The male gaze? How women are portrayed as sexual objects in
advertisements such as Armani’s ‘The Tip’
Woman were always seen as objects while men are seen as subjects
(Mulvey) and passive characters that were always female in the past were
"symbolically annihilated" as in they were under represented in the
media.. This investigation will explain how
women stereotypes are subverted or reinforced, and how this method of
sexualisation has a impact on society and if it influences female consumers
lifestyle.
The September 2010
Armani commercial called 'The Tip' starring Megan Fox is a perfect
example of over sexualisation in advertising. As producers use a variety of
shots to enhance the sexualisation of Hollywood actress Megan Fox therefore 'Advertisers assume that the use of sexy
models in promotional messages is what appeals to countless individuals
due to how the model is portrayed (Monk-Turner et al., 2007).' Firstly
this is done by the use of a long shot of Megan fox capturing her
whole body into the camera creating a male gaze which allows males to fantasise
over the female actress. “Laura
Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’ is important; as she contends that
scopophilia (the basic human sexual drive to look at other human beings) has
been ‘organised’ by society’s patriarchal definition of looking as a male
activity, and being looked at as a female ‘passivity’. Male power means that
any social representation of women is constructed either as a fetishized
spectacle or as a spectacle for the purpose of male voyeuristic pleasure.”
Although different types of shots are used to represent the female
protagonist sexually, the different type of shots also have positive
representations for instance a high angle shot is used to make Megan fox
seem more superior compared to the male who’s looked down at from a high angle
shot pushing the trolley. As well as that a use of a close up of shot of
the male waiters hand shaking whilst picking up the spoon shows that the female
character is more dominant within this shot, breaking the patriarchal
stereotype as the man is seen doing the work whereas Megan fox is seen in a
close up on the side of her face fixing her collars in a masculine
way. Megan Fox is the first person to speak whilst a close up on the male
characters face shows his nervousness furthermore highlighting Megan Fox’s
dominance breaking dominant ideologies and post traditional values this
positive representation is also shown in ‘South
African advert for She-bear lingerie in 1999, for example, featured an attractive
young white woman wearing only her lingerie and a nun's habit and rosary.
The slogan, 'Wear it for yourself', ties the brand identity to women who
dress for themselves rather than for men’ showing that females positions have now started to
change from a ‘recent past, women's cooking or domestic cleanliness or
interior design skills were the focus of advertisers' attention’[4] to
now a more equal to men representation
Furthermore the use of a close up on the protagonist Megan Fox put on
her jeans reinforces to the audience that advert is for Armani. In
addition another close up at her chest again creating a female gaze for males
to look at and desire, this related to Blumler and Katz uses and gratification
theory as the media text provides escapism as well as entertainment as
audiences forget stresses and strains of the outside world. Constant close ups
are used at the product to remind the audience the main reason for the
advert. This method of close up is used in ‘Many advertisements do depict women with either
alluring behavior or exposing some or the majority of their bodies,
which contributes to the consumers ability to remember brand/product
(Monk-Turner et al., 2007).’ [5]
Moreover in this commercial woman are being represented negatively with
Megan fox opening the door half naked in just her bra and
knickers. However can also be argued that this commercial is challenging
the gender stereotypes as females are usually seen as not wearing
clothes or removing their clothes but in this particular advert the female is
putting clothes on. On the other hand radical feminists would argue that woman
are still always represented and still seen as being sexually exploited and are
seen as being nothing more than just providing the next generation, Kilbourne (2002) suggested that the dismemberment
of women is a monstrous problem in advertising. Dismemberment ads focus on one
part of the body e.g. a womans breasts. [6]
Furthermore showing matriarchal society as the woman is shown
as being more dominant and powerful, as the male in the advert is shown as a
waiter- the connotations added to a waiter are someone who takes orders and
does as they are told. The males are represented as 'perverts' as the male
actor purposely drops the napkin to see where the 'sexy female' is and to look
and admire. This idea of sexualisation is now seen as the nature of
advertisement and a promotion method that woman are almost always represented
sexually so it's now seen as a norm. Megan Fox smiling as she notices the
waiter looking and smiles back shows that she enjoys the attention. Towards the
end of the advert the waiter rejects the tips and replies 'thank you' implies
that Megan Fox was putting on some sort of sexual show relating to the Uses and
Gratification of escapism and entertainment keeping the main target audience of
males engaged in what is going on in the advert and forget about what is going
on around them.
Megan Fox is seen role model and known for her looks and how beautiful she is,
this then leads to aspirational audiences buying Armani jeans because they
aspire to be like her and begin to think that if they wear Armani they would
also look as good.
Commercials such as this have had a huge impact of how children look at
themselves in society. Lacans theory of ‘the mirror’ is an idea around the idea
of identity. He considers the point at which a person develops a sense of
self and conscious identity. He considers the point at which a child
recognises their own reflection and begin to consider how others perceive them,
modifying their appearance to satisfy their perceptions of how others see
them. Mulvey extends this idea when she writes about ‘the silver screen’
which she suggest operates like a metaphorical mirror; reflecting back to the
female viewer representations of female identity, but these representations are
not genuine reflections of the viewer but rather male perceptions of idealised
femininity.
In addition another commercial where women are portrayed sexually is
Keira Knightly Coco Chanel advert. The advert starts with a high angle shot
looking down at the well-known female in the advert 'Keira Knightly' this shows
dominance and power to the audience and showing the female as being powerless.
Close up shot to the female fatale’s behind creating a male gaze for men to use
their imagination and creating an enigma and a fantasy in their
minds. Earlier on in the trailer typical stereotypes of a
female are subverted as she is dressed revealing not much skin. Plus she stops
at the red light with male protagonists turning up in motorbikes both sides of
her showing that she is obedient, however she then drives off without paying
any attention this shows her challenging typical stereotypes and showing that
she is not interested.
However later on in the advert typical stereotypes are reinforced the
male owns the photo shoot and is in charge showing hegemony power and that the
male in the advert is the dominant ideology. Close up to the females lips as
she puts on lip gloss creating seduction to the male audience. The male closing
the curtains and creating darkness as this is when most sexual activities take
place. Taking photos while the females carries out sexual poses this reinforces
that woman are shown to be sexual in advertisements and pictures to appeal to
their target audience. Male is then looking down at the female fatale while she
undresses herself showing that he's in control and in charge. She undresses
herself while the male is still in clothes showing that she is weaker than the
male.
However towards the end she then escapes and then the male is standing
with his shirt undone and this time she is dressed and showing the female
as being more powerful than the male however feminists would argue that there
is still unequal power share between the male and female. The sound also used
in the advert 'it’s a man's world' again reinforces that male are the more
powerful person.
The primary audience for this particular advert would be female as
the product in the advertisement is a ladies perfume. The secondary audience is
male as they may want their wives or girlfriends to be sexy and attractive like
Keira Knightly. The psychographics would be aspirer's women which aspire
to be like Keira knightly
However in contrast to the
historical Levi’s advert (1995) I
analysed there has not been a very great deal of the change in woman’s position
in commercials 'You can stay blind to the beauty of the world, just be in the
right place in the right time'. Long shot at the start of the advert is used to
catch a whole image of the setting of the petrol station. Fearless driving and
the female jumping out the car quick helps audiences to quickly identify the
female protagonist as a criminal and the use of a low angle shot looking up at
her signalises power to the female as she walks to the toilet after committing
a crime. The women’s toilets being locked she then walks into the men’s toilet
being an easy target for males for sexual events to be carried out. The male
drops his stick and there’s a close up on the stick and his hand not being able
to pick up the stick on his first attempt indicates that he's blind.
Following onto quick shots of her undressing herself to change her identity and
creates a female gaze. She then walks up to the blind man which is eye level
with the woman’s vagina with her buttons undone creating an enigma of mystery
of what will happen next, she is then looking down at the male almost showing
that she’s in control and has power to do what she wants, however instead of
any sexual activities taking place she does her buttons up challenging the
typical stereotypes. Moving on to someone who makes a noise in the toilets, she
then escapes having a quick look back at the man again creating a enigma of
what would of happened if that person was not in the toilet. Throughout the
advert the man with the stick is assumed to be blind however the man who comes
out the toilet is actually the blind person therefore it’s as if she was almost
performing for the male while he just sat there as a result ‘women are sexual objects that are around
just to please men’
The primary target audience for
this advert is woman as the woman quickly changing outfits shows
that there's a high selection of clothes available with Levi's, in
addition allowing woman to look sexy and attractive. The secondary audience
would be male's as it helps them decide where they can buy gifts for their
wives and girlfriends, the advert links to Blumler and Katz uses and
gratifications theory creating escapism for audiences while watching the advert
forgetting stresses from the outside world. The setting being in a dirty toilet
shows that it can by both middle and working class.
The reason for producers to include sexuality is because ‘more and more ads are made to look sexual
because the new motto is “sex sells”(9). Furthermore ‘advertisers know that sexy woman appeal to men, so they use their
image to get males to buy certain products’
However although women are represented sexually, it is not only females
that are represented sexually, along with females men are also represented
sexually in advertising. As shown in the diet coke advert as the advert starts
off with woman informing each other about their 11.30 break, this is breaks
typical stereotypes as women are at work rather than at home playing the
expressive role. A repetition of ‘a diet break’ makes it simple for audiences
to know that the commercial is a diet coke advert. The females then gather up
by the window look out at the construction workers. There is then a close up to
the one of the females face and from the facial expression you can see that she
is happy with what she is looking at, the male protagonist then removes his t-shirt
showing sexualisation as audiences can look and admire the male’s muscular and
manly body. The advert then follows up with an aerial shot looking down at the
male this allows audiences to see the male from their point of view. One of the
females then quotes’ see you tomorrow’ and the other follows up with a reply
saying ’11.30’ this shows that watching the male target is like watching a show
and that females get pleasure out of watching the male. Moreover the soundtrack
used in the advert lyrics say ‘I just want to make love to you’ shows that he
is seen as an sexual object for females to carry out sexual activities on.
In
addition Marxist believe that we live in a capitalist society where the ruling
class exploit the working class and use the working class in order to help them
make profit. This is reflected across Megan Fox’s advert as she is helping
promote a product of the bourgeoisie as ‘" Pro-feminist cultural critics such as Robert
Jensen and Sut Jhally accuse mass media and
advertising of promoting the objectification of women to help promote goods and
services" as a result these products appeal
to their audiences through sexualisation and ‘“as the hypodermic needle theory suggests that audiences are
affected by what they see in the media” and believe what they see in
media texts. According to Megan Fox’s Armani advert audiences would believe
that by wearing Armani they will be just as attractive as the Hollywood actress
as a result audiences are ‘dumbed down’ to believe what they see. However
feminists would argue that the exploitation of women in advertising has led to
society think that women are sexual objects. Feminists argue that because advertisers have
historically been sexist white males who are members of the patriarchy and
participants in the capitalist system, they have used advertising as yet
another instrument to oppress women.
The increase in sexualisation has led to a moral panic of young girls.
As young girls are influenced by the media to have a ‘sexy body’ These adds overtly and covertly encourage a
women to view her body as many individual pieces rather than a whole furthermore
if a women has less than satisfactory
legs, then her potential for beauty is spoiled.
Furthermore clothing that are now sold in society are showing that ‘Young girls are “adultified” and
adult women are “youthified” as young girls have clothes such as
jeggings which show off females body image making females concerned about their
body from a young age. Furthermore due to adverts such as ‘The tip’ ‘young girls in fact compare their physical
attractiveness to models feautured in advertising’
Words- 2,647
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Lady Lumps and Growing Up to
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Living in a Sexualised Society
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