J'adore Dior Advert Analysis

Fig. 2 Vogue logo

Fragrance Analysis Georgina Cooper

Fig. 1 Christian Dior

Christian Dior’s Vision Remembered Beautifully By J’adore

N0560144 Fashion Communication and Promotion FASH10106 1084 words

Fig 3 Bar Code

Fig 4 J’adore Dior 2011 (2011)

3

Fig. 5 Marie Antoinette (circa 1767-1768)

T

his advert (see fig. 4.) promotes and celebrates the 1999 fragrance J’adore

by Dior (Ulrich Proeschel, 2013). The big idea was to relaunch the J’adore fragrance by embracing its French heritage and aiming to gain the top spot in the women’s fragrance market (Ulrich Proeschel, 2013) The big idea remains consistent with previous J’adore campaigns by keeping with pre-existing themes of sex, femininity and glamour. Gold is a dominant theme in previous J’adore campaigns. This campaign does not differ. The bottle in the advert is almost exactly the same of the first J’adore fragrance, linking with J’adore’s history.

In every campaign image for J’adore there has been one dominant female model within the frame, showing the cornerstone of femininity, which is what the brand is partly built upon. Since 2004 the actress and model Charlize Theron has been the official face of J’adore, she therefore has been in every J’adore campaign since 2004 (Todd Peterson, 2004). The development of the advert is by heavily introducing the French heritage behind the brand for the first time in a J’adore campaign, and promoting femininity in a less sexual way.

Dior is renowned for its expensive price tag and affluent consumers as well as its brand values of elegance, beauty, femininity and luxury. The advert, follows its brand values by using a beautiful model in a stunning dress with an elegant backdrop and the color gold mirroring wealth. This advert follows the ideologies of ‘The Brand Personality Model by Jennifer Aaker’ (Uche Okonkwo, 2007). The model explains how a brand can be divided into 5 categories.

One category being ‘Sophistication’. This connotes a brand personality to be ‘upper

4

class, glamorous, charming, good looking, feminine and smooth’.(Uche Okonkwo, 2007). This personality matches Dior’s target consumer and brand values. Sophistication embodies this advert.

Referencing to Roland Barthes semiotic analysis theory the first impression I had towards the image was golden glamour.

I then denoted the element of the gold dress and location. The connotations these denotations have towards the advert is to promote Dior’s luxurious and prestigious status. As well as the history of the J’adore fragrance and bottle. Overall I have calculated the advert contains no mockery representation instead containing 40% literal and 60% romanticized representation.

The advert’s context and visual inspiration can be described as 18th century France where the Palace of Versailles symbolised. This remembers the French heritage Dior built his fashion house upon.

He recognized in 1947 the need to restore France’s dignity after the war. He did this by taking inspiration from the Palace of Versailles for his collections. This ideology was by using the Palace as the adverts location. To make it relevant for Dior’s 21st century audience the advert’s context is as if the palace had opened its doors now, just like it did in the 18th century and glamour re-entered the building. The only difference being modernity also had entered.

There is a strong historical reference in this advert. Marie Antoinette (see fig. 5.) married Louis XVI. Their Royal proceedings happened in the Hall of Mirrors. (Leah Marie Brown, 2011) (see fig. 6.). This is similar to the advert as the adverts location is the Hall of Mirrors (Ulrich Proeschel, 2013) Both Charlize’s dress and Marie’s wedding dress heavily drip in diamonds (Leah Marie Brown, 2011). This is similar to the J’adore logo typography which also uses a drip like

Fig. 6 Hall of Mirrors

effect.

The spotlight behind Charlize relates to King Louis XIV, who expanded the Palace (Owen Jarus, 2013). Known as the ‘Sun King’, he chose the sun as a symbol to represent him (Elena Steingrad, 2007) (see fig. 7.). The spotlight mirrors the beam of the sun. This therefore has a connection to the King. The Sun King reigned over France when it was at its upmost leading European power (History.com Staff, 2009). This historical reference is appropriate as Dior’s aim with the advert is to culturally make J’adore the world’s leading fragrance.

Fig. 7 Sun King symbol (2010)

The J’adore bottle relates to Greek history. Its shape is similar to a Greek amphora. (Fragrantica, 2011). This promotes Greek history within the image and also how Charlize is portrayed as a Greek goddess.

Through Charlize’s stance and how the spotlight behind her draws attention to her figure she can be seen to be portrayed in a sexual way. She also is intensely glaring whilst pouting. This follows Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory (Samsia Akhter, 2012).

This theory ignores a women’s identity by portraying women in a sexual and object like way. Despite Charlize’s sexual portrayal, it 6

Investing into this product is like being part of the brand story and history.

The tone of voice within the advert is slightly demanding through Charlize’s strong stance and eye contact, however the product and typography is not overwhelming within the frame. This minimizes the demanding tone towards the image making it more welcoming. This ensures the product is viewed as accessible and unintimidating because of its exclusive label. I call the overall advert’s tone elegantly and politely demanding.

The advert is from print media. This is appropriate as it is eye catching and different Fig. 8 Charlize Theron

to anything else by combining glamour and history into one captivating image. The model is an Oscar winning actress (see fig.

8.). Socially the audience will immediately recognize this as magazines is part of the media and so is film, therefore anything associated with media channels will grab their attention. The advert features in highend fashion magazines. This is appropriate as other luxury brands advertise in the same way, this advert however is striking, therefore will stand out against its brand competitors consequently generating new customers.

This advert is incredibly effective. It remains with its ‘sophisticated’ brand image.

It clearly introduces its French heritage within the J’adore campaign for the first time. The advert proved to be a success as it overtook Chanel No.5 to be the worlds leading fragrance (Ulrich Proeschel, 2013).

It has been so successful, a similar advert has been released in 2014 (see fig.9.), still remaining with its French heritage by using the Palace within the advert (Becky Freeth, 2014).

Fig. 9 J’adore Dior 2014 (2014)

Georgina Cooper

can be override through her high level and strong stance.This follows Dior’s brand values of recognizing the social issue of feminism by ensuring no controversy can be detected in the advert.

The campaign’s subject; the fragrance, is clearly shown in the advert. To ensure it is not ignored the bottle has dim lighting behind, helping mark a separation between the advert as a whole and the product. The models dress resembles the fragrance bottle as her neck is covered in a similar way to the bottleneck. This gives the reader the impression wearing the fragrance covers and transforms you into a glamorous feeling.

From the adverts design equation the overall message the advert promotes is that women purchasing the J’adore fragrance brings empowerment and luxury into their lifestyle. By giving them the feeling

9

10

References

Illustrations

Biblliography

• Becky Freeth, 2014. ‘The Future is gold’: Statuesque Charlize Theron dazzles in a glittering backless gown in a new J’adore Dior campaign [online]. Daily Mail. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ article-2738145/Charlize-Theron-dazzlesglittering-backless-gown-new-J-adore-Diorcampaign.html[15/03/15].

• Elena Steingrad, 2007. The Sun King [online].

Louis-xiv. Available at: http://www.louis-xiv.de [17/03/15].

• Fragrantica, 2011. J’adore Christian Dior for women [online]. Fragrantica. Available at: http:// www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Christian-Dior/Jadore-210.html [17/03/15].

• History.com Staff, 2009. Louis XIV [online].

A+E Networks. Availble at: http://www.history. com/topics/louis-xiv [17/03/15] • Leah Marie Brown, 2011. I do: The Wedding of Louis and Anotinette [online]. Blogger.

Available at: http://leahmariebrownhistoricals. blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/i-do-wedding-of-louisand-antoinette.html [16/03/15] • Owen Jarus, 2013. Palace of Versailles: Facts & History [online]. Livescience. Available at: http://www.livescience.com/38903-palace-ofversailles-facts-history.html [17/03/15].

• Samsia Akhter, 2012. Analysis of Dior (J’adore) [online].Prezi. Available at: https:// prezi.com/snt9mbbvjgno/analysis-of-diorjadore/ [17/03/15].

• Todd Peterson, 2004. Charlize Theron the New Face of Dior [online]. People.

Available at: http://www.people.com/people/ article/0,,688914,00.html [16/03/15] • Uche Okonkwo, 2007. Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques [ebook].

London: Palgrave Macmillan. Available via: Google Ebook. [16/03/15] • Ulrich Proeschel, 2013. Dior J’adore: The New Queen of Fragrance [online]. Create Business.

Available at: https://www.create-business.com/ blog/2013/01/24/dior-jadore-the-new-queen-offragrance/ [15/03/15]

• Figure 1. Christian Dior [photograph] At: http://perfumesociety.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/04/CHRISTIAN_DIOR.jpg (15/03/15) • Figure 2. Vogue logo [logo] At: http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/ VOGUE_LOGO.svg/2000px-VOGUE_LOGO. svg.png (15/03/15) • Figure 3. Bar code [image] At: http://www. elpnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/sample-1d-barcode/.jpg (15/03/15) • Figure 4. Annaud Jean-Jackques (2011) J’adore Dior 2011 [advert] At : http://kingoftheflatscreen.com/wp-content/uploa ds/2014/12/00000000_34473739_133406529 3_orig.jpg (14/03/15) • Figure 5. Meytens Martin Van (circa 17671768) Marie Antoinette [portrait] At : http:// upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/ Marie_Antoinette_1767.jpg (15/03/15) • Figure 6. Hall of Mirrors [photograph] At: http://versailles3d.commondatastorage.googleapis.com/au-cours-des-siecles/illustration/ fullscreen/2005-2007.jpg (14/03/15) • Figure 7. Carlson Marina (2010) Sun King symbol [photograph] At: https://marinacarlson. files.wordpress.com/2010/12/sam_7978.jpg (15/03/15) • Figure 8. Charlize Theron [photograph] At: https://www.oscars.org/sites/default/files/76thacademyk1294.jpg (15/03/15) • Figure 9. Modino Jean-Baptiste (2014) J’adore Dior 2014 [advert] At: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RmvBq-1T1k/maxresdefault.jpg (15/03/15)

• Beauty Smith, 2011. 2011 Dior J’adore Fragrance New Ad Campaign with Charlize Theron [online]. Beauty Smith. Available at: http:// thebeautysmith.com/celebrities/charlize-theron/ (14/03/15) • Chateau De Versailles. Marie-Antoinette [online]. Chateau De Versailles. Available at: http:// en.chateauversailles.fr/history/court-people/louis-xvi-time/marie-antoinette (14/03/15) • Cheryl Wischhover, 2011. Watch: Charlize Theron hangs out with Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Marlene Dietrich for Dior J’adore [ONLINE]. Fashionista. Available at: http:// fashionista.com/2011/09/watch-charlize-theron-hangs-out-backstage-with-marilyn-monroegrace-kelly-and-marlene-dietrich-for-dior-jadore (16/03/15) • Henry Samuel, 2008. Palace of Verasailles golden gates restored [online]. The Telegraph.

Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ worldnews/europe/france/2228807/Palace-ofVersailles-golden-gate-restored.html (14/03/15) • Interiors we Design, 2013. Roland Barthes & Semiology [online]. Interors we Design. Available at: http://interiors-we-design5.webnode.com/ news/roland-barthes-semiology/ (15/03/15) • Natalia K, 2014. Historical Analysis ‘J’adore’ [online]. Advertising and Society 2014.

Available at: https://advsoc2014.wordpress. com/2014/02/09/historical-analysis-jadore/ (16/03/15) • Perfume Shrine, 2009. Dior J’adore: fragrance review & J’adore versions (L’Eau Cologne Florale, J’adore L’Absolut, J’adore L’Or) on the market. Blogspot. Available at: http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/dior-jadore-fragrance-review.html (16/03/15) • Tiffany Rebecca, 2013. Dior Communication Strategy [online]. Slideshare. Available at: http:// www.slideshare.net/Tiffany2690/dior-communication-strategy (15/03/15) • Vivian Manning-Schaffel, 2005. Christian Dior J’adore [online]. Brandchannel. Available at: http://www.brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=216 (14/03/15)

11