Cover Girl

 Marathon Lip Color by Cover Girl
 Marathon Lip color
 1998
 Procter and Gamble

There are so many ads that we see everyday and most of the time we don’t realize what the ad is really showing us or the hidden messages that it is relaying. Honestly, who likes to watch commercial ads? Yes some of them get our attention because they are funny, clever, or have really attractive people in it, but a lot of them we just flip through. The Cover Girl ad isn’t one of my favorites but I know why is gets our attention. The ad has a very attractive girl, Niki Taylor, who is trying to sell to the niche audience of girl viewers, a lipstick product that supposedly doesn’t wear off. Is this ad really selling lipstick or something girls want to look like? Of course this ad isn’t just selling lipstick, but instead it’s trying to sell the idea of what girls should look like, at least their lips anyway. Honestly to me there isn’t anything that makes this commercial memorable or effective. I guess for those who are longing to have long lasting lip wear, this commercial is ideal for them. The actress is showing us how the lip stick stays on her lips and doesn’t rub off on things like a straw, a coffee mug and even her fingers. Come on now, how often do us girls kiss our hands and fingers? Along with watching the ad, if you listen closely you can here the ad using puffery words like; “transfer resistant”, “lush”, and even the song tells us if we use this product we will be “fresh faced to the world.” Ok girls, here is a warning, if you DON’T use this lipstick, please don’t go out in public. Even though the actress is never holding the product I think she is also displaying Juxtaposition, which is another type of puffery. She is always smiling while supposedly wearing the product. I’m not really sure of the first time I saw this commercial, but I’m pretty sure that the advertisers were smart enough to show this commercial during an episode of America’s Next Top Model, or Sex in the City. This ad really didn’t work for me. Normally I don’t wear lipstick, so this commercial didn’t make me want to go out and buy it. Maybe if Cover Girl had a Chap Stick commercial my actions would be different.