deconstructing an advertisement

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Step 1

• The only person in this ad is a white male child about the age of 1.  This baby has is wearing a "pouty face" and semi-formal clothes that're generally worn by business men.  He's rolling up his sleeves to make it seem like he's in charge.
• The camera angle is at eye-level.
• The lighting used in this ad seems to be artificial lighting created in a studio.The skin of the child is highlighted as well as the background behind him. There are some small shadows on the lower parts of the baby, suggesting the lighting is coming from above him.
• The main colour used is blue and it's tough to find any other colour in the ad.  The blue isn't necessarily bright but the light blue of the background starkly contrasts the dark blue of his shirt to make him stand out.
• A very plain font is shown to write the only text (found in the upper left corner). It's not very big but it's easy to find because the ad is clean.

Step 2

• Huggies baby wipes are the product.
• I don't personally find this appealing because I thankfully don't have kids right at the moment.
• The target audience for this ad are parents that have young children still in diapers.
• The ad is portraying that your kid rules your life now and it can be quite the hassle is they get upset.  It probably will work on parents because they don't want to do any harm to their children.  And by using this product, they believe their children will be happy and healthy.

Step 3

• The assumption made in this ad is that children are difficult to deal with and can be quite the hassle.  This assumption is mostly true. However, the level of difficulty can range with time or the child itself.  The only play on gender roles would be that men are generally the boss in businesses. Which reinforces gender stereotypes.
• Again, they used a white baby and stated he's the new boss.  The racial stereotype that usually white people run the world is definitely enforced.
• This ad also sorta plays on the fact that rich people are never happy and always want more.  Definitely reinforces another stereotype but I can't tell you if it's true because I'm far from rich.

Step 4

• A short term consequence could be that your child is allergic to this product and causes more irritation than it was supposed to relieve.  I mean, there aren't really any long term effects (unless if you consider that 40 years from now we find out we all slowly poisoned our children overtime and a huge outbreak occurs.  But that's very unlikely).
• The message in this ad isn't for social change because it used so many old stereotypes, but I wouldn't say they were necessarily against it either.
• Yes, this ad is socially responsible.  Unless you look deeply into it (like we just have) it is very innocent and merely trying to get parents to buy this product for their kids.  In fact, if what they're saying is true, they'll help to keep children happy and healthy.
• If you think of yourself as a citizen rather than a consumer, you'll likely think higher of yourself.  Citizens are part of a group while still being able to be an individual.  However, if you consider yourself to be a consumer, you're generalizing yourself.  Making you fall into a category with numerous others.  Citizens can make change rather than consumers because they are able to bring together all of their individual knowledge and work together.