Two young teenagers are dropped off at the mall and their parents run errands. Armed with ten dollars each and some time to kill, the kids begin wandering the aisles looking for something to spend their money on. As they walk near the food court they smell many different traditional foods, but what they see really catches their attention. On a banner near Burger King is an advertisement of a young girl with wide eyes and an open mouth in front of a BK (Burger King) "Seven Incher" burger. The text around the photo reads: "It will blow your mind" in all capital letters. With the rush of hormones, the two boys know what they'll spend most of their money on. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Companies that create advertisements for products that are essentially “a dime a dozen” will try to post something that stands out. Was this method the best possible way to do it? Or could it cause more problems than good for Burger King? I will argue that BK uses sex in the ads to target younger male audiences, rather than specifically using their products. I will do this by evaluating Burger King's target audience, advertising history, and the slogans and images embedded in the messages. Method Target audience is defined as "a specific group within a broader audience". Target audiences are used in marketing by companies that want to reach a specific demographic of people and also share specific demographic traits. Slogans are “a short, attention-grabbing phrase used in advertising or promotion” (Merriam Webster, 2015, 2). Businesses use them to create an advertisement that connects with their target audience. Analysis Burger King's target audience when these advertisements were released was a younger, male-focused group (Morrison, 2012, 1). More recently Burger King has branched out and developed new, healthier options for their menu. However, the stereotypical “manly meat” menu they previously sported directly appealed to their target audience. The “seven inch burger” ad ran with the skinny model in makeup, mouth open and eyes wide, in front of the burger while the written message read: “It will blow your mind.” Another ad published by BK featured a woman's legs from the knee down, while she is wearing only red high heels and a Burger King crown around her ankles. Clearly, this gives the illusion that he would only be wearing the “crown” and once again points directly to the sexual nature and general target audience of the brand. By baiting audiences with suggestive sexual messages, Burger King is suddenly not selling value meals and sides, but rather sexual innuendos directly aimed at the young, male-dominated audience. Burger King has a history of edgy and sexually suggestive advertising over the past twenty years. Since Burger King has a product and product line duplicated by many (i.e. the fast food and burger industry), they are essentially not just advertising their product and their prices, but rather a snapshot of what they offer combined with the sex. In the ad featuring the woman wearing the BK crown around her ankles, her shoes are a dark shade of red. Red is the “most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing” (Johnson, 2015, 5). The color red also “exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy” while.
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