Just recently, Polaroid launched its advertising campaign for the company's hottest new product, the I-Zone instant camera. However, the I-Zone is no regular camera; the instant images are developed on stamp-sized stickers. Considering that there is no negative for image reproduction, and that the camera is only a point-and-shoot, it, like the original Polaroid, has alienated itself from serious photography. Rather than lamenting this, Polaroid attempts to use this outsider status to its advantage. The company's new on-line advertisement for the camera reads, "The new Polaroid I-Zone Pocket Camera is the ultra-portable instant camera that presents new and different ways to have fun!" In the ad, Polaroid uses claims based on the camera's potential for amusement, novelty, and instant gratification to sell the I-Zone, especially to a teenage and largely female demographic.

The grounds for why one should purchase an I-Zone are, in short, because the product is hip and easy to use. There is a picture of the camera on the on- line advertisement that morphs into each of the three colors that it can be purchased in: "Radical Red, Bright Breezy Blue, and Cool Lime Green." The fact that the camera produces small, instant photos as stickers gives the product a sense of novelty that sets it apart. It then uses rhetoric that targets a young audience, for example, "Use them to decorate your favorite stuff or to collect and share with friends. . .Go ahead, express your individuality."

In addition to such language, the camera is advertised as "the official camera of the Backstreet Boys Into the Millennium Tour." The advertisement also has a picture of the pop group, hugely popular with adolescent girls, bearing the I-Zone camera. The advertisement also features a picture of pop singer By using the Backstreet Boys in the ad, Polaroid has bought into the group's fan following because of the huge number of people likely to but this camera based on its connection to the band.

The advertisement's warrant for the product is slightly vague. The advertisement devotes as much of the space to the Backstreet Boys' connection to the camera than with the options that it features. The ad also employs a list of suggestions for how the camera can be used. The problem with this is that the reader comes away from the advertisement with more image of the camera than with a knowledge of it. For the consumer who is interested in the camera itself, rather than finding his or her "individuality" through its lens, the ad is not very helpful. In more open terminology, the ad might simply sell the camera as what it is, a novelty. Interestingly, the only technical advantage mentioned, which is very unique, is the ability to double expose the image. However, the ad mentions nothing else about that particular option, or any other.

Essentially, the camera is very marketable based on the novelty of the sticker-film, the instant development, and the under-hyped ability to double expose. Where the ad fails is in playing up these unique aspects of the camera. Rather, it tightens it focus to a very young audience, thus potentially limiting its appeal to an older crowd, even those with interests in photography. However, it seems safe to say that, despite weak advertising, the product will sell itself.