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This advertisement for
Carnival Cruise Lines, found in the April 2008 issue of Redbook
magazine, like the other ads in this category, hails the attention of the
reader who wants to escape from something in their daily life while on vacation.
In this case: kids. Carnival is a cruise line that is widely known to be
"family friendly" and an advertisement for a "family friendly" cruise line is
suggestive of a family vacation. In my analysis of the advertisement, as well
as the entire magazine, I realized that this ad is indeed interpellating
parents. In looking through Redbook I found that the magazine
interpellates a reader who is most likely a married woman with children, but
she needs a break from family life at times, as is evidenced in the ads and
articles focused specifically on the woman: clothing, weight loss, and
cosmetics, mixed in with ads for kid-friendly foods and articles on celebrity
moms.
 This Carnival Cruise
Lines ad is certainly an ad for a family vacation, but it interpellates the mom
(and dad?) who needs to escape from the kids for a little while. At the top of
the ad, in large print it says "Kids--what kids?" implying that kids are usually
a prevalent part of life, but Carnival is offering an opportunity for parents
to get away for a bit. The cruise line calls it "Serenity," an "adult only
retreat." Retreat is a powerful term for this type of area on a cruise ship,
and combined with the words "tranquility" and "truly relax," what busy mom
could resist? This particular "retreat" is simply a portion of the ship set
aside for adults only, with no children allowed. After the paragraph on
relaxing at the bottom of the ad, it says "Let the fun begin." This retreat
area was probably described as fun because of Carnival’s slogan, "The fun
ships." This slogan is a truth claim, as are the statements that describe the
"Serenity" area as peaceful, relaxing and comfortable (Rose 144).
 The image in the ad is
particularly attractive, because it shows the product, which seems true to the
description provided. In the image, the area is not heavily populated and
seems to be truly relaxing--a retreat. Because there are far more lounge
chairs than adults in the area, I began to wonder if it does get busy at
times. But, an area that is full of adults relaxing is much more tranquil and
serene (as the ad suggests) than children running around everywhere. This ad
interpellates the parent who is planning to take a family vacation but is also
looking to relax without the kids for a while during vacation. This is the
preferred reading of the ad (Rose 98). An alternative reading could be that
the ad interpellates the woman without children who wants to go on a cruise on
Carnival without being constantly bombarded by other people's children. This
reading is not false, but based on the audience of Redbook it is
doubtful that this reading is any more accurate than the preferred reading that
I suggested.
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