In this Lancome perfume advertisement, the central theme is to support the idea that this perfume will make its buyers feel like life is beautiful. Julia Roberts, whose smile is as beautiful as ever, is smiling and looking directly at the camera. Her smile is considered her trademark, for she is known for having a beautiful smile. There is some correlation between the theme and her smile.

The general ambience of the ad is sparky, brilliant, and shimmery. It is meant for its intended audience, which is targeted toward women. If we were to get specific, particularly older, more sophisticated women. Why is this? There is a tone of elegance to the picture with its darker colors, and extravagant shine. Julia Roberts is wering a white dress, somewhat tight, and it has diamonds around the chest area, and the hands, which are the two places women typically wear or try their perfume.

The design in the ad is somewhat strange. The perfume bottle is in the lower left of the ad, spraying the perfume which is made to look like pieces of diamonds flying all through the left of the ad. Next to the bottle is Julia Roberts in her white, diamond dress effortlessly smiling, and demanding the attention of the ad. The background behind both the bottle and Roberts is a dark, navy color, while the perfume bottle is pink and Roberts is in white. There is also a light on behind Roberts’s head, which (if taken into consideration) could be the light this perfume bottle brings her dimly-lit apartment. The interesting part of the ad is the wording. The words say “La vie est belle. Life is beautiful. Live it your way. Lancome. Paris”. The words aren’t so much what is interesting, rather their position on the page is what is. They are centered low on the ad, right in front of the bottom-half of Robert’s body, which is interesting because there is enough space to put them somewhere else or to even just lift the lettering. They are right below her stomach, and the ‘V’ in “la vie” is right on top of where it probably shouldn’t be.

The use of the space in the ad seems clustered. The top of the ad is almost plain, but the farther down one goes, the more clustered and chaotic it gets. All of the wording is at the bottom, the perfume bottle is at the bottom, and so is Roberts’ hand.

There is a sign that stands out in the ad. It is the light behind Roberts’ head. The lights are on, even when the perfume seems to be spraying diamonds. The light can hold a variety of meanings; it can be the light that this perfume is on Roberts; it can be Roberts realizing that life is beautiful; or it can simply just add to the elegance of the ad. It looks like an expensive light, and not one every woman has in her house.

There is one figure in the ad, and it is Julia Roberts. She is smiling, and her teeth are white. Her posture is straight, however her body is curved in a way that makes her appear that she is walking, aka, commanding the ad. One of her hands is in front of her body, while the other is behind her body. Her hair is blonde and shiny, and moves as if the thw wind in her walk hits it. Her action looks to be that she is walking, maybe following the perfume, since it is in front of her. Her back hand is behind the bottle and looks like she is holding-hands, or is being dragged by the bottle, but not grabbing the bottle. While I wouldn’t describe her as looking sensual, her dress sticks to her body, and this perfume bottle looks as if it is taking her somewhere and she is complying.

This ad is taken at a medium shot, where Roberts’ body is not fully shown, but just enough is shown to reveal the purpose. It is quite simple. She is looking directly at the camera and nothing too technical with the camera seems to be going on.

It is quite simple: the item being advertised is perfume. However, what dose it say about American culture and society, and does it say anything at all? It appears to be targeting older, elegant women who appear in control, but have something dominant dragging them towards something magical. If anything, this ad is saying that at some point women have to be reminded that life is beautiful and that they have to live it their own way. More than that message is that women can be dominated in perhaps a sexual way, and love to comply. Magic comes when you buy the product.

All in all, this ad appears to send various messages. The message can either be sexual, aiming at selling this product with a side effect of magic and improved sexuality. The other message can be direct. This product is needed in order for life to be beautiful, or for you to realize life is beautiful. This product will grant you beauty just like Julia Roberts. Even if a viewer doesn’t automatically analyze the ad, they will notice the beauty in the design of this ad.