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Any fella you want?

3 Feb 2005 13:535 commentsBizLike
The Dulux "Add some (colour)" advertisement, which depicts a 'painting' of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, is an interesting one. Compositionally speaking, Eve whilst offering Adam the all-important apple, does so very casually, her gaze directed at something (or someone?) else. Moreover, instead of holding on to Adam, she firmly holds on to the tree of seduction?
Adam, horny as he must have been by that time, is turned towards her, poised to grab the apple (thereby subsequently creating k*k for us all), but also does not make eye contact with Eve (but places his left hand on her shoulder). But, most curious of course, is the absence of the snake.

Adam and Eve having fallen from grace, were clearly only just being thrust into the first level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, seeking to address their physiological needs for food, sex, water, air and shelter. The question is whether they addressed their needs in exactly this order. The absence of the snake, Eve's outward gaze (away from Adam), her seemingly indifferent stance, as well as the physical distance ('personal bubble' between them), seems to suggest that the ad depicts the two of them further down the line, historically speaking. Perhaps Eve was starting to fulfil Adam's need for food alone (pre women's lib of course) and that her interest was already focused on someone else or something else (e.g. pursuit of higher level needs such as achievement; affiliation; self-actualisation, etc.). The pay-off line "add some (colour)", when considered in this context, assumes an altogether different meaning, i.e. as in 'add some zest, variety or adventure' to your life. The fact that a 'green' colour swatch is placed in the ad could thus mean that Adam was green with envy (rather than denoting the colour of the apple), hence his somewhat controlling body-language.

If the above interpretation is correct, than the advertisement is quite successful in that it would create differentiation and salience for the Dulux brand through the association with risk-taking, being adventurous, 'adding colour', etc. Was this perhaps an attempt at segmentation, targeting the 'driven' side of women rather than men?
 
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About Dr Kay Brügge

Dr Kay Brügge is a life- design practitioner with post-graduate qualifications in psychology and neuro-psychology, specialising in qualitative research and project management, driving market and social research projects, including methodology development and focus group facilitation. With a PhD in neuro-psychology and special interest in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), he is interested in the analysis of subliminal messages in advertising and the subconscious influences of the retail environment on the consumer. He can be reached on email: .View MyBiz profile and articles...
Lost-in-the-garden
The missing leaf-
It didn't occur to you that maybe the 'add some green' referred to the addition of the fig leaf to cover those sad and uninspired parts! Posted on 7 Feb 2005 08:18
duh!
they give doctrites out for anything-
Sad, when so called intellectuals can't work out the simplest pieces of communication. Off the high-horse laddie; it's just an ad! Posted on 7 Feb 2005 09:04
LoTwo
Don't Over-Analyze -
There's too much analysis here by Meneer Brugge. Bly stil man. The ad shows Adam & Eve without the leaves covering their privates. That is what the ad colour swatch is hinting too. Which is why it is green. We all know not to over analyze ads. Get it at face value or don't but don't resort to over analysing. Well, no you know man. Sharp. Posted on 14 Feb 2005 10:21
We all know not to over analyze...-
But this whole campaign leads the consumer to over analyze, just add some BS... Posted on 14 Feb 2005 12:19
jislaaik
What's this guy on?-
I've read quite a few of this quack's "articles" by now - from the rubbish on how brilliant Skip was to steal the pink from Vanish (yes, when you have nothing else to say, steal someone else's property and pretend you now have the same benefit) to the rubbish about Windhoek's engineering... dammit man, tell us who your supplier of narcotics is and it might make for some more interesting reading. Because really, you are just rambling on about stuff you clearly know nothing of. Posted on 15 Feb 2005 12:29
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