The Schick Free Your Skin ad is a half body shot. I would say that the lighting the photographer used was rembrandt lighting, we only see few shadows on the the side of the model’s face. It’s awesome how they incorporate an animal on the model’s face to feign the guy’s beard. This ad is not straight forward, the viewers cannot tell what the ad is about until they see the brand’s name. The ad to me seems to be targeting hipsters because of the way the model is dress. Also the lighting in the background makes the model look more clean and classy.

In the Gillette ad the player is looking straight at the camera making it seem like he is challenging the viewers. In the other ad, the model is looking away from the camera. The player looks tough because of the shadows on his face, the shadows make him look aggressive. The Schick ad is more busy, there is a lot of thing going on like the lettering. The ad goes straight to the point, we can tell what it is about and what they are trying to sell, we can tell this because they placed the razor, lettering and the brand in the ad. The ad is targeting not only hipsters but everyone that likes sports, the ones that feel tough just to mention a few.

The difference between both photos is that the one on the left look more sophisticated and the one on the right is more straight forward. In the photo on the left you really don’t know that they are marketing a shaving company and the other one is obvious.   Even though there are a lot of differences between the two pictures, they share similarities.

Photographer Troy Goodall

Photographer Tim Tadder

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.

Before the photographer, Tim Tadder, took the picture of the athlete he manipulated the lighting to set to mood for the audience. The use of short lighting along with the athlete’s expression creates is a very manly and aggressive atmosphere. The lighting also allows helps Gillette get the message across  to their audience by emphasizing the smoothness of his skin by using this lighting setup. The overall message I get is using Gillette’s razors can give you a close shave while still keeping a masculine appearance.

The Schick advertisement on the other hand is aimed  towards the more casual audience with a humorous message. Troy Goodall wanted to capture the image of an average man and used broad lighting to create a photo that resembles more of a profile picture. Thanks to the use of of the lighting, the details of the hair on their models face is able to standout more and become the focus of the ad. The message I get from it is, people with beards are seen are seen as having an animal on their face and their product will be able to “free their skin.”

Schick brand created an awesome Campaign called, Free Your Skin. The photographer Troy Goodall took half length portrait with using short light on the model. Since Schick is beard shaving for men , the photographer adds the wild animal as it seems like it’s models beard. The reason why they did this is because to tell the message how beard would smell and look disgusting. Also, Schick razors is capable of shaving mass of beard at once. Photographer also ads the background light so that model look stands out.

For Gillette ad, the photographer Tim Tadder shot the model in burst length portrait with broad light on model. The model’s photo taken in the studio then photoshopped it by adding 3D text, background and the giant shaver. The model have no facial hair to show to consumers how Gillette gives perfect results.

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.

So we’ve got 2 leading brand Razor companies….. Well they’ve seem to promote themselves in different ways within these 2 images. Schick decided to give you a more then the average glamour shot, they’ve went above and beyond by giving us Torso and above. It isn’t just about the facial features , the clothing plays a big role in this image as well. We’ve got a properly dressed male , decent haircut with a squirrel attached to his face. Clean cut, classy professional look is what Schick is going for. Not really understanding the purpose of squirrel on the mans face but it fits on perfectly fine and you would assume that its actually a beard. Females also do prefer to use the brand Schick for a number of reasons. That being that they assume that Gillette is known for being only for males. On the other hand we’ve got a Gillette a brand popularly known by Athletes. We have a dominant facial expression , anger in the face of this individual but its sport affiliated so thats expected. The image shows you a well shaved male in the NFL with text faces very bold providing information about the brand what they provide and the name of their company.  These brands have a completely different audience that being that Schick is for the more classy type of individual while Gillette is more used by athletes.

Troy Goodall’s Schick and Tim Tadder’s Gillette campaigns are stereotype-based approaches targeted towards men to convince them to shave. Each photographer’s model is positioned in 3/4 profile shots, facing 45 degrees away from the camera. This is a more define feature revealing both the broadside of the model’s face.

Schick’s Free Your Skin campaign portrays a hippie with an animal clinging to the model’s face. The message conveys a humorous, subliminal approach to encourage men to clean up their appearance. Goodall’s model is an average older man who looks rather sophisticated and casual. His relaxed appearance also mimics the grey tones of his attire and the background. His body is positioned as a frontal shot looking off to the left, disengaged from the audience. The image reflects on how a viewer might respond to an individual’s choice of appearance. The choice of lighting also reveals he broadside of the model’s face and beard as the focal point.

Gillette’s Fusion ProGlide campaign portrays a hairless football athlete. The message conveys a direct approach as a result of how a man will look after a clean shave. Tadder’s model is a young man within the sports industry. His photograph is taken from the chest up, looking fully engaged and directly at the audience. His appearance heavily emphasizes on how well Gillette’s razor works. Tadder’s choice of broadside lighting defines and frames the model’s face as the focal point. The high contrast of the image also reflects on the importance of well grooming and the razor’s longevity.