Murariu 1
Monica Murariu
English 1020
Project 1
Just like people, advertisements and commercials evolve constantly. Slim Fast
advertisements have evolved from the 1980's housewives ads to the 2010 "Vow to Wow"
ads. The colors in their ads evolve to change our moods about their ads. Their ads go from
expressing ethos to persuade the viewer to buy their products to pathos. Slim Fast has evolved
their ads into making the viewer happy about losing weight to fearing not losing weight.
1980s Slim Fast Ads
The 1980’s housewives commercials consisted of housewives describing how wonderful
Slim Fast is. Their husbands are in the picture as well; describing how they never believed their
wives could look so good. These advertisements are also full of color. In “The Language of
Advertising,” Peter Sells and Sierra Gonzalez discuss the use of colors in advertisements. They
say that brighter colors give the viewer a sense of happiness and cheerfulness. The use of the
women and the men and the colors in these ads lead the viewer to believe that using Slim Fast
will give them happier and fuller lives. According to Susan Kuchinskas in the article "How
Articles Works Our Nerves," when we associate these feelings of happiness to an ad, we are
more likely to remember the ad, the product, and the company.
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1990s Slim Fast Advertisements
In the 1990’s, Slim Fast changed their advertisements from the familiar ads of the
housewives to the before and after celebrity ads. These ads used ethos and sex appeal to persuade
the viewers to buy Slim Fast products. Slim Fast used the popularity of the celebrities to get
people to buy. This was also the first time Slim fast started using the idea of fear to sell their
products.
Two of the commercials used Ann Jillian and Tommy Lasorda in their ads to sell
products. Ann Jillian was a big time movie star and Tommy Lasorda was a big baseball manager.
Ann Jillian at this time was considered a sex symbol. Slim Fast used her and her sex appeal in
their commercials. It is known that sex appeal can sell items. From Professor Richard F.
Taflinger of psychology from Washington State University, "sex is the second
strongest psychological appeals." If sex is the second strongest psychological appeal, why not
use it in advertising to catch someone’s attention. Slim Fast knows this. That is why they use
Ann Jillian. Tommy Lasorda was a big baseball team manager. They used Tommy Lasorda in
their ads to not only attract women to their products but also attract men to using Slim Fast to
lose weight.
In these ads there is a difference in color as well. Like stated above in the article, "The
Language of Advertising," bright colors in ads can give the viewer a sense of happiness and
cheer while dark, bland colors can cause a sense of fear. The before and after commercials used
these color schemes. The person in the ad shows a picture of them before Slim Fast: the photo is
dark and bland. This gives the viewer a sense of fear, a fear of being heavier. The person holding
the picture is bright and full of color. This shows the person as happy and cheerful. This makes
the viewer happy. As you can see in the photo below, the before photo has very few and bland
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colors. The after photo is colorful and cheerful. This makes the audience feel sad and upset about
the before photo but happy, cheerful, and amazed at the after photo.
This was the first time that Slim Fast started using fear to sell their products. The idea of
being heavier or overweight haunts many people in any decade and any age group. The use of
the before and after ads used fear. The dark and bland before pictures causes the viewer
to fear the idea of being heavier. The dark colors, as stated above, makes the viewer connect the
before photos with fear and the after video with happiness.
2000 Slim Fast Ads
In 2000, The Slim Fast ads evolved again. Their ads now included more sex appeal and
more fear. In the early 2000’s, they put out a commercial with a police officer from New
York who used Slim Fast to keep up with his busy life. The good-looking police officer
describes his use of Slim Fast products. In this commercial, you see the police officer in a tank
top and all of his muscles are showing. He looks good. The officer and Slim Fast use his good
looks and rippling muscles as sex appeal to appeal to the men and women watching the
commercial. For the men watching the commercial they see the police officer and wish they
looked like that. The women watching the commercial just like watching a good looking man on
TV.
Although both the police officer ad and the before and after ads used sex appeal, they used
sex appeal in different ways. The before and after celebrity ads just used the obvious sex appeal
of the celebrity but the police officer ads used the sex appeal of a handsome man. The celebrity
just has sex appeal because of their fame but the police officer has genuine sex appeal.
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In 2010, Slim Fast came out with their Vow to Wow ads. These paper ads were of a
traditional bride and groom wedding cake toppers. They showed a heavier bride falling through
the cake or sinking into the cake or ripping her dress. The ads include the words, “need to lose a
little weight before your wedding?” These ads prey on the fear of every women waiting for their
big day; being a heavy bride.
Like noted earlier, sex sells, but fear sells just as well as sex. In an article, “The FourLetter Word in Advertising: Fear,” Todd Van Slyke said, "fear appeals strike a nerve with people
who have doubts about things or do not know about things. They play on our inherent fears of
the unknown. This is why scare tactics are stunningly effective." In the same article, the author
stated, "Fear is effective in advertising because it is a familiar sensation that causes people to
respond quickly." Many ads play on the fears of the viewer and make them act quickly on them.
Advertisements in 2010 have differed greatly from the ads in 1980. Slim Fast is one of
the many companies whose ads have changed greatly. Their ads have gone from the 1980 happy
housewives commercials to the scare tactics of the Vow to Wow ads in 2010. Many
advertisements today have gone from the happy go lucky ads of the 70s and 80s to horror ads of
the 21st century.
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Work Cited
Kuchinskas, Susan. "How Advertising Works Our Nerves (In a Good Way)." Internet Marketing
News | Marketing Pilgrim. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2012.
<http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/11/how-advertising-works-our-nerves-in-agood-way.html.>
" The Four-Letter Word in Advertising: Fear - Ai Insite." Design Trends, Art Issues, And Ideas –
Ai InSite. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. http://insite.artinstitutes.edu/the-fourletter-wordin-advertising-fear-20072.aspx.
"The Language of Advertising: Colors in advertising." Stanford University. N.p., n.d. Web. 31
Jan. 2012. http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_13/colors.htm
"You and Me, Babe: Sex and Advertising." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington
. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2012. http://public.wsu.edu/~taflinge/sex.html.