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.
Angle:
What effect do these over-sexualised adverts have on today's diverse society and younger audiences? Does this conveys the message of misogynist or is to attract the audience’s attention?
Hypothesis:
Radical Feminists will argue that adverts have represented women as being weak over-sexualised and as sexual objects; however, institutions have continued to do this and will in order to keep its target audiences interested.
Linked production piece
Create an advert that uses vampire codes and conventions and challenges the negative stereotypes of women.
MIGRAIN
Media language:
· Long shot to enable the audiences to see the posture of the women
· Close-up of body parts enables male gaze to feel attracted (Laura Mulvey).
· High-angle shot to make the subject look weaker and emphasises how weak the women are, however some as an oppositional reading may see that this particular shot has been used so that it can enable audiences to focus on women’s certain parts e.g. breasts.
· Established shot to set the scene and how it links to the women being sexualised such as the setting and the atmosphere.
Clothes:
·Lingerie to connote how women are treated as sexual objects and to sell their bodies in a way to the male audiences. The lingerie is another prop that women usually wear to attract audience’s attention and enable other women to relate to.
·Skirts and bikinis are also used in perfume adverts in order to attract the male gaze this then enables them to be much more focus.
·Nudity with just a simple object such as pillow in front or a thin strip of clothing to attract audience’s attention.
·Women in high heels and short dresses to make them look seductive and enable men to voyeur on them.
Lighting:
· Natural lighting on the actor in order to give it a natural look and make the product look appealing.
· High-key lighting to make the subject appear much focused clearer and attention seeking.
· Low-key lightings for clubs and night light to influence the audience mood.
· Males get more light which shows that they are in power and that they are the main focus of the adverts.
Setting:
· In bedrooms: this is a natural setting where the audiences can relate to.
· Colourful backgrounds to make the object stand out.
· In cages to show they are treated as sexual objects and are imprisoned
Props:
Handcuffs- this prop enables the women to feel as if she is tied to something and that by capturing her it foreshadows sexual connotations such as treating her as a animal.
Dancing poles- a object which enables the women to feel personal pleasure and attract the male gaze to voyeur on her.
Objects- such as a sexual toy this is used to make the female gain pleasure and again attracts the audience’s attention because it can be the highest climax of the advert.
The perfume- the object itself is used in order for be the audiences to be informed as to what is happening.
Jewellery- the jewellery is another prop that women use in order to make them look appealing and attractive.
Seductive clothing- clothing is a major prop in a advert as it the obvious prop that the audiences always come across. However, by making the clothing more transparent the more the audience can feel attracted e.g. male audiences may focus on certain body parts.
Actors:
· Protagonist- who can be either the male who is acting with a seductive women or it can be a women who is stereotypically sexualised in order to sell the product.
· A man that obviously treats the girl as an object
Ideologies:
· Heterosexual relationships
· lesbianism- this can be two girls seducing the male audiences if it target men so that they can be informed of what the product can make others do to them.
· Inequality between genders and ethnicity- Beyoncé’s heat advert challenges the inequality between genders and ethnicity as mainly adverts for perfumes contains a stereotypical white, blond woman.
· Men dominating women- this can be done through sexuality or either treating her as being weak.
- Independent women who have sexualised herself in order to attract audiences sell product and gain publicity.
Institution:
·The institution constructs the type of codes and conventions used in the advert depending on who the perfume targets. The main institution that is in charge of what is being advertised in ASA- thi
Genre:
·Perfume advertisement= these are usually done through sexualising women.
Representation:
·Representation of women being treated as objects and only there for a purpose e.g. either to attracts the male audience’s attention or to sell themself in order to sell the product.
·Representation as women being weak- this is done through adverts which have for example men lying on top of women which conveys the negative representations that women have seen on TV.
·Representation of men dominating women and controlling them- this either done through the actors used e.g. a male may use a chain around a women for sexual connotations.
Audiences:
·The primary audiences for Beyoncé’s perfume ad are mainly 16-30years old teenager/ young women who admire perfumes. Firstly, this is targeted to this particular age group because some may purchase the product as they may admire Beyoncé as a singer and are a fan. However, some may purchase the product in order to be like her and in order to look like her.
On the other hand, the secondary audience for Beyoncé’s ad are Men at the age of 18-33years old. This is because they may purchase this product for their wife, girlfriend or fiancé as a gift.
· Uses and gratification-Blumler and Katz- Firstly, adverts that sexualise women can link with Blumler and Katz theory as it enables audiences to escape from their daily, stressful lives. This could mainly be for men as the way women are sexualised can enable them to escape and be entertain by how the women are dressed and behaving. Also, perfume ads enable audiences to be informed of a new product which then creates viral marketing in the other two platforms such as print and E-media.
·Preferred reading will accept it oppositional reading will reject this reading and argue that
· Marlowe hierarchy of needs love and needing in their life’s. This is because some perfume ads reveal that in order to bring your partner closer you need to purchase the product as the scent attracts your partner’s attention.
·Male gaze- Laura Mulvey men may watch to gain voyeurism. This is scene through women wearing seductive clothes, postures or the way sound is used which then attracts the male audience’s attention as it can enable them to identify with the situation or voyeur on the female.
Narrative Todorov- narrative structure: perfume adverts start off with a slow narrative however, the intense scenes (high octane scene) is the main engagement of the product as it attracts the audience’s attention.
·Equilibrium- women have been sexualised
·New-equilibrium the advert shows that buy purchasing the product you will literally experience what happens in the advert which links with Blumler and Katz idea of identification.
SHEP
Socially: More acceptable of women becoming sexualised by men or in adverts as it is clearly their choice if they are not successful in education system.
More women have challenged this stereotype and have made them self-look more independent.
Historical:
Economic:
Political:
ISSUES AND DEBATES
REPRESENTATION AND STEREOTYPING
·Women have been stereotyped for being sexualised and being weak this is show through the high-angel shots and them being either over-taken by men.
·Men and have sexualised women by being dominating this is proven through the men being powerful than the women or by being the leader in the seductive scenes.
·Men are also represented as being sexually attractive by challenging the negative stereotypes or women. This is shown in some perfume adverts as women are usually sexualised however, in some
cases men are lead on by women.
· Stereotyped as being a typical housewife who looks after the children and husband
· Stereotype of men been the breadwinner and powerful one
Media effects:
· Hypodermic needle as passive audiences who accept how women are portrayed and how the audiences are always injected with wrong assumptions made about women.
·Uses and gratification theory Blumler and Katz- informs how women are sexualised, entertainment- attracts the male audiences for voyeurism Reception theory by Stuart Hall preferred as they accept the fact how women are portrayed and men are portrayed on the other hand, the oppositional reading might be that not every women is portrayed like this.
·Effects theory- the passive audiences are holding on to the negative representation of women. Consumers such as men are addicted to what they see on screen such as women being nude.
·Maslow hierarchy of needs: argued that you need love and belonging your life therefore some of the advertisements portrays men wanting women for this but with the negative portraying such as the type of clothes which then represents the women in a negative way.
· McQuial: entertainment such as escapism and relaxation from female portrayal to the male audiences.
Regulation and censorship
OFCOM are a government proved regulation and censorship who censor what goes on moving image and radio. This links with how women are represented on tv a OFCOM will have to put advertisement that contain flashing images or women that have been sexualised after watershed time on as young audiences would not get effected. Also, if a customer or person doesn't approve of what is shown on TV then they can complain to OFCOM and they then examine the program content to see if censorship is require.
News value- Galtung and Rouge- journalist balance up which story is much more interesting and more valuable
In order for the news to attract it's audiences it needs to have something news value and something which amuses others. However, this links with my critical investigation as it links with the idea of how young teenagers get influenced easily by these women being sexualise and being the typical size 0, which links with how the news see this having a big impact on the audiences and sometimes have their news headlines as being related to advertisement. For example, a subheading about young girls copying pole dancers in adverts is more attracting than a shop got stolen into.
Media technology and digital revolution-changing technologies in the 21st century
As technology has developed audiences are now more likely to get access to advertisement more quickly on their phones. For example technology has enabled people around the globe to get access to adverts on their phone. This links with my critical investigation and women who are sexualised is not only identified in the most common countries such as Britain and America but also countries where technology did not exist. This links with how people can now watch ads on their phones instead of going online and using a computer, which conveys how technology has changed the way audiences consume their texts.
THEORIES
Gender and ethnicity:
My critical investigation links well with the theories of gender and ethnicity this is because mainly in perfume advertisement, it is mainly White women with blonde hair who are being represented as being sexual objects. An example can be white women with blonde hair also known as the 'dumb blonde' they are represented as being a toy for the male and only experienced for sexual reasons. This portrays them as being not intelligent and weak which shows a sign of women being powerless and not achieving the jobs they want to therefore, are encouraged to perform like this in perfume adverts or it can be that it is their role as a model.
Semiotics:
Barthes the media theorist had argued about a how a certain things such as symbols, written or spoken are a way of conveying a meaning. For example, in perfume adverts a pole is a symbol which represents a sexual object for women which they attract the male gaze and gain pleasure from however, a red lipstick is another symbol which represents women being sexually attractive and seductive. On the other hand, the connotations a semiotic has can be clearly interpreted by the audiences being either the preferred reading or oppositional reading. However, symbols such as dialogue, movement, posture, sound or clothing are always an important symbol in perfume adverts as it connotes an important message.
Audience’s theories:
Uses and gratification (Blumler and Katz) can be lined as it informs the audiences of what some women are being portrayed as which then could be challenged. Also, it can link with escapism as audiences may listen to the video for the pleasure gained of how women are being treated and enables them to escape from their day to day boring life. It can also links with entertainment as pleasure is gained for men through the male gaze as men not only are entertained but also exited for how women are representing themselves.
Stuart Hall:
Stuart Hall will argue as a preferred reading that audiences may prefer and will accept how women are portrayed in perfume adverts. However, and oppositional reading may argue that women are portrayed as they have failed in education system or to be the eye of the audiences so they sell themself in order to become famous. Also, another oppositional reading can be that all women are not like this some are against the typical idea of This can also link with Barthes theory of Semiotics as it enables audience to choose their own interpretations of what they see as being sexual or not.
Postmodernism and its critiques:
As society has become diverse women have challenged the negative stereotypes of how they had been once been portrayed in advertisement and this is done by some of the successful brands such as the heterosexual ideology appearing more often. Although, women are sexualised by what they wear they have still become so successful globally. Women have challenged these negative stereotypes and have started to become an advertising icon in the commercial arena, which are well known for their talent and loved by audiences. The diversity has enabled them to become successful and more popular within the younger and older audiences.
CONTEMPORARY MEDIA LANDSCAPE
My critical investigation fits into the contemporary media landscape as it enables the audiences to be aware of how in today's diverse society women still face negative representation in the media however, it also discusses how women have challenged these representations.
Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)
My main media texts are:
TV DOCUMENTARIES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX5WwmMkESQ
Miss representations Documentary turns lens on Media's negative treatment of Women
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/miss-representation-documentary-turns-lens-on-medias-negative-treatment-of-women/
Objectifications of women
ACADEMIC TEXTBOOKS:
· Hanna Rosin- The End of Men 2012
· Introducing Feminism 2012 a Graphic guide
· Judith Butler Gender trouble 1990
· The myth of male power 1993/2000 = Simon and Schuter
· Getting real: Challenging the sexualisation of Girls 2010
· Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema 2008 Carolina Hein
INTERNET LINKS
1. At least five from media guardian or culture
No wonder men treat us as sex objects if we act lie this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/sep/13/comment.pressandpublishing
Advertising' s sexualised idea of rebellion- The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/advertisings-sexualised-agenda-rebellion
Are these most offensive ads of all time?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18243577
2. Five university sites or academic papers
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/Study_Departments/SIG_Gender_SexCulture_Julia_Dane.pdf
Dr Adrienne Evans, Doubled stagnations and sexualized representations WINCHESTER UNIVERSITY
http://www.winchester.ac.uk/research/attheuniversity/FacultiesofHumanitiesandSocialSciences/CentreforGenderStudies/Documents/Evans%20abstract.pdf
http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Balliols_Rib_Low-Res_PDF.pdf
3. Other articles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMTOVmWjKlI Face the nation Are women still treated as sexual object?
Media portrayal of women
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18243577
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/63514.php Sexualisation of Girls in the Media Is Harmful
M.S. Blog- sexual objectification
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/07/03/sexual-objectification-part-1-what-is-it/
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