Questions on the Calvin Klein fragrance text
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What’s the Purpose of the text? advertising
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What Audience is it aimed at? Briefly explain your answer by commenting on some of the
language choices. Young men/women ("young", fresh. warm. electric. ), people who live in the
city ("urban"), people perhaps looking for love (spicy, thrill of life),
Read the terminology box, before answering the rest of the questions.
Grammar terminology point:
Noun Phrases
We know that nouns are lexical words that name people, places or things.
We can also describe a group of words that does this as a Noun Phrase.
e.g. “Bus” is a noun – but “bus” could be the head word for an entire Noun Phrase:
“A big red double-decker London bus”
In this example the noun “bus” is the head word and is pre-modified by all the preceding words.
We should think of the noun phrase as a single unit. The NP is very often used as either the
Subject or the Object of a sentence.
The head noun could also be post-modified by a prepositional phrase:
“The double-decker bus in the depot”
In this example “bus” is the still the head noun; “bus” is pre-modified by “the double-decker" and
post-modified by “in the depot”. We should still think of this noun phrase as a single unit.
More Detailed Close Analysis
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In the Calvin Klein text, the first “sentence” is not really a complete sentence as it doesn’t have a
verb. In fact, it is just a Noun Phrase. “fragrance” is a noun and the head word of the phrase.
What is the effect of the three attributive adjectives in this noun phrase? The lack of commas
and the three attributive adjectives make it seem like urban woody and fresh are all packed into
one fragrance, additionally it becomes more of a label instead of just a list. Consider the
meanings of each adjective and how they work together in the phrase.
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The 2nd sentence is just a noun phrase too; identify the head noun and the post-modifying
prepositional phrase: “A gender-free scent for a man or a woman.” What is the effect of both
the pre-modification and post-modification? gender free = wider market/audience for the
company, man or woman = wider market for the company What does it reveal about how Calvin
Klein is pitching this scent to the audience? calvin klein is trying to make the fragrance more
universal for everyone so that more people will buy it
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Comment on the effects of the following noun phrases:
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today's youth - makes it feel modern
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the thrill of life - what young people (their audience) is looking for
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a dual-faceted scent - anyone can wear this "cool" scent
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the spike of spicy electric freshness - pulling on young people's need for self validation
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the warmth of magnetic woods - weird analagy, leaves it open to interpretatin but the main
thing is that it will attract other people
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A signature fragrance for an urban, alternative new freshness - gives people a feeling of
importance if they wear it
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What is the effect of placing the 3 adjectives at the end as one-word minor sentences? more
impact when they drill those words into you e.g fresh was said a couple of times already
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Identify all the references to duality in the text. What purpose do these duality references
serve? "man or woman", "dual faceted", "balances two opposing forces", hint to love? Makes
both woman and man want this fragrance
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There are only 2 dynamic main verbs in the text: “celebrates” (x2) and “embodies”. Why have
these verbs been chosen? They are representative, celebrates makes it seem like you can go to
parties with this, its for celebrations in a sense, and embodies gives it a sort of spirit feel, like
there is a field of belief that surrounds this fragrance which makes it so good
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Sum up in as few words as possible what attitudes and values are conveyed by the text.
trendy, magnetic, cool, fresh, appealing