Even Superheros Get Scratches

Millions of people all over the world are familiar with the Band-Aid brand and the concept of what they are used for. Band-Aids were created in order to stop the body from bleeding and to help prevent the wound from becoming infected. They are made of flexible sticky material in order to mold to the person’s affected skin area and seal the area from anything getting into it. In this advertisement, the Hulk’s arm is portrayed pointing down at the Band-Aids. The point of this advertisement is to convey the message that even strong and seemingly indestructible people, such as The Hulk, are susceptible to getting scratches or bleeding.

Since the Band-Aid is a different color from the rest of the entire advertisement, it directs the flow of the person looking at it and causes them to focus on the Band-Aid itself above anything else in the advertisement. The contrast in the ad is evident by the hand placement in front of the dark to light background creating an interesting gradient appealing to the eye. Since the lighter part is directly behind the hand, the eye is automatically is drawn to it. The Band-Aid is placed on the Hulk’s finger in order to craft a contrast, which in turn places mores attention on the product trying to be sold, the Band-Aid itself.

Along with the contrasting colors, the focal point of the advertisement, the Band-Aid, is obviously displayed slightly below the center of the ad. The rule of thirds is applied to this ad to draw the eye to a place other than in the direct middle of the screen. This utilizes one focal point in order to convey its product without there being several features possibly interfering with the main idea of the ad which is to sell Band-Aids.

The balance of the lighting in this ad is carefully selected in order to enhance The Hulk’s hand and make it seem more indestructible. The light emitting from behind his hand gives the indication that he is a super being. As the light stretches further out towards the corners, it becomes increasingly darker, creating negative space. This negative space is used to force the person’s eyes to look toward the lighter objects. This technique is useful when designing an advertisement because it creates more focus on the object being featured, which in this case is the Band-Aid on The Hulk’s finger.

The Hulk’s finger is pointing down causing the eye flow to direct downward. This technique was used in order to call attention to the product being advertised. The finger is pointing towards the product to direct the person reading the ad hopefully enticing them to buy the product.

The reasoning behind the creation of this ad is to implement the fact that even really strong and seemingly indestructible people are still susceptible to being wounded. The thought process of this ad was also easy to decipher, for the meaning behind it was clear.

Although the representation of the ad was laid out to where it was appealing to the eye, it did not clearly state its call to action in words. However, when looking at it, a person would assume that the ad was trying to entice people to buy their product by saying that even someone who is portrayed to be indestructible is able to get hurt or become injured. By using The Hulk as the head figure of the advertisement, it appeals to both young and old people, for adults grew up watching The Hulk as a superhero as well as children of today. All and all, this advertisement’s underlying meaning as to why it applies all of these different design tools, is to allow the viewer to think that since an imperishable person needs Band-Aids from time to time, they should choose this brand over any other type.