Schick and Gillette are both leading competitors in the shaving industry and both have churned out exceptional campaigns in the past, such as Schick’s award-winning “Free Your Skin” campaign. However, there are multiple differences between both of these ads.
For instance, the Schick ad uses a more direct and less contrasty butterfly lightning in their ads to give it a more sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing look. However, Schick manages to communicate their brand through the fact that the “beard” of the model in the shot is actually a squirrel masquerading as a beard. This shows that they are aware of the hipster trend of beards and are parodying it, in a sense.
The other difference between the two is the fact that the Gillette ad uses a more broad lightning for the model in the ad. From my observation, this is likely due to the fact Gillette had intended to accentuate the details of a clean-shaven face – which is starkly in contrast to the Schick ad.
I think you get to the heart of of the Schick ad when you suggest it is a parody. The ad does make fun of the trend for highly groomed beards. So how does that work for an ad to make fun of its customers? Or is it instead not appealing to the men who decide to grow those kinds of beards but instead the men that don’t? Certainly a broader set of the buying public.
Be careful about your use of certain words like direct when talking about lighting. Direct light generally means light that all comes from one angle and creates sharp shadows like sunlight. Its opposite is diffused light. Also broad light means that the model’s face is posed in a 3/4 view and the light is falling on the side of the visible ear not the features. The Gillette ad uses what is called short light.