Billboard Analysis #3

Forever 21 is another fashion clothing company, and when I saw their billboard I felt as though it was something along the lines of what was right in order to attract my target audience. They have different tag rte audiences for different clothing lines as they cater for pre-teens and early teens as well, but this billboard focuses more on the 17-25 age group as it features clothing that is see-through, something which is not suitable for females under the age of 16 due to sexualisation. i mentioned this in both other analysis' of billboards, Laura Mulvey's theory the Male Gaze (1975) states the females are only in the media for the viewing pleasure of men, and the sexualisation of this woman means that the female audience will be influenced by the model and start to act like her, effectively trying to please the males in this society. This seems to be a recurring theme within clothing brands advertising, as I've had to mention it through all three analysis', and as I said before, I really do not desire to sexualise anyone in my own products, as I believe that equality is really important, so I will be defying this convention and going with something that is far more classy and empowers my readers, rather than inspire them to take their clothes off.

What is seemingly the most important aspect of this billboard is the masthead 'FOREVER 21', suggested by the fact that it is the largest feature on there and actually covers the clothing up quite a lot. This is unexpected when a company is targeting an audience to sell their clothing lines to, but it must be a big brand where the name is more important than the actual clothing. A brand that charges unnecessary amounts for something that is so cheap to make just because the have put a label on the item. Usually, advertising focuses more on the actual clothing to initially bring their audience in with 'pretty things', then goes on to make the brand name bigger and bigger until the clothing is no longer important. The website has also been incorporated onto the billboard, as the advertising team are aware that social media and the internet is such an amazing place to showcase any sort of work, so they want to encourage the audience to go straight to their website, where they will be taken directly to clothing and purchase it.

Three colours have been incorporated into the colour palette: red, white, and black. Black and white are standard shades which are used in most media texts, but Forever 21 have decided to add one splash of colour, which is the clothing itself, rather than incorporate a couple of different colours.

In terms of imagery, the photograph splits at the 'v' and mirrors itself. In a peculiar way, this could be yet another sexual reference, only hidden carefully within the media text. The 'V' is a piece of colloquial language that refers to the vagina amongst youths. A popular tool used on the widespread app Instagram is the mirror gram. This takes your image and mirrors it, and I think that this is something  which they have attempted doing with this photograph in order to get in touch with their target audience, (the majority would have an instagram account) and show each individual that they are a modern company in touch with the youth.