Together We ... Olay


I watch Youtube an almost unhealthy amount. I tend to watch it while I do homework or while I am procrastinating doing said homework, so I see a lot of advertisements each day. One ad that had recently caught my eye for a number of reasons is the new Olay skin care commercial featuring several empowered women. In the ad, Youtube star and activist Lily Singh is the narrator of the ad and throughout its entirety gives a small motivational speech telling women that they are not “too anything,” that instead they are just the right amount of whatever they want. Then, multiple other strong female influencers come on screen dancing, smiling, and being casual, showing off what they stand for (be it body positivity or their stereotype-breaking career). I would say that this ad appeals most to a need for affiliation and a need for autonomy.
Although affiliation and autonomy are basically two opposites, they work together in this ad to make it impactful to its target audience: women. The need for affiliation is appealed to by referring to women as a united force, getting through life’s barriers and push backs together, which makes the viewer feel as though if they buy Olay, they will be a part of this large group of strong, powerful women. However, the ad still pushes you toward the need for autonomy by showing what each woman had that was unique to her. That pushes women to support each other in a group setting, but to support your own and other’s uniqueness as a group. You could have a prosthetic leg or be an Olympic medalist and with Olay, you are equal and you are unique.

Comments

  1. Hannah SanfordMay 12, 2019 at 6:54 PM

    The class discussed last Friday (I think) the idea that companies do not really support the ideals that they portray in their ads, that they just do it to get publicity and appeal to a certain demographic. That being said, do you think in this case that feminist theme helped or hurt the ad and the company at large? And in addition, do you think Olay actually supports women's rights or were they just using the marketing/advertising techniques you mentioned?
    I think your analysis of the advertisement made a lot of sense. The idea that one does not have to be like everyone else to be a part of the group and be accepted plays on both the need for individuality and community, making this ad clever and you displayed that point well.

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