know that people are looking for the “Fountain of Youth”, and if you can get it without surgery, wouldn’t you be much better off? This commercial sets a mood of wanting women to feel beautiful, sexy, and young. I think if the advertisers had used an older looking woman in the commercial, the effect would not have come across as strongly, however; if you’re analyzing the ad, you might appreciate the honesty of the commercial. The overall message of this advertisement is that you can look younger using a 14-day intervention program and don’t have to consider surgery as an alternative. Having the text break apart in the black and white beginning of the ad caught the viewer’s attention by conveying that you can attain the eye lift, mini lift and full lift without surgery. At the end of the ad, the word Love appears above the word Olay, and then disappears while the deep voiced female narrator announces, ”Love the lifted skin you’re in!”