In this advertisement the “spoon” and the “fork” look rich and polished, I guess thanks to their use of those handy Visa Cards. I think that this ad definitely has a target audience because not everyone can afford to have nice shoes, jewelry, and a nice dinner out. So the target audience here is either middle or upper class people who are middle aged and married. I am not well suited for the advertiser’s target audience; ergo I do not feel like signing up for a Visa Card just by looking at this ad. I think that this ad does exploit cultural fissures because it discourages some people from using the benefits of Visa Card. This advertisement also helps to contribute to the fragmenting of American culture since it gives the benefits to people that are successful, and makes everyone else feel like they cannot belong to the “Visa Card holders” group. The link below talks about how now credit card companies might be switching from advertising to college students to more responsible and mature people, like the ones symbolically portrayed in this ad. http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/20/should-credit-card-companies-target-customers-with-good-credit/.
In this Maybelline advertisement the target audience is young women, who are middle class because this is not a really expensive brand of make-up. This ad is targeted to this specific audience by using an attractive model, suggesting that if the viewer buys this product they will have the same result as her. The following link discusses how Maybelline tries to attract young women into buying its products by using social media, which definitely shows that targeted marketing knows how to reach a desired group of people.http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Maybelline_Canada_CaseStudy.pdf I think that this ad exploits cultural fissures because it divides people by gender, age, and income level. This advertisement contributes to the fragmentation of American culture because by having a target audience it leaves everyone else out of the picture.
