STIHL All The Muscle You Need

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After only a matter of seconds do we, the viewer, come to understand the ideas behind STIHL’s advertisement; you don’t need to be a professional to use a STIHL chainsaw and neither do you need to be strong. STIHL’s chainsaw compensates for both these factors. We are presented with a tall man, with small, skinny arms and a huge STIHL chainsaw. We then assess the image and the peculiar nature of a man with such thin, almost breakable, arms holding such a huge and powerful object. The copy at the bottom of the page concludes the imagery; ‘ALL THE MUSCLES YOU NEED. STIHL’ .

There is an obvious emphasis on the power and strength of the STIHL chainsaw due to the exaggeration of the man’s arms and the presence of the machinery.

You don’t necessarily need to be a professional, strong nor powerful to use this product.

This print advertisement is aimed towards the handy man, ‘the tradie’ and the average man at home. This advertisement calls these individuals to the action of purchasing STIHL’s chainsaw. The man is dressed in resilient clothing, has a thick beard and is surrounded by wood cuttings and yet he has no muscle in his arms. His biceps are non-existent. This is quiet humorous, in particular to their target audience men, who situate biceps and muscle aesthetics a part of masculinity.

The image is in black and white with majority of the image a negative shade, apart from the man’s face, arms and the chainsaw which are a much lighter shade. This draws our eyes to our main focus points; the man and the contrast between his arms and the chainsaw.

I enjoy this advert because it accurately engages with and mocks it’s target audience all at once. Men are drawn in by the ‘silly’ nature of the man’s physic, and can laugh at the ludicrous scene of this man cutting a tree down with a huge chainsaw between his brittle arms. And yet at the same time, I feel as if the advert mocks men’s ideals. Not in a harsh manner. But simply noting it.