Skechers Ads

Part 1: Consumer Behavior and Message/Creative Technique The advertisement I chose to discuss is for Skechers Shape-ups. I found this ad in the consumer-based magazine, Cosmopolitan.
Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning
Cosmopolitan’s target audience as a means to satisfy their desires to learn about sex, fashion, and beauty while continuing to subliminally reinforce the contrasting notion that women are flawed individuals and must change themselves to be more readily accepted by men and the rest of society. Cosmopolitan directs all articles and advertisements towards a specific target market. The magazine’s audience includes primarily single, white, upper-middle class women between the ages of 18 and 39.
Despite that the ad is strategically
placed between a few health articles and tips for getting a better body, the advertisement does not seem to fit with the overall image of the magazine. Like I previously mentioned, Cosmopolitan appeals more to women in the upper-middle class who desires to learn about fashion among other things. While the targeted age segment seems to be ok, women ages 18 to 39, Skechers is not a high-end brand, and probably wouldn’t appeal to a woman skimming through this particular magazine. Brands such as BeBe, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, Polo, Express and many others are all higher-end brands that are scattered throughout the magazine and Skechers simply doesn’t seem to fit. Additionally, the women viewing this ad in Cosmo take into consideration fashion. A sneaker is not something that is very fashionable in the first place and the three images of the styles of sneakers they have pictured in the ad are hideous and someone of the upper-middle class would probably never consider wearing them. Message Strategy The first message objective Skechers is using to communicate their message is linking key attributes to the brand name. The product name itself, Shape-ups, implies that this will somehow improve or “shape up” your legs. Toward the upper left corner the ad reads: “Designed to: promote weight loss, tone muscles, and improve posture”. These are the key benefits they want consumers to understand will come from purchasing their product. The attribute and whole idea is to “Get in Shape Without Setting Foot in a Gym” or so reads the tagline. Secondly, they are trying to persuade the consumer to buy their product using testimonials as well as information. While the testimonials are positive comments, how can consumers be sure they are from real Skechers Shape-up users? Also, I don’t think testimonials are as effective in print ads as opposed to TV commercials, because in TV commercials you can visually see the before and after effects of using the product, where in print ads it is simply a quote. Creative Execution I personally think the creative execution of this advertisement is awful.
In regards to design, the first thing I notice is that orderliness and compatibility of the presentation is way off. It doesn’t appear that the balance is either formal or informal. It almost seems as though everything in the ad was placed solely on where it could be fit in because the three sneakers and the writing on the right does not balance out the woman pictured on the left. The proportion is also skewed because the three pictured sneakers are not in proportion to the size of the woman. One sneaker is roughly the size of her entire calf. Additionally, there is no swift gaze motion at all. While you may start to look at the top of the ad, you then drop to the right and look left rather than left to right. There is no central focal point or emphasis on anything
specifically. Also, the photography chosen as the medium for this illustration is poor as well.
The basic elements are the woman wearing the sneakers to one side and then the three styles of sneakers to the other. There is nothing exciting or intriguing about the pictures at all. They have a slight use of color by the purple background with occasional pink text but to me it seems to clash with the red of the woman’s tank top. In terms of copy, for a sneaker ad there might be too much wording. The brand name of Skechers is a smaller text located above the product name, Shape-ups, which has a larger text. Although I like the quick bullet points of the main benefits of the product, the testimonials seem a bit long. The ad also has text located on the parts of the woman’s body that the sneaker can ultimately improve. All of these things combined make the ad seem disorganized and cluttered. Also, there are too many variations in the copy from bolds and italics and different fonts and colors.
Part 2: Social, Ethical, Legal
Environment I think there might be a social issue pertaining to this particular advertisement as well. Skechers utilizes the user positioning which allows a consumer in the target audience to identify with a person pictured in the ad. When people see this ad for the Shape-ups and see this fit, toned, and in-shape woman, other women will think “I want to look like that!” What I believe to be deceiving is that you can’t “lose weight, tone muscles, and improve posture” by only using the sneakers. The woman in the exercise probably also exercises daily and has a healthy diet. Also, the results can vary across different kinds of people. As everyone knows, people come in all different shapes and sizes. Someone who is a bit overweight will purchase the shoes and expect to look like the woman pictured in the ad just because they wear the Shape-ups. They will assume they will drop a couple pounds become slimmer when this is probably not the case. You might be able to see slight results in your calves or butt if you continually wear the sneakers and do a good amount of walking a day; however, some people may wear the sneakers while walking not even a mile or do minimal activity but claim since they “wore the sneaker” they should be able to see more results.