Detailed Essay Plan
for Media A2/ Mest 4 Coursework By Chandni Chopra 13yWorking title
How are women
overtly sexualised in contemporary perfume advertising, paying particular
attention to adverts such as Beyoncé’s 'Heat' advert and YSL advert featuring
Kate Moss.
“The beauty industry
is a monster, selling unattainable dreams. It lies, it cheats, it exploits
women."
Postmodernists will
argue that society has become ever more diverse, therefore the way women are
represented and stereotypically portrayed in the beauty industry has also
changed. Why? Simply, because of advance technology and changes in societal
attitudes and belief that it objectifies women as a "natural source".
This investigation will arguably raise a debate as to how women are overtly
sexualized in contemporary perfume advertisements such as Beyoncé Heat and YSL-
Parisienne, and wheither it treats women as objects so that it can attract the
audience’s attention and sell its product "globally" (McLuhan).
However, some will argue as a oppositional reading (Hall-Reception theory) that
women are sexualized in perfume adverts because "sex sell," but some
will criticize this and argue that it may be to convey a message of misogyny.
This is so that the media effect such as the "cultivation theory" is
used to have an impact on the passive younger audiences or simply because it's
a way for women to dominate the advertising industry.
In the 21st century
advertisements, perfume adverts have portrayed women as weaker and
fetishistically, in which this case it represents the modern society in the
West as being uncivilized. Like, Edward Said put forward the idea of
orientalism- this is where the West is civilized and the East is uncivilized;
audience can challenge this theory by arguing that women have become sexualized
in countries which are civilized such as the UK. However, by portraying women
like a sexual object in Western countries audiences can challenge this theory
and argue that the UK is 'uncivilized'. For example, the way the demographics
in Saudi Arabia will react to modern, western adverts to the demographic in US,
will be completely different. Hanna Rosin had stated: "in the West,
meanwhile, women behave sexually aggressive ways that would have been
unimaginable even twenty years ago." The reason why contemporary media has
changed the way women are represented and sexualised, is so that it can keep up
with the way audiences read a text and to keep up with the “consumer” society,
which is to be living in a rich and luxurious lifestyle (Dyer-consumer
society).
Today's beauty
industries have used women as an "object of fetishistic display"
simply because sex sells. This is so that it can appeal to both the mass and
niche audiences, alongside "for male viewer pleasures". This is
because "when sexuality is used in advertising certain values and
attitudes towards sex are being sold to consumers along with the product."
Historically, perfume adverts such as Charlie-Revlon in the 1970's had their
main focus on the product rather than the breast or buttocks of the women. It
had also sexualized and objectified women less than adverts in today's society.
For example, the advert had used more close-ups of the product and had the
heroine (Vladimir Propp) in a silk jump suit, paying particular attention to
her dialogue and not how she sexy she looked. Also, the silk dress she is
wearing could connote (Barthes-connotation and denotation) purity and her
virginity as to her being the innocent one, in comparison to the Beyoncé heat
advert. This is where is Beyoncé is wearing a short, red, silk dress , the red
silk however connotes 'heat' which links with the perfumes name and connotes
how Beyoncé personally feels erotic and hot which attracts the 'male gaze'
(Laura Mulvey). The comparison (Levi-Strauss Binary opposition) between these
two adverts are that women back then were treated as being pure however, now
they are treated as being a sexual toy who are there to benefit men. For
example the makeup used is also natural which gives her a clear look and enable
her to look attractive but to denotes a sense of self-respect as to how
"young women are especially susceptible to objectification, as they are
often taught that power, respect, and wealth can be derived from one's outward
appearance." This is why Charlie-Revlon had used the women in a dominating
role rather than the women undressing herself as the zeitgeist reflects back to
the 'spirit of the age'. An example, can be the 1961 advert "That touch of
perfume" by Avon, this advert had used diegetic sound of the women
speaking which informed (Uses and gratification-Blumler and Katz) that women
were given equal chances and were treated as important as men. In contrast, Yves
Saint Laurent advert- Parisienne, had used diegetic sound of Moss erotically
expressing erotic sounds and conveying that she is feeling pleasure from the
male touching her, however the audiences cannot see who the male is which
creates further enigma (Barthes), but the scene continues with the male
touching her and drives the "narrative forward."
As a preferred
reading (Reception theory- Stuart Hall) this can connote that women are always
there to benefit men. Also, towards the middle (Todorov-Narrative structure) of
the narrative is her body positioned where the male position is "active
and female position is passive" which can connote that women are there to
benefit men. Moreover, this advert also shows how sexualisation of women has
changed because "the media has changed, and people’s attitudes have
changed." Reflecting back into the 1970's, if audiences had seen Beyoncé’s
heat advert then, they may have felt shocked as to how they are degrading women
and sexualising them. On the other hand, if the audiences see the Revlon advert
today they may not appeal to it as much as the Beyoncé's advert. This is
because attitude have changed and the way audiences want to perceive a text has
also changed due to them "Passively inviting our gaze," as older
generation audiences such as old men, who are dependent on the media will watch
this advert on moving image platform (T.V.) and wouldn't question about the
negative portrayal of women.
On the contrary, the
media may not be to blame, as to why women are overtly sexualized negatively in
contemporary perfume adverts. Post-feminists will argue that both men and women
have equal power and that society has moved from being patriarchal to a
post-feminist era, where both genders are given the same equal opportunity in
the advertisement arena. This is because it clearly depends on the heroine
(Vladimir Propp-character type) itself is and how she wants society to see her
being represented as, simply because there are a two ways (Reception
theory-Stuart Hall) in which the audiences will read a text. For example, from
a males perspective they believe that "women want to be treated as sex
objects," due to some stereotypes being true (Perkins-some stereotypes are
true). Whereas, modern female audiences as an oppositional reading may suggest
that some women willingly choose themselves to sexualise by using a phallic
symbol in order to add emphasis on their sexuality. This is because if she
doesn't use her sexuality to sell the product and can be interpreted as her
lacking “femininity". For example, Advertising Standards Authority had
banned the perfume advert 'Oh Lola' by Marc Jacobs that featured a young
teenager both in print media platform and moving image, by holding a perfume
advert in between her thighs which was a phallic symbol emphasizing on her
sexuality. The shot on the poster was in a long shot which enabled the
audiences to see her body and her size eight figure, alongside the use of a
short dress allowed audiences to focus on the phallic symbol and add emphasis
to her legs. However, the Guardian stated that "41% of parents"
claimed that the programs that had appeared before 9pm had contained unsuitable
and inappropriate sexual content for children.
This had therefore,
been banned because it was promoting sexualization of children and injecting
negative messages in to younger audiences as to how they should behave and act
in a certain way as the hypodermic needle theory suggests "that audiences
are affected by what they see in the media"(Hypodermic needle- Katz and
Lazarsfield). Despite this, the Daily mail had stated that the position she was
in was "sexually provocative" which could then suggest that if young
girls in the media are overtly sexualized alongside holding phallic symbols to
attract the 'male gaze' but can have a "negative influence on girls'
healthy development", as it promoted anorexia to. This advert had also
received a lot of complaints from the audiences and was stated by ASA that the
'giant bottle was provoking but not indecent,' which means that some images of
women might be "reactionary or damaging or oppressive". However, it
can be argued that by sexualising women representation may vary in different
genres or in different channel (Semiotics of globalisation).
On the other hand, a
pluralistic ideology will argue that some audiences are intelligent enough to
not accept what they see being advertised and will not believe in what you can
achieve by consuming the perfume. However, by overtly sexualizing women in
perfume advert this may encourage women to take a social progress which can be
"measured by the social position of the female sex." This means that
audiences that see the advert as being inspirational can purchase this product
and can make a social progress and can gain power with the use of their
external image. Feminists will put forward the idea that the advertising
industry exploits women so that it can sell its products and to serve the
personal "pleasures" of men that they want to see. However, overtly
sexualizing women in perfume adverts can be criticized as to how “Femininity is
not typically a core value for women today" as clearly depends on
individualism. This is because we live in a post-modernist society, and
therefore it is possible for females to choose what and how they want to look
like in adverts as it is just a performance that "women choose to employ
in everyday life" either for pleasures or to achieve a goal. Nevertheless,
Dr Zurbriggen suggests that today's society should replace negative images of
women in positive setting and show girls in a "uniqueness and
competence" way. This is because it can have a negative impact on younger
audiences who are passive and can create a moral panic in the media (Cohen) as
to how perfume adverts have influenced young girls to wear makeup, heels and
sexy dress, so that they can invite "the male gaze" and the male
audiences can feel entertained and escapism (Uses and gratification-Blumler and
Katz).
Moreover, the
development of technology has enabled perfume institutions to reach to a mass
audience and to target different socio-economic and countries globally, as
McLuhan stated that "the medium is the message". Allowing products to
reach to audiences quickly worldwide will increase the income for the
institutions and will enable audiences to identify (Blumler and Katz) the
product quickly. The media therefore have to sell their products in the modern
industry by using more than one media platform. Rapid growths of social network
sites have increased because of technology. As audiences have become more
socially addicted to lean forwards media such as social networks the use of
synergy enables them to identify (Blumler and Katz-uses and gratification) with
the product as they may have seen it on television before. For example,
Beyoncé’s heat adverts there are pictures featuring the singer used in the
advert and videos of the advert on Facebook. Audiences can also see adverts on
any media platform they like and have a variety of choices in how they perceive
a text e.g. Print, E-media and Moving image. On the other hand, institutions
have to be careful as to what platform they choose because "people's
attitudes have changed" and if they keep using constantly the same images
of women being sexualised or the same advert being broadcasted repeatedly, some
audiences may complain as to how it is having a negative impact on audiences.
In contrast, an
example of how perfume adverts sexualize women in the moving image platform is
YSL- advert featuring Kate Moss. This advert was broadcasted by a UGC (user
generated content) on YouTube by a fan. Once, the way audiences would have
received a text was by passively accepting what’s on T.V. However, technology
has enabled audiences to no longer see text passively but also become users to.
This advert had sexualised women in many ways for example; the extreme close-up
shot had been used towards the middle of the narrative (Todorov-Narrative
structure) so that is can allow audiences to focus on her body parts. The
producer had also used this shot so that the audiences can focus on the prop
used- a white rose as being a sexual weapon as to wherever she touches herself
with it is a way that reminds her of the man touching her. The type of focus
used was a shallow focus and this was where the camera was mainly focused on
Kate Moss' neck as she was using the prop of a flower as a way of her imagining
that it is male figure that is sexually touching her up. This can link as to
how when she used the rose to touch herself, the edit transforms this into a
montage editing into the next shot were the audiences can see only a pair of
hand and the male figure is actively touching her and the female is in a
passive position. Which clearly suggests that women are often represented in
ads from an explicitly sexual angle: their desirability is what sells. However,
the way adverts have sexualized women has changed since the 1960's this can be
proved by the advert Chanel N0.5 commercial. This advert was different compared
to adverts today as the main focus of the advert was to give the women
sophistication and giving the women a professional look. However, the
difference is that the Beyoncé and YSL advert had sexualized women as the
emphasis was given as to how erotic they feel. Therefore, the way society has
changed is that audiences in today's society easily accepts what is shown on
the screen without challenging (some do) The effect modern perfume adverts
would have on the audiences of the 19th century would have been that they would
feel surprised as to how women are exploited with their body .
Furthermore, the last
platform used by institutions is the Print platform this is where the Heat
perfume advert had used Beyoncé in a seductive pose and had overtly sexualized
her. This poster had used Beyoncé in direct-mode of address which connotes as a
preferred reading (Hall-reception theory) that she wants to have power but,
realistically Mulvey will state that it is a way to get the audience to feel
that she is inviting the audience’s attention . The way she is lying down with
her legs open can connote that she feels passionately turned on. Moreover, the
way her hair is highlighted in blonde can connote that she is maybe putting on
a white mask (Frantz-Fanon), this is because it "the dumb blonde
stereotype is common, in Western societies at least, because it serves the
purpose of the patriarchal ideology". Audiences can see that Beyoncé is
represented as the stereotypical 'dumb blonde' which exists in western
societies, as it serves the patriarchal ideology. Yet, in the 1960's perfume
posters were completely different to the Beyoncé heat advert. For example, the
poster of Coty L'Aimant Perfume Ad in 1960 original vintage Ad had used the
perfume as the main intention simply by having the shot types of the women and
the perfume as being the same size.
Beyoncé’s ad had the
main focus on her and the product had been used in a smaller shot, which
connotes that the product is not as important as Beyonce. The Guardian had
stated that 'sexually provocative Beyoncé advert is ruled unsuitable kids' and
ASA said that the "perfume advert should not have been shown during family
programming and should now be aired only after 7.30pm". This shows that
the institutions care more about how much profit they make rather than how they
sexualise women and how they harm others e.g. by not waiting to broadcast after
watershed. Broadcasting adverts that contain sexual imagery and treats women as
objects is better to be broadcasted after 7.30pm as it targets the main primary
audiences who are adults mainly. In Dominick and Rauch study (1974) which
conducted study of 1,000 prime time television commercials and found that sex
objects and housewife/ mother role stereotypes also existed in that medium. Statistically,
this informs and educates (Uses and gratification-Blumler and Katz) the
audiences that the study carried out had identified that even on Prime time
television commercials found women stereotypically represented as sexual
objects.
Besides,
sexualisation of women can also link with symbolic annihilation which means
that women are underrepresented and their interests are not being
"accurately reflected by the mass media." This can either be done by
race, sex. socio-economic status or sexual orientation. Gaye Tuchman, a media
feminist had argued that, television annihilates women and informs society that
women are weak and are a "fetished object" in comparison to
overwhelming representing men in positive way in all kinds of moving image
platform as "men are usually shown to be dominate, whereas women are shown
to be submissive and passive". Marxist, will argue that "advertising
is a means of reproducing the existing capitalist society". This indicates
that advertising carries out "crucial economic functions in managing
consumer demand and in aiding capital accumulation, but it also helps to
produce the sort of ideological ambience required by consumer capitalism."
Therefore, advertising only benefits the Bourgeoisie, not simply because they
"own the means of productions" but because they exploit the
proletariat to produce profit, so that it can support the dominate ruling-class
ideology and helps the elite in society to maintain power and hegemonic
control. Moreover, perfume institutions overtly sexualise women in order to
sell their product so that the elite can have power and gain profit from the
way they have sexualized the female. This therefore, informs audiences that
adverts cannot be sold successfully without overtly sexualizing women as it
will decrease the power of the bourgeoisie.
In conclusion,
research has proven that to some extent women are overtly sexualized in
contemporary perfume adverts simply because the way women are constantly
objectified by male viewers and the fact that "you can do whatever you
want to them" simply because they are "not real people, their
dolls". However, the in-depth research has given an insight into how the
advertising industry works and how women themselves accept these negative
stereotypes placed upon them simply because women by virtue lack. On the other
hand, the independent research has enabled to conclude that the advertising
industry institution have tried to sell their products without sex appeal. Nevertheless,
by not having any sort of sex appeal adverts cannot be sold effectively. Some
audiences however will view this as the institution trying to create a sense of
hyper-reality where the simulacra has been replaced so that audiences can be
persuaded to believe that this is what the product can do to you. In contrast, adverts
enable audiences to feel a sense of identification (Blumler and Katz- uses and
gratification) so that they can appeal to different audiences but also a sense of
misogyny simply because "Frailty , thy name is women" which suggests
that women lack inequalities that men have. Therefore, some challenge these
boundaries and "replace all of these sexualized images" by replacing
girls in "positive settings" as "gender is performative".
