Ameena Muzaffar
Coppertone Sunscreen Ad Analysis Essay
Coppertone is a gentle sunscreen allowing kids to play peacefully. The ad features a little
girl diving into a swimming pool with a humongous smile on her face. The sunscreen has not
impacted the little girl's ability to have fun. Because the girl is jumping into a swimming pool it
can be inferred that the sunscreen is water resistant. On the bottom of the page two bottles of
sunscreen are shown on a pink banner. On the pink banner, information about Coppertone’s
sunscreen is found, such as how Coppertone is the #1 pediatrician recommended brand.
Coppertone’s advertisement is extremely effective because it uses logical appeals, effectively
carries out its message, engages the intended audience, and appeals to two of Maslow's needs on
his hierarchy of needs pyramid, which helps prove that it is a phenomenal sunscreen.
The ad makes the product sound appealing to the moms, by stating that it is tear free,
non-irritating, hypoallergenic, and #1 pediatrician recommended. The evidence provided appeals
to the safety needs of the child, which helps the ad become more effective, because all moms
want to keep their children safe. One way to make their ad more effective is to call out the other
sunscreens by stating what toxic ingredients other sunscreens have. This would really help the
moms know what harmful ingredients to look out for when buying sunscreen. Moms want what
is best for their kids so if they know that other sunscreens have damaging ingredients in them
they will start buying Coppertone. Overall the ad did a wonderful job conveying its message to
the audience.
The primary objective of the ad is to show off Coppertone sunscreen to the audience and
to suggest that Coppertone is the best sunscreen. As stated before, the evidence provided by the
advertisement is as follows, Coppertone sunscreen is tear free, hypoallergenic, and #1
Ameena Muzaffar
Coppertone Sunscreen Ad Analysis Essay
pediatrician recommended. The ad also shows an image of a happy little girl jumping into a pool.
These pieces of evidence help show that Coppertone is a kid friendly sunscreen, that protects
kids from the sun without hindering their ability to have fun. It also shows that the sunscreen is
water resistant. “Suns up. Wings out. It’s on,” voices the Coppertone ad. From this slogan it can
be inferred that the sunscreen will keep kids safe from the sun so parents can let their kids play
worry free. In order to support the main message of the ad Coppertone could add a kid smiling
and holding the sunscreen to show that they are happy with Coppertone. In conclusion the happy
little girl really helps show that kids are happy with Coppertone.
The advertisement used the logos persuasive technique to assist in persuading the
audience to purchase Coppertone. Logos is when the advertisement appeals to logic or reasoning
which means the ad provides evidence or statistics. As discussed above in the case of Coppertone
the ad mentions that Coppertone is tear free, hypoallergenic and pediatrician recommended. The
ad also uses the transfer technique which is when the advertisement associates positive images
with the product. Coppertone does this by showing a happy little girl jumping into a pool. And
lastly, Coppertone uses the glittering generalities technique, which associates the product with
positive wording. For this, Coppertone uses its slogans, “Suns up. Wings out. It’s on,” and “So,
when you’re ready for fun, it’s on.” As seen above, Coppertone has used a number of advertising
techniques to make their ad interesting.
The Coppertone ad has a very compelling argument because it appeals to two of the
needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. The first need is the strongest need which is the
physiological needs category. Physiological needs are the everyday needs of a person. The
Ameena Muzaffar
Coppertone Sunscreen Ad Analysis Essay
Coppertone ad appeals to this because sunscreen is an everyday necessity in order to prevent
becoming sunburned. The second need the Coppertone ad appeals to is also very important
because it is the safety needs category. Coppertone appeals to the safety needs of children
because it keeps them safe from the sun. Lastly, most ads only appeal to one of the needs so the
fact that Coppertone appeals to two helps their ad become powerful.
Lots of kids complain about wearing sunscreen so coppertone sells the moms on their
sunscreen by saying “tear free” or “hypoallergenic.” Coppertones objective in the advertisement
is to show that the little girl is happy with Coppertone. The Coppertone advertisement used
logos, transfer and glittering generalities as their persuasive argument which helped them form a
compelling argument for customers to purchase their product. Coppertone also appeals to
physiological needs and safety needs which are the two most important in Maslow's hierarchy of
needs. This has exhibited that there are many different aspects of an advertisement that need to
be thought about. The different techniques and appeals that Coppertone used helped make an
interesting ad. Ultimately, Coppertone succeeded in many different aspects of the ad and has
made an intriguing argument to purchase its product.
Works Cited:
Coppertone_ad.pdf
