Lust and gluttony, the two deadly sins that Pope Gregory categorizes as the least deadly of the seven. But that doesn't stop the media from filling their ads and commercials with these immoralities, maybe it is because they are truly irresistible to the human psyche.
This photograph is for the Harvey Nichols Company, taken by Tim-Bret Day with the Tribal London agency. It was released in March of 2005 with the place of publication being the United Kingdom.
At first sight, I see a red carpeted room with white walls, filled with tables with crisp white table cloths and sleek white chairs. Though the tables are piled with various fruit, most of them red, like strawberries, cranberries, and watermelon. There are beautiful women all throughout the shot, dressed in elegant gowns. There is one woman at the foreground looking seductively at the camera, while the others seem to not notice the camera and are engaged in their own activities like pouring champagne on another woman, eating fruit, sneaking marshmallows under the table, or sipping champagne. These women are covered in the mess of the excess of fruit, but still are pristine looking, their hair perfectly in line, their makeup without any smudges. In the bottom right corner of the ad, an emblem of the company, Harvey Nichols, a chain dedicated to the luxury lifestyle, specializing in designer fashion, beauty, food, and wine; all things shown throughout the ad.
Two colors that stand out in this photograph are white and red. The white of the tables and chairs may represent the perfection of the lavish lifestyle that the people shown in the ad lead, this is a contrast from the red in the carpet, fruit, and dresses. While white shows purity and cleanliness, red shows emotionally intensity, it can represent power, strength, energy, lust, and love. With the red aspects of the picture disrupting the white it is showing that the lavish lifestyle is one that praises indulgence over innocence and chastity. Buying products from this company will make people jealous of your extravagant life. The extreme excess of food, and wastefulness of the champagne shows gluttony and makes it appealing to the audience since it represents wealth and a life without struggle. It may also allude to art of the renaissance period where there are dozens of painting of women lying on a sofa, draped in red cloth, being fanned and fed grapes. This period is one that is enthusiastic toward the finer things in life, things appreciated by the higher classes. Also, by placing a woman at the foreground, staring straight into the camera, and thus looking into the eyes of the intended audience, she becomes sexually explicit, showing the desire and craving for eroticism. Finally, by not having the company's symbol by the main focus of the ad, it is showing that this company is far too fancy to have to scream their name in order to get business. They are far too refined to have to beg for customers, making their products for desirable for the wealthy viewer. Overall, this ad persuades the audience to buy from the Harvey Nichols company which would allow them to partake in this lustful way of life where you have all your needs and wants in excessive amounts.
Harvey Nichols is a company centralized in the United Kingdom, so first off, the intended audience will geographically reside in this area. Also, since it is a company known for being focused in high-end brand name products, I believe the intended audience of this ad are the people that seek this luxurious lifestyle. These will most likely be people that are higher on the socioeconomic scale, with them belonging in social groups that often join together for extravagant parties where the atmosphere is extremely fancy and echoes praise of having excess. This is all part of "rich culture," something the intended audience of the ad would be very familiar with. The creator of the ad took the broad knowledge of what the extravagant parties are like that rich people may attend and hyperbolized the event to make it even more appealing and lavish. Looking further, because the ad only depicts gorgeous seductive women, it can be assumed that the ad is specifically trying to appeal to rich men, knowing that they would be more likely to splurge with their money at the sight of the ad. Based off these stereotypes of people that have more money and can afford things from this company, the ad utilizes the aspect of beauty and having more than enough for themselves, things that the creator of the ad assumes rich people take pride in.
I agree with your analyzation of the advertisement. The colors red and white are mostly what make up the picture to display the contrast you discussed. But what about the women in green and black in the back? These are the only two other colors in the picture and I think the author did that to bring attention to these two women, as they are very close to one another, to increase the sexual attraction for men viewing this ad.
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