Old Navy Ad: The Proposal, Starring Julia Louis Dreyfus

        Old Navy recently released an ad with a comedic approach to promote their spring sale. It starts off  in a  vacation setting  where Julia Louis Dreyfus , an actress famously known for her role in  Seinfield , walks alongside a beach with a man.  Julia  makes funny remarks  about the man saying that he looks like he is nervous, and she even asked if he was gambling lately. As he kneels down to propose to her , she has a look of astonishment, but  amusingly it wasn't  because  of his heart felt  proposal.  She looked  back at another women who was  wearing  a nice pair of pants and  immediately asked where she got them.
       By that point in the ad,  I was pleased with the creativity and the humorous  element. At the  same time ,I was looking  into the appeals, the techniques, and  the messages that this ad contains.  I felt that the product which they were promoting (which is clothing in general), appeals to the need for attention . The pants were an example of the fashionable clothing that they would sell at a great price. Also in the ad ,they made  it clear that the sale was a limited time  opportunity so they buyer should hurry if they were interested in this deal . That technique is the time preesure because they want people to feel urgency to participate in their sale . Another clear technique they used was the testimonial because they had Julia Louis Dreyfus endorse the product.  They also clearly use the wit and humor technique throughout the whole commercial to capture the audience's attention.
        This leads me to another topic of the target audience, which is clearly middle -aged or  adult  women. The  reason  that the target audience is adult women is because  the  appeals and techniques are geared toward  pleasing this  gender and age group.  Their assumption is that women are highly interested in buying clothing to  satisfy their need for attention . Also  their attempt at humor actually heavily promotes a sterotype about women because they made Julia more preoccupied with stuff than her relationship. It painted her as a selfish person but at the same time it normalized the whole situation . By doing this they were sending the message that it's okay to  prioritize our need for material needs. When I analyzed it the message, I was torn on whether to appreciate the humor or to denounce it for  the negative way it showed women. Then, I realized that it was all an attempt  to make this characteristic  of women which they promoted a reality. They want women to fulfill their role as people who are obsessesd with clothing and sales simply to  sell their  product. In this commercial they implicitly say that it's okay to  cave-in  to these material needs  so they promote this behavior especially  to  women.  Then they present the product as a solution to satisfy these  needs.