Both the Schick and Gillette shaving ads convey a strong message to their respective audiences. The photograph taken by Troy Goodall for the Schick ad is pretty silly. It is a full frontal shot of an older looking gentleman with an outrageous beard, looking to his right with a broad light framing his face. His expression is relaxed and he is wearing a button down, patterned shirt. However, in the Gillette ad photographed by Tim Tadder, we can only see up to the shoulders of the man photographed where a short light is framing his face. He has a fierce look in his eyes, has a perfectly (almost too perfect) clean shaved face and is wearing a football uniform.

Gillette’s message is clear; they want athletes, athletes-to-be, and all sport players out there to know that they are the go to brand for a clean shaved face. Whereas the Schick ad is aimed at a totally different crowd, like hipsters in Williamsburg. Schick also portrays a very different message than Gillette does to their customers. This man has way more hair on his face than you’d ever expect someone in a razor ad to have. He basically has a slot hanging off his face! Whose attention wouldn’t that get? This ad is artistically eye catching. I feel that Schick is saying it is okay to experiment with your beard and try a variety of looks while Gillette on the other hand is saying in order to look your absolute best you should idolize to look like athletes who also strive to look impeccable.