From People to Cars

From People to Cars

Advertising uses sneaky, manipulative techniques to attract everyone, from children to grandparents. Bright and bold colors catch the eye, and the viewer stops, snared. Catchy phrasing keeps them looking. Pictures suggesting something everyone wants ties the unwary magazine reader in emotionally. Before long, a person is marveling at the wonderfulness of the product, doomed from first sight. One such ad is for the Toyota Sequoia. It uses bold catchy phrases at the top, pictures to clarify, smooth calming colors, and the pull of something everyone wants to represent the value of simplified, enjoyable living.

The Toyota Sequoia looks a lot like other cars on the market. It has shiny silver paint, sparkling chrome wheels, and four doors. So, what makes it special? In the ad, it is placed in a secluded setting on a beach with mountains in the distance. People are standing on the shore fishing, playing with their children, talking, and sitting back watching the ripples in the glassy lake. They’re far away from the busy hubbub of the city and enjoying life together like everyone wants to. The ad uses the happy people to weave a picture of joy and bliss. The setting, with the crystalline waters and the painted mountains, creates a feeling of wanderlust with a touch of adventure. The ad uses its setting and props to suggest that the Toyota Sequoia will help a person have a good time with the people they enjoy being around.

At the top of the ad, bold white letters say, “You’ve earned enough points with your airline. Earn some with your family”. At the bottom of the ad, a short paragraph describes how the sequoia is for work and play because of its unique design and features. The last phrase says, “There’s no limit to how far your family can go, or how close you can get”. The words in this ad clearly say that this product will help a person get away from ordinary life to create something better and new. This ad is keenly directed to people who feel removed from their family and want to reestablish or even create new bonds to last a lifetime. The ad suggests that the Toyota Sequoia can help achieve these goals.

This ad is filled with blues and browns. Blue, a cool and refreshing color, renews the atmosphere and ensures that the picture never gets old. The browns add the bit of rustic serenity needed to create a familiarity in the picture, so it feels like someplace someone has been that it is possible to return to. The hint of purple in the mountains supply the air of mystique everyone needs to stay interested and alive. This ad uses color to bring out the wish to be carefree and loved that everyone wants to feel from time to time.

Running along the bottom of the page for the Toyota Sequoia, there is a long panorama of a grassy mountainous scene divided into four sections. The first section shows three adolescents running and skipping through some water. In capital words, it says, “GET THE FEELING”. The next part of the scene is empty of people but full of trees and grassy hillsides. After that, there is a picture of a child bending down to point at something interesting he’s found on the ground. The last part of the complete picture says TOYOTA next to the Toyota logo. This sequence takes the mind along a path that begins with excitement, leads to wonder, then to discovery, and at the end of it all like a beacon to the unfulfilled wanderer, there is Toyota. This sequence helps suggest that adventure takes on many forms, but all those wonders are made possible through the Toyota Sequoia.

The Toyota Sequoia uses color, background, diction, and atmosphere to advertise its product. There is no comparing with other brands or ideas, suggesting that it is above those sorts of advertising techniques. It uses the idea of comfort and fun with friends and family to entice new vehicle buyers into the Toyota location nearest to them. It links its product quite successfully to finding what has been lost and fixing what has been broken.

Cars and living an enjoyable life are two very different things. One uses gas, oil, and other dwindling natural resources to go, while the other is supposed to work depending on attitude and personality. They are truly their own entities of individual ideas and focus. People don’t need cars to be happy, but it can definitely be argued that they help. Cars can’t go anywhere without people. In this day and age, they both need each other. It is the idea that people are much happier when they are working or playing well with someone they like that this ad draws upon. The designer clearly understands the pull to have a relaxed life without stress or worry.

The ad uses simplicity to convey its meaning. The scene or picture isn’t clustered with crazy people running around being random. It focuses on real people and what they need. The true basics are all people really want and need, and they are what this ad exhibits. In conclusion, while the ad is for creation and fun, it is also for life. Just as putting the foot to the pedal makes the car go, so being able to be almost anywhere within a few days makes life go. The Toyota Sequoia ad uses a longing to be free, desire for truth, and want of something that works to sell its product.