Post 3

            The online dating website Ashley Madison is the creator of this advertisement, which is meant to represent the sin of lust. Founded in 2002, the company began running this advertisement mostly online, but also in some printed publications, soon after. At a first glance, a few things are noticeable about the advertisement. For one, there is a woman to the right of the advertisement with her finger raised to her lips. She is also wearing a wedding ring. The text in this advertisement is very minimal, reading “Ashley Madison”, the name of the company, and just below it “Life is short. Have an affair.” The colors used in the advertisement are very minimal, with only white, black, and the beige of skin used, primarily.

A more in depth analysis of this advertisement reveals much additional information. The woman is obviously married, as she is wearing a wedding ring. This is further supported by the phrase “Have an affair” as one must be in some sort of a relationship to have an affair. Also, the way the woman is photographed is very intentional. She is portrayed from the collar bones up, and there is no evidence of a shirt, which is mean to cause curiosity in the audience. In addition to this, she is the only source of color in the page, which causes her to pop out. The use of short sentence structure is meant to cause a sense of urgency in the audience. By saying “Life is short. Have an affair.” the audience is driven to believe that they are running out of time in their life, and in order to utilize their short time left, they must have an affair.

            The audience of this text is predominantly made up of by males. This is supported by the fact that the subject photographed in this advertisement is a seemingly naked female. The male-based audience is most likely from the middle to upper-middle class, as they would have enough disposable income to pay for a dating website. The audience is further characterized in the way that they are probably married, and are unhappy with their marriage. They would most likely be viewed as immoral by society because they are using a website that is supposed to be an aid for people who want to commit affairs. This would mean that the deadly sin that the Ashley Madison advertisement is exploiting is lust.