“Dare to touch one.”

A little while ago Verizon came out with the LG Dare, a phone with multiple capabilities and a pretty cool touch screen. The magazine ad for it pictured a deadly black snake coiled around the phone with a caption that read, “Dare to touch one.” The phone itself is not dangerous, and you don’t have to be fearless to operate one. However, its new features are so bold that it’s like you would have to be dared in order to get one. Most people won’t go up to a venomous snake and touch it unless they’re dared. And even then, they really shouldn’t. But that’s the idea.
Snakes, especially dark colored ones, carry some heavy denotative meanings. The overall consensus is that a poisonous snake means danger. Snakes can pose as a threat, but only when they feel threatened.

Some people are deathly afraid of snakes, whether poisonous or not. To them snakes are scary, evil, harmful creatures that should not be messed with. Others like snakes, and are intrigued by them. They find them interesting and want to have them as pets, so they will learn more about them. These are two different examples of different connotative meanings that can be assigned to snakes, as well as this Ad.

No matter how the snake impacts you, it impacts you. You will either be freaked out or completely intrigued by the look of this Ad. Either way, it will draw your attention, and that is exactly what Verizon was going for.