Analysis Of The Advertisement “A Better Job Is Waiting”

The picture in the advertisement generally depicts a bored male worker with his eyes downcast on the note sheet and a partly turned, seemingly permanent sitting posture. Mould and mosses are spreading over his body gradually, which indicates the detrimental impact on commuters due to the lack of passion and motivation for their mundane job.

The image is asymmetric and set at a human eye-level. Generally, a balanced composition is illustrated though the placement of materials. On the right-hand side of the picture, objects are tidily arranged on the desk.

This is neutralized by the properly-organized files on the shelf and the left slanting sitting pose of the young man. This composition then shows an evenness with no particular emphasis on either side of the image, and thereby gives a pleasant visual experience for potential consumers.

The man covered with mosses, however, attracts people's attention immediately as he is the only human appeared and occupies nearly a half of the picture.

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Lines and shapes are used to depict the scenario in a fairly realistic manner. For example, straight lines are used to depict most of the office items while curved lines are used to portrait the posture of the young man. His tiredness can be seen not only from the leaning-back post and the way he holds the pen, but also from the doodles he does on the paper and the card game site he opens when he is supposed to finish the work.

The advertisement also exercises good use of color as a medium to convey the emotional response of the main character.

The image is chromatic, and a broad color palette is used. However, the only vibrant color seen is green. It is shown in both bright and dark green and is enough saturated to dominate the scene. Mingling with some brown, it successfully forms a realistic depiction of the growing mosses. All other components are displayed in a pale tone to apply an atmosphere of ordinariness and monotony. This color arrangement, which puts an emphasis on the green mosses spreading over the body, expresses the thematic idea that repetitive work can demotivate a person and even ruin his mental condition. Unity and variety of color are also shown in the image. The color blue applied on the outfit of the worker as well as the files on the shelf is quite saturated and gives people a cool visual feel. A contrast is thereby created as the color of the desk and light source are relatively warm. A unity of color can also be observed, for instance, the color of the card game webpage as well as the mosses are both illustrated in green.

Aside from that, a variety of highlights and shadows are adopted to fully express the theme, whilst the tonal range is limited. There are two dominant light sources in the picture, the computer screen and the bulb of the table lamp. This indicates that the scene is not under a natural light condition but probably at a late night when the man is tired of doing endless boring work. The lighting of the lamp directs viewers to the focal area of the scene while the remaining area is strategically covered in shadow. The mosses are also depicted by different qualities of light and darkness, which generate the illusion of depth and space. The contrast between highlights and the darkness, however, is not quite strong. The light is soft and diffused, which creates a faint atmosphere and imply the drowsy mood of man.

The three-dimensionality is seen from the shadows around the objects on the desk, which demonstrates that it is a real-life scenario. The work is drawn upon the social context where a large number of individuals sacrifice their energy and time on the job they do not have enthusiasm for, which resulted in various physical and mental sufferings.

Overall, the advertisement practices a combination of a variety of formal elements such as line, shape, color, tones and composition to echo with the slogan "a better job is waiting". The successful portrait of the weary young man as well as his mundane working condition can remind individuals of their unsatisfactory career. This can let them rethink their job choice, trigger the eagerness to abandon the energy-consuming yet boring work and to seek for suitable job opportunities which may shape career and change lives.

Works cited

1. Jansson, H. (2014). The Art of Advertising: Iconology in Relation to Advertising. Journal of Macromarketing, 34(3), 289-303. doi: 10.1177/0276146713517319
2. Smith, R. E. (2016). The Basics of Advertising: A Guidebook for Beginners. New York: Routledge.
3. McQuarrie, E. F. (2016). Advertising and Branding: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.