Blog 3

The ad I have chosen to review based on the guidelines created by Anne Wysoki in her essay “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty,” was created in 2008 by Cotton Incorporated. Cotton Incorporated is an organization that markets cotton to consumers in apparel and home products for environmentally-friendly reasons. The ad depicts an enlarged recycled-paper clothing tag over a simple white background with a caption that says, “If it’s cotton, you’ll know it’s green (even if it’s pink),” and a group of four women smiling and relaxing on a lawn within the clothing tag.
The ad evokes feelings of happiness, cleanliness, simplicity and nostalgia. I feel happiness when I look at this ad because of the bright green and pink in it and the women’s faces what are all lit up and smiling big, toothy grins. I get a sense of cleanliness and simplicity because the background of the whole advertisement is white; there are only three signature colors in the advertisement: white, lime and pink, and the photo takes place during the middle of a sunny day. The entire group looks fresh, healthy and relaxed. The advertisement evokes a sense of nostalgia in me because the scene in the photo with a bunch of 20-something women relaxing together on the green grass is something I have done with my girlfriends since childhood. In some ways the ad both makes me think of childhood and maternity because I feel nostaglia for my childhood but because I am looking at older women it makes me think of their children. Overall, the advertisement gives out an extremely happy and healthy vibe.
I think the artist of this advertisement has used many strategies to make his audience feel the way they do when looking at the ad. He puts the photo of the smiling women on the grass in the center of the advertisement because they are what draw the reader into the ad. He also uses the contrast between the white background and the bright lime and pink colors in the photo to draw the eye to the center at first glance. The only text on the page besides the Cotton Incorporated logo and website address is a caption centered right above the photo in bold, sans serif text stating, “If it’s cotton, you’ll know it’s green (even if it’s pink).” This text adds even more meaning to the clothing advertisement because it shares the goal of Cotton Incorporated company which is to sell 100% cotton products in home and clothing apparel to keep the plant green. The photo plays off of this text because it is predominantly green in the background and the women are only wearing white and pink clothing. It also makes me feel like going green will make me healthy and happy by feeling that sense of warmth coming from the women and their healthy, glowing bodies and smiles.

http://resource.cottoninc.com/_images/primages/Print-Ad-Lawn.jpg