These two photos though similar in being 3/4 views differ a lot. The Schick photo has a lot less contrast than the Gillette one. The expressions of the men are quite different also, with the Gillette man staring right at the camera and the Schick man looking off into the distance. The Schick photo is overall brighter (there is light behind him as well) and uses broad light, highlighting the open side of the model’s face. This model is also the focus of the ad while the Gillette model is not the central focus. In that ad, there is less light and short light highlights his feature which adds to the his intense stare.  All of this helps to show that the two brands are selling very different ideas.

With the Free Your Skin ad, Schick is trying to communicate that with their brand of razors, you have the freedom to make your facial hair a masterpiece. Their visual representation with an actual animal is an exaggeration of the art you can create but the exaggeration works well for the audience. The Gillette ad is very different in what they’re trying to communicate. Showing a completely clean shave on a strong, athletic figure makes you think that their brand is tough enough to handle any shave but precise enough to keep one’s sensitive skin in tact. Because their audience is strong, manly men, they show that their razors protect sensitivity but not at the expense of being strong and manly. The tone of the two images is very different because their audiences are totally different men — Schick’s target being men who are concerned with the artistry of their facial hair and Gillette’s target being men who are concerned with the utility of removing their facial hair.