Poster in Japan: Five Beyoncés in one bottled water ad
This poster of pop singer Beyoncé is at an exit in the subway station on the way to work. People walk by mostly from left to right. Most people will notice the image on the left (it's the biggest, the eyes are attractive and we are drawn to faces anyway, especially good-looking ones). But notice how the Beyoncés get smaller acting as a kind of arrow toward the product from L-to-R. There's good motion in the design overall. Interestingly, I did not notice the huge type (CRYSTAL GEYSER) for several seconds after looking at this image. There is an appeal to sexiness obviously in this ad and there is an appeal to the ol' waist–hip ratio (WHR) — this was mentioned too in the book Universal Principles of Design and others. Lots going on in this simple ad, none of it by accident.
Below: TV ad running in Japan before posters hit the streets. An ad like this may not be very effective on its own unless it's part of an integrated marketing campaign. A lot of ¥ spent on selling...water, something we can all get here in Japan for free from the tap.
