Ellen

English 1301

28 September 2014

Marketing Success, Timing is key!

In 2008 comedienne Ellen Degeneres signed on to be a spokesperson for Covergirl Cosmetics. Soon after a very interesting ad was printed which depicts her getting some what cuddly with a raccoon for a product that is used for “coverage and correction” of a barrage of beauty problems. At first glance the ad is very boring, using mainly black and white. In the bottom right hand corner, in faint purple packaging you see the product “Covergirl + Olay CC Cream”. The bottom left hand corner lists what common beauty problems this products corrects, including dark circles. As a woman myself I know that this problem is more often than not called 'raccoon eyes'. Which would lead any woman to call it cute or see the advertisements purpose so plainly. Being a total fan of Ellen, I see this very, very differently.

At the time of printing, Ellen Degeneres and Covergirl's parent company Proctor & Gamble had opposite end of the spectrum ideas on animal testing. Animal testing of cosmetics was a practice that started in the 1920's and became very main stream as the demand and market for more and more cosmetics emerged. It was common knowledge until very recently that all cosmetic companies including Covergirl test not only their finished products but the ingredients used to make those products on animals. Ellen has clearly stated her opinions of cosmetic companies such as Covergirl testing their products on animals by saying,

If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal who hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in Charles Manson's eyes and ask him if it hurts.

Did this ad have a dual audience? What is used to appeal to a very wide audience? Perhaps two totally unrelated groups? An analysis will tell us if what appears to be a cute, straight forward ad...