'Adbusters' magazine- Christian Louboutin advert analysis

‘Adbusters’ magazine advert- Christian Louboutin spoof

Layout and design:

·     The advert is very minimalistic featuring only one image and little text.

·     This could represent the minimalistic life that would be led by children like in the photo, showing the audience the unnecessity of an extravagant lifestyle. 

·     On the other hand, the minimalistic design could be to allow for a bigger impact on the audience, keeping the message clear and strong. 

·     The image is of a black child wearing bottles on their feet as shoes, it isn’t very colourful which once again represents the simplistic life they lead compare to those who buy products such as Louboutin’s. 

·     The Christian Louboutin logo also features on the advert. It is a bright red and is the most colourful aspect of the advert which once again, represent the extravagant lifestyle they symbolise. 

Media language:

·     The only text on the advert besides the name “Christian Louboutin” is the phrase “red soles are always in season”. 

·     This is a play on the iconic red soles that Christian Louboutin are known for. Pairing this with the picture suggests that these children have red soles of their feet continuously, all year round, despite not wanting them. 

·     It contrasts with those spending hundreds on these shoes to be uncomfortable but ‘fashionable’ and those who have no choice.

·     The colour red has connotations of danger which reflects the danger these children are in every day. This links to the Roland Barthes semantic theory. 

Representation:

·     The gender of the child in the advert is not identified casting out all ideas of gender representation. The child however, is black. This allows us to apply representation theories surrounding ethnicity. 

·     The only representation we see of the child is that they are poor and live a simplistic lifestyle, not out of choice. This is shown in the image and the phrase “red soles are always in season”. This could create the idea surrounding their ethnicity that all black people are poor/ live in conditions like these, however through the views of the magazine we know that they strive for equality with these countries and MEDCs. 

Audience:

·     The Stuart Hall theory can be applied here as those with an anti-capitalist view (like Adbusters) may agree with the message the advert is portraying whilst those who agree with a capitalist society may disagree with the advert.

·     The message of the advert is also unclear. The advert clearly shows that a capitalist society is unfair to those in LEDCs. However, the advert does not convey to the audience if it wants them to donate to these countries or just stop supporting these companies. This unclear message may be the result of the minimalistic advert, allowing the audience to have more freewill in deciding what they want to do with the message.