o4300
To really see the contrast in the way SUVs are marketed to different audiences, it is best to compare advertisements for the same vehicle across the different magazines. This first example is what an ad for the Toyota 4Runner looks like in Outside magazine. Below is an ad for the 4Runner that appeared in Time.
Outside: November 2001, p. 10
Compare
click image to enlarge
t4300
Here is an advertisement for the Toyota 4Runner that appeared in Time, while above is an ad for the same vehicle that appeared in Outside. Both magazines are targeted primarily to white audiences, so both ads use the Great Outdoors as a setting to promote the products. 71% of the ads for SUVs in Time and 79% of the SUV ads in Outside used this strategy.
Time: March 8,1993, p. 45
Compare
click image to enlarge
onav300
Here is an advertisement for the Lincoln Navigator that appeared in Outside. Although the outdoor setting is not as dramatic as some of the other SUV ads in the magazine, it is still an outdoor ad; there is not even a hint of a nearby urban or suburban environment. Contrast this with the ad from Ebony featured below.
Outside: October 1998, p. 54
Compare
click image to enlarge
enav300
Here is an advertisement for the Lincoln Navigator that appeared in Ebony. There is no outdoor setting like the ad above from Outside magazine, in fact there is really no setting at all. One look at the well-dressed gentlemen in the chair however, lets you know this is a "very serious" vehicle. Apparantly off-road travel is a frivolous activity that is frowned upon by "serious" SUV owners (and by extension, readers of Ebony).
Ebony: November 1997, inside cover
Compare
click image to enlarge
return to main page