Magazine Advert Analysis - Miss Miller

There are many reasons that an artist will put an advert in a magazine for their album. One reason is to promote the album and the artist to the magazines audience , this will help new fans to see the artist and maybe want to buy the artists album, while still keeping the interest of old fans. Another possible reason is to increase the sales of the album , this will be done by the increased publicity and awareness of the album as it can be seen by more people. Furthermore if an artist want to move there music into another genre then it may help by putting an advert into a certain magazine. For example if an indie artist wants to move into the rock genre then they may advertise in a magazine such as kerrang magazine. Additionally the magazine also shows the audience what the artists album looks like, this will make it more recognizable for the audience which will help as if they see it they are more likely to buy the album as it is memorable.

The magazine advert that I have chosen is Pink Floyds album Delicate sound of Thunder which was released in 1988. The band can be seen as very conventional to the psychedelic rock genre in many ways. For example the man in the advert is wearing very unusual clothing in that he is wearing a costume with spikes, this conforms very much to the genre as this is typical in nearly all psychedelic rock videos. Furthermore the advert has a location in a very unusual place, which is very typical and conventional of the psychedelic rock genre , other music videos that I have researched have used similar unusual locations such as a forest and a desert similar to this. Overall this video is very conventional to the genre of psychedelic rock. This will help the artist in targeting a bigger audience as they cover there genre without becoming too extreme which may put people off, especially as this was in the past where artists were more conservative.

The connotations given in the advert are very unusual in many ways , one being that the artist is alone in the middle of the desert. This is different from other adverts who often have there artists surrounded by people to show their popularity , which helps with the brand image. This can also be seen with the man in distance looking down on the presumed artist in the image. Another connotation is that the artist is different from everyone else, this is done by the clothes he wears in that even though it is in 1988 the clothes are unusual and are unique for that time and ours. This again isolates him in that he is different compared to other people, who may dress more normally. 

The colors used in the video are also very conventional with the psychedelic rock genre, the colors used are bright blues , black, white and a yellow. This is very similar to other videos which use other bright and vivid color and it is used as it makes the advert stand out when compared to other music genre adverts that may be darker.The choice of image is also very conventional for the genre of music, most of the time psychedelic rock genre have the artist in the image but have them in a surreal location. So the artist being in the middle of a dessert does follow the genre, as other have done things such as being on a mountain. 

The design of the  layout is relatively simple , for example at the top of the advert we can see it is done by the band Pink Floyd and then just below it there is the album that they are selling. Then there is the main shot of what the album cover will look like to help the audience remember it. Furthermore below that in bold are the word "out now "   and a magazine quote of " the very best of Pink Floyd" which will also make people want to go and buy the album. The style of language is quite emotive with it saying things such as "out now " which give it a very positive style , however the language is very short and sharp with there being no unnecessary words. This helps with reading and makes it memorable for the audience and will help them remember and possibly buy the album later if the come across it. Overall the language is very effective and gives all of the information needed, whilst being memorable and trying to get the audience to see it and buy the album. F

The typography of the advert is very simple but effective, it makes it clear who the artist is and what album they are selling. There is only one type of font used which is a simple basic font which is thin , however there are differences in colour such as the main title of the band Pink Floyd being in pink. The rest of the font are simple in that they are white and gold which make the words stand out against the black background. The language used is very positive for the album such as the main " the very best of Pink Floyd " which will make the old fans who know there previous work want to buy the album more. The rest of the language is quite straightforward and does not really have a specific style in that they are very short such as "out now ". This gives it necessary effect of the genre of not giving lots of information away whilst still interesting the audience and being memorable. 

Overall this will be extremely helpful in creating my own magazine advert for our band Tame Impala. This research has helped as we can see other artists that are in the genre and how they present their albums to the audience. This is something we could try to replicate which will make our own magazine advert successful. For example we would very much like to use the surreal background in our own album as it will make it more interesting and memorable for audiences.  We can also gain some ideas from these album covers which would be useful in our own album which would make ours better and more conventional to the genre of psychedelic rock. Another point we would take inspiration from is the layout , it is very simple and yet is easy to read and gets all of the information across. Furthermore it is easy to see at a distance and can be seen at a glance and is memorable. 

In this advert the colours are quite dull compared to the normal florescent colors of psychedelic rock which often have colours of blue , pink, yellow. This advert had browns white and oranges which are quite unconventional , yet they still give some of the effect of the genre. The picture however is conventional in that it is very unusual as there is multiple pictures of the same men, overlapping each other. Furthermore the smoke in the background gives it an eerie feeling which is again conventional , as the genre is about being different and unique from the normal and mainstream. However it could be seen that the clothes they are not conventional to the genre in that they are not especially different , they would not be considered now although when the album came out it would have been considered normal dress. This advert would also link to other adverts Pink Floyd has done in that it is unusual and yet there is a sense of normality about the advert. This gives them a common link which people can remember about the adverts. 

The connotations in this advert is that the men in the advert are very different from normal people even though they look it. They may be wearing ordinary clothes but the multiple faces shows how they are unique and different compared to others. Furthermore we get the connotation and impression that these people have many aspects to them from the way that they have multiple sides.This can be related back to the psychedelic drugs which are a main theme in songs of this genre and it gives the impression from the multiple faces and smoke surrounding them that they are almost dreaming. This can also be reflected in the choice of image in that it is completely unique and no mainstream artist would have it , as it could simply alienate people and put them off. However the image is very eye catching and so could bring people to buy the album as well as it is so unusual, as they simply may remember how unusual it is. 

The typography of the advert is very conventional to the genre , it is wavy and uneven and yet we can read it clearly. It is bold and and takes up much of the advert and this gives it a simple and effective look, that the audience would like as they can clearly see who the band is. Furthermore the wavy lines give an indication of what type of music the band is and that it is a psychedelic rock band from the wavy title which is like the effects of drugs. There is very little style to the language and is very plain and gets the necessary information across, this makes it easy to read and can be read from a distance.The layout of the advert is simple with a main picture taking up all of the advert and a simple title which lets the audience know the band. The title of the band "Pink Floyd"is at the bottom so as not to cover the picture , and that is all that it is on the advert and is very simple. Additionally from the second advert I think we could take the different front cover idea as it may be memorable as it is so different , this will help sales as it is so eye catching. However it has the chance of alienating people which may reduced sales from people who are more mainstream , however the genre is not mainstream so we can afford to be different.