Chocolate

Because I have a part time job at Fannie May, I chose to analyze one of their images for this week's artifact. When I'm at work, I am surrounded by images, advertisements, and packaging that is meant to be decoded by consumers as "gourmet," "indulgent," "sinful," "delicious," and the last goes on. A pound of chocolate in-store is $22.99, and on the website is $24.99--this is not a cheap treat, so the price must be justified to customers, especially customers unfamiliar with the chocolate. Besides being part of my job description to "talk up" the candy and its quality, there is visual evidence all over the store (and website) trying to paint the candy in a way that makes it irresistible--as a gift and for a treat to oneself.

I chose an image of truffles because truffles are the most expensive chocolate Fannie May carries. Whereas a regular pound of chocolate is $22.99 (and depending on the candy, this is usually about 22 pieces--so around a dollar per piece), the price for 10.7 ounces of truffles (16 ounces being a pound) is $17.99. The cause for this price difference is that truffles are handcrafted--but to someone unfamiliar with the process, they would be put off by the increased price of this candy compared to others. So why would they buy it?

The first thing to notice is that the truffles are boxed in packaging that is red and gold. Red, as I mentioned in my last post, is a color that is used to get one's attention. A regular box of Fannie May is white, so immediately this is different. The gold text gives the box an extra embellishment--gold is coveted, gold is expensive, and gold is one of the colors that signifies royalty--therefore the mere packaging of this product gives the impression that it is fancy, pricey, and special. Even the font has an artistic, cursive "T" followed by all caps, which are meant to get our attention.

This image continues to play up the colors of gold and red. The truffles are lying on a red napkin upon a gold tray. When I see a gold tray, the first thing that comes to my mind is that whatever is on the tray is fit for a king. I have never known anyone to eat off of a gold tray, but it is what I imagine would be the dishes of choice of kings and queens. This may be decoded differently by others, but my decoding tells me that whatever is upon this tray is extremely pricey. Even the white cushion the truffles are placed upon looks royal--as if someone (a butler or maybe even a servant) has brought the food to someone who is perhaps eating them in bed.

For all these reasons, the truffles may appeal to a customer who doesn't mind spending a little extra for something that appears to be worth it. For people that won't only the best when they purchase a gift, or even a treat for themselves, they may spring for this more expensive option simply because of how they decode the colors, text, and imagery. However, the cynics may decode the advertisement as being excessive or maybe too showy or too extravagant, and may prefer to spend less on a candy that is more suited to them. Perhaps the extravagance of the truffles makes them feel uncomfortable and they'd rather have an "average" box of candy.

Paper Towels

In class, we briefly discussed the packaging of three well-known brands of paper towels. I wanted to further that discussion by offering my analysis here.

The brand that stands out to me most is Scott. Bounty and Brawny have several similarities, which I will get to later, but Scott is the most unique of the three. Its lettering is white rather than dark--and the font is "fancier" than the font for Bounty and Brawny. As was brought up in class, it looks more feminine than the others--which genderizes not only the paper towels themselves, but the act of cleaning. Paper towels are most commonly used for cleaning, especially in kitchens--and it is some people's school of thought that the kitchen is part of the women's "sphere." With all this said, if I were buying paper towels, I would not go for this brand. It may have a better aesthetic, and it may look prettier or even "frilly"--but paper towels should look strong and durable, and those are two adjectives I would not use to describe Scott brand paper towels given this packaging.

This brings us to Bounty and Brawny, both of which have strong, dark font that does paint the paper towels to look durable. Similar to Scott, Brawny uses a red background. What I know about the color red is that it is used to bring attention to something--therefore, both Scott and Brawny stand out because of the red. However, I am put off by what appears to me a lumberjack. It seems that this brand is marketed toward men, and because I am not a man, I might not spring for this brand given this packaging. When I see this packaging, the first thing I think of, as far as audience goes, is that this brand is aimed toward single men, perhaps divorcees, who want to feel as if they, too, can clean effectively even if they are not women. A stereotype that stems from the stereotype of women having to do the household cleaning is the stereotype that men are not efficient or effective at cleaning. The Brawny packaging reinforces to its target audience that men, too, can clean. If I were a single man, maybe this packaging would appeal to me.

The most effective packaging though, in my opinion, is Bounty. Though the font makes it seem strong and durable, the packaging is fairly gender neutral. The font may not be ultra feminine, but the remainder of the packaging is void of other gender markers. Some may view green and blue as a masculine color--but it is complemented with orange, which is a pretty gender neutral color in my opinion. As a consumer, I am not put off by any images (like Brawny) and I am not untrusting of the brand due to the font or color choice (like Scott). The font size is the largest on this brand and covers the most space--it really pops out at the consumer. Though isolating an audience is a good marketing ploy because it isolates about 50% of people, I would be weary of any product that has a "manly man" or a "girly girl" trying to "sell" the product to me--but to others, this may be successful. As always, it depends on how the consumer decodes the color scheme, text, and images.