Entry #7 Bananas and Shoes

Bananas, bananas, bananas!! Is this ad for bananas perhaps? No! It's a shoe ad, even though it's one third bananas! This peculiar element definitely stopped me from flipping to the next page and made me think twice.

Aldo is a brand mainly for shoes and accessories. Here, it's promoting its shoes. But what does Aldo have to do with fruit? The ad is very out there. Not the typical kind of shoe promotion you see everyday. Out of all the basic appeals advertising uses, the need for aesthetic sensations is the one used. The way the model is posed so precisely, perfectly showing off the white high heels on her feet to the way her hair is neatly positioned and styled in a bun on the side of her head. Mainly consisting of red, yellow, and white, the image stands out and appeals to viewers' eyes. Bold, bright, and contrasting colors are definitely eye candy. Yum.

Along with the whole concept of the image Aldo is portraying, it are using the technique of Gestalt: Subliminal Persuasion. First impression of this ad is that it's odd and unexpected as two completely different items - shoes and bananas - are associated together. Quite the odd pairing. Plus, there's a girl laying on top of what seems to be a banana bed. There are many many bananas and only two shoes. The thought comes to mind, "Is this ad actually for bananas?" As mentioned, there is also high intensity of the color scheme. The vibrancy is up, the light is up, the feet are up, everything seems to be up! All of this in the ad seems to bring about a happy mood of lightness with the colors and humor of so many bananas. But overall, all of this together creates cognitive dissonance.

The use of the language in this ad is very minimal but that is not the same story for the power behind the words, or in this case, word, used. ALDO. Simple as that. Under this name, reification is used. Here, Aldo is purely dependent on the sight of its name to bring about past experience consumers have with its products to go shop for more. Cocky huh. But like the colors and concepts used in this ad, having only the name appear is also bold and out there.

This was a very fun ad to look at. With such a humorous concept and vibrant colors, Aldo's ad seems to encompass the idea that their shoes will bring the fun and quirky in your life, therefore resulting in you being happy.