This Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series advertisement, from the magazine Runner’s 2012, pictures a cartoon, thin, fit, beautiful, white woman, about age 30-35, wearing pink running attire. She has large arm muscles and is rather busty in the chest area. Her long wavy brown hair is parted down the middle and there is a pink fully blossomed rose stuck in the left side of her hair. She pours water, from a pink water bottle, through the air into her mouth. The woman’s attitude portrays one of arrogance and self-importance. She’s wearing purple lipstick and eye shadow that does not appear to be smudged.

There are thin beams of pink light coming from behind her body. They extend to a patterned, pink, brown, and tan arch above her. The arch is rounded at the top. The left upper corner contains a small green rose towards the outside. Diagonally in to the right, there is a pink rose that is similar to the rose placed in the woman’s hair. From those two roses, there are tan swirls that curl around a small section of the arch. The right upper corner mirrors the left. Small blue dots make a border the whole page.

Right above her knees there is a cream colored ribbon banner that reads, “JOURNEY ON” in black letters shadowed in pink. At the bottom of the ad, there is a textbox outline in tan with another pink outline just inside the tan. There are a few swirls on the right and left sides of the textbox and the words inside say “ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MARATHON SERIES.” On either side of the textbox there are tan suns with small dots replacing the rays that are usually drawn in. In the background there are two acoustic guitars and two trumpets, one on each side of her. Roses and more pink swirls surrounding each item and the woman and interrupt the lower beams of pink light around the woman. The whole ad depicts a pink rock ‘n’ roll theme directed towards women.

By using the basic persuasion technique of beautiful people, this ad convinces its target audience-white woman ages 30-40-that if a woman participates in this marathon, they will become beautiful and fit. Since that is not true for most, it is false advertising. It takes hard work and time to get in shape, but does not mean one will look like the woman in the advertisement.

The white female is the focus of the entire ad. Representing practically one percent on the population that run marathons, she symbolizes what women around her age want to look like. It looks easy to keep up a lifestyle of being active and feeling confident. Again, the percentage of people who feel and act that way is very small.

The messages presented by the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series’ ad are both good and bad. By showing a beautiful woman who is physically fit it encourages other women to begin a healthier lifestyle to mirror the image. On the other hand, it discourages the women who do their best to maintain wellness, but are not able to. From the image it is fair to conclude that only women who are fit and beautiful are able to participate in this marathon.

Underneath the ad’s surface, there is discrimination towards men. The ad is not inviting them to participate in the race.

To the overweight population and those who work as hard as they can, but get nowhere, this ad could be offensive. For those populations, it could deter them from considering the race because it targets thinner white women. Another group it could offend is men. Although the image of the woman might be perceived as seductive, it could also prevent men from looking into this race. Men will not be attracted to the marathon because of the pink theme as well as the message embedded in the image. That message
An advanced technique is exemplified in card stacking. It is used to almost deceive the reader by showing an incorrect image of what one would look or feel like if they participated. The glow given by the swirls and beams of light coming from the background does not display the feeling or look the reader would experience when running a marathon. Normally after a race, en individuals feel physically at their lowest. They are exhausted and drained. It is misleading for the advertising company to illustrate a woman who looks as if she were going to a fancy event rather, than a marathon.

Also, important information is left out of this ad, including date, time, location, who can participate, how to sign up, cost, and if prizes are included. After researching the title on the bottom of the page, “Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series,” I found it is a marathon in a few different locations at different times. For one who does not recognize or follow this marathon series it is a confusing ad due to the lack of information.